A Decision of Conscience

Father (John) Carville in his editorial on the COVID-19 vaccine and mask refusal, would have us reject the primacy of individual conscience during the pandemic given the principle of proportionality. By his understanding of this concept, even the clearly documented developmental harm of mitigation strategies to children are unimportant.  

He doesn’t even consider the rampant suicidality, drug abuse and depression that plague children in the wake of lockdowns.  

Of course, the survival rate for children with COVID-19 is 99.97%.  So perhaps a proper application of the principle of proportionality would cause us to favor the rejection of current interventions given the likelihood of survival and the pervasive and severe consequences on children.

Fortunately, other well-respected organizations such as the Catholic Medical Association and the National Catholic Bioethics Center have held to the clear and consistent teaching tradition in Catholic medical ethics that a person must give free and uncoerced consent to all medical interventions including vaccines.  They note church teaching which states “Practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that, therefore, it must be voluntary.”  

One spiritual reason a person may reject vaccination is that the vaccines were either derived directly from or tested through cell lines obtained from abortions.  And while the church does allow one to use such vaccines if there is sufficient reason, as the recent statement “To Awaken Conscience” proclaims, “We insist on our freedom of conscience in this matter, to witness to life as we judge we are being called to do.”

Why is conscience so important?  Because the church teaches that conscience is the “aboriginal Vicar of Christ” speaking to us through nature and grace.  It is in one’s conscience that one knows the true and the good in relation to Christ.  Violating this violates profoundly the very dignity of the person.

Steven Felix M.D

President, Capital Area Catholic Medical Guild