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Month: May 2020

‘This is the moment to advocate’ for pro-life vaccines, says Archbishop Naumann

Posted by | May 2, 2020 | , |

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 2, 2020 / 08:00 am (CNA).- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ensure that vaccines developed to combat coronavirus are not “morally compromised” by any connection to cell lines created from the remains of aborted babies. 

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said in an interview Thursday that “there’s been a history in creating vaccines of—in some cases anyway—of using cell lines from aborted fetuses,” and that it remains important to highlight the complicated ethical concerns in vaccine research. 

“So some of the vaccines that are used today have this ethical problem,” he said in an appearance on EWTN Pro-Life Weekly. “We as a Church, obviously, we see this as a moral issue, that we don’t want to do anything that—in some way gives support for the idea of abortion.” 

“On the other hand,” the bishops said, “I think in some cases where there are no other ethical choices, or for public health reasons, Catholics may be forced to use these vaccines even though we object to the way they were developed, but the Church says we have an obligation to object to that, and to advocate for ethical vaccines to be developed.” 

Naumann said that at a time when so many resources and so much public attention is being devoted to developing a vaccine for the coronavirus, “this is the moment for us to advocate.”

“There’s no need to really use cell lines from aborted fetuses, there are other cell lines that can be used to develop these vaccines, so that’s why we think it’s very important at this moment to let the voice not only of the Church but other concerned citizens to voice that we want to—we all want a vaccine, we realize that’s important for our public health, but we also want a vaccine that has no ethical problems in the way it’s developed,” he said. 

 

Archbishop Naumann on protecting the vulnerable:
“I think it’s admirable that we as a culture are taking these steps to try to protect those that are most vulnerable to the virus. Hopefully that can translate into a similar concern for the lives of the unborn.” #prolife #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/7ECGXABmUu

— EWTN Pro-Life Weekly (@EWTNProLife) April 30, 2020

 

 

Naumann said he hopes the FDA will “create incentives for the pharmaceutical companies that are creating these vaccines to use cell lines that are not implicated with abortion” and to issue “strong guidance” to create a vaccine that is developed ethically. 

“I think all we need really is for our pharmaceutical companies to realize that this is offensive to a large number of Americans and give them the encouragement, give our government the encouragement, to make sure these vaccines are not morally compromised in any way,” he said.

Naumann also said that the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has revealed a pro-life ethic in the public mind. 

“It’s interesting because even some figures, public officials, that don’t support us on protecting the lives of the unborn, they’ve made statements in the midst of this crisis that every life is precious, every life is sacred,” he said. 

“As a culture and society, we’re going to enormous lengths to try to protect the elderly and those that might be susceptible to the virus where it’s much more dangerous for them. So I think it’s admirable that we as a culture are taking these steps to try to protect those that are most vulnerable to the virus, and hopefully that can translate into a similar concern for the lives of the unborn as well.”

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Hunger in ‘wine country’ – How one Napa Valley Catholic school is helping needy families

Posted by | May 2, 2020 | , |

Denver Newsroom, May 2, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- A small Catholic school in Napa, California is drawing on community support to run a weekly food pantry for its families and neighbors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Volunteers, led by the school board, have adapted Kolbe Academy & Trinity Prep— a K-12 school with just 105 students— into a food pantry for distribution every Wednesday.

Anna Hickey and Eric Muth— both alumni and school board members— helped to develop what they call the Agape Program, aiming to assist the school community spiritually and materially during the pandemic.

The pantry was able to serve more than 50 families on the first day it was open, April 22, Hickey and Muth told CNA.

After the first week, word spread quickly through the community.

“We contacted several local parishes who are now directing people with needs to our school,” Hickey said.

Teachers and families from the school have volunteered to help with food distribution— including one family who lined up to receive food, realized more help was needed, and put their food aside in order to volunteer for the rest of the day.

“As people hear about Agape, the generosity is now starting to match the need,” Hickey said.

For the first day of distribution, school board members bought a large amount of frozen chicken from a distributor. When they told the distributor it was for a food pantry,he donated nearly 700 additional pounds of steak, turkey, and chicken.

Hickey said the school thought their supply of meat would keep them well-stocked for several weeks, but the number of families seeking help turned out to be “overwhelming.”

The extra meat lasted just two and a half hours.

Muth said by the time the school held its second day of distributing food, the number of patrons in line had doubled to more than 100.

In order to comply with California’s strict social distancing orders, the school asked that only one family member come to pick up the food. This means that each person in line was likely representing a family of, on average, five people, Muth said.

Despite the additional demand, they also had more volunteers, and more food to give away— including a truck of fresh produce that a parishioner donated.

The Napa Valley is often regarded as an affluent area, but beyond the vineyards and tasting rooms are working class and poor families who are hurt by the economic downturn.

Many of the breadwinners for the Catholic school families in Napa work in the service industry— and in many cases, both parents have found themselves out of work, Hickey said.

In addition, some of the Catholic school families are ineligible for unemployment benefits because of their immigration status, she said.

Hickey and Muth hope to provide tuition assistance to needy families through the Agape initiative, so that families in need don’t find themselves forced to pull their children out of the Catholic school.

“Our Catholic schools are in trouble, and we really need to start seeing them as a mission,” Hickey said.

“Catholic education in our world today is a critical necessity. It’s not something that we should consider a luxury…if we want to change society, if we want to make sure that we have future pro-lifers, then we’d better make darn sure that we keep Catholic education going.”

Another phase of the initiate will involve high school students reaching out to the elderly and lonely in the community.

“If we don’t help others first, there’s no way we can ever ask for help again,” she said.

“Our moral obligation is to extend help, even in the fear of us closing down— extend help first, and then ask for help.”

That approach has ultimately paid off— the school has received many donations since starting the food pantry, they said, even from non-Catholic members of the community who recognize the good work the school is doing.

“God will take care of us if we have some trust and faith in Him,” Muth said.

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Cloistered nuns share advice on coping with virus sheltering

Posted by | May 2, 2020 | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Cloistered nuns are experts on staying put — so a stay-at-home order doesn’t change their daily lives. But for those outside the monastery — whose lives are disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic — sisters have some sage words.

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Cloistered nuns share advice on coping with virus sheltering

Posted by | May 2, 2020 | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Cloistered nuns are experts on staying put — so a stay-at-home order doesn’t change their daily lives. But for those outside the monastery — whose lives are disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic — sisters have some sage words.

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Report highlights role of immigrants as essential workers in COVID fight

Posted by | May 2, 2020 | , , , , , , , , , , |

On the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, the Center for Migration Studies of New York released a new report highlighting the role of 19.8 million immigrant laborers who work in “essential critical infrastructure” in the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic.

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A society so afraid of death, that it is afraid to live

Posted by | May 2, 2020 | , , |

As the recent addition to our lexicon, COVID-19, rolls off the tongues, and streams off the texts of so many throughout the world these last few weeks, I am personally reminded of the thing which seems to be the source of so much panic and pandemonium: death. But, unlike the invisible and worrisome COVID-19, death[…]

The post A society so afraid of death, that it is afraid to live appeared first on Catholic Insight.

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Athanasius Contra Mundum

Posted by | May 2, 2020 | , , |

Today is the memorial of one of the most heroic bishops in the history of the Church, the great Saint Athanasius (+373), who stood contra mundum, against the world – mighty foe of Arianism, and the hero of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, whose essays on the fourth-century bishop still make for delightful and edifying[…]

The post Athanasius Contra Mundum appeared first on Catholic Insight.

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An Easter Homily of Saint Athanasius

Posted by | May 2, 2020 | , |

Easter-day xxiv Pharmuthi; xiii Kal. Mai; ‘ra Dioclet. 46; Coss. Gallicianus, Valerius Symmachus; Proefect, Magninianus; Indict. iii. AGAIN, my brethren, is Easter come and gladness; again the Lord hath brought us to this season; so that when, according to custom, we have been nourished with His words, we may duly keep the feast. Let us[…]

The post An Easter Homily of Saint Athanasius appeared first on Catholic Insight.

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