CLC to Canada's Catholic Bishops: Drop vaccine mandates
Hamilton, Ontario, Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) is asking Catholic bishops across Canada to rescind policies that mandate COVID vaccines that are tainted by abortion and to respect priests and pew-sitters who refuse to receive the ethically-compromised injections.
CLC president Jeff Gunnarson made the request in a January 14 letter that was mailed to 77 prelates in over 70 dioceses across the country, including Cardinals Thomas Collins of Toronto, Gérald Lacroix of Quebec, and the Pope’s Apostolic Nuncio to Canada Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic (read full letter here).
The letter drew attention to the preborn babies who were murdered and who had their body parts harvested to make cell lines HEK-293 and PER.C6 that are used in the production and/or testing of all COVID vaccines currently approved for use in Canada (Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson).
“Many Catholics, both laity and ordained, aware of the murder and exploitation deliberately perpetrated against...pre-born children, refuse to take any COVID vaccines that are in any way connected to this barbaric and horrific slaughter of the innocents. For many Catholics, taking an abortion-tainted vaccine is to cooperate with a culture of death that sacrifices children to facilitate other people’s health, safety, and well-being,” Gunnarson wrote in the letter.
“Please respect and accommodate their consciences along with their free and informed decision. Please keep the churches open to everyone, no matter what their vaccination status is,” the letter states.
“It would be a mistake to substitute a vaccine passport for a baptismal certificate when it comes to deciding who can be admitted into churches to receive the sacraments.”
Gunnarson’s letter comes at a time when some bishops in Canada have barred vaccine-free Catholics from entering churches to receive the sacraments and have used coercion to pressure priests to take the jab in order to do their jobs. Some of these include Bishop Robert Anthony Daniels of the Diocese of Grand Falls in Newfoundland, Bishop Ronald Fabbro of the Diocese of London, Ontario and Cardinal Thomas Collins of the Archdiocese of Toronto.
Gunnarson, himself a Catholic, stated that it’s time for the country’s shepherds to stop backing government strategies about how to manage the pandemic that have not only proved futile, but which have emotionally and spiritually harmed the faithful whom the bishops are supposed to protect.
“Some Catholics who have refused abortion-tainted COVID vaccines have had their rights to enter churches and receive the sacraments stripped away from them. They have been spiritually starved and gravely harmed by the very people who are supposed to nourish and protect them,” he said.
“Bishops need to know that mandates for abortion-tainted COVID vaccines are unnecessary, spiritually destructive, and contrary to the message of the Gospel,” he added.
Gunnarson pointed out in his letter how St. Paul teaches that the baptized faithful are called to be one in Christ.
“Yet, policies requiring vaccination either for ministry or to receive sacraments are dividing the body of Christ, pitting Christians against one another. The Christian faith teaches that in Christ, there is ‘neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ (Gal. 3:28) And, might I be so bold as to add, that in Christ there is neither vaccinated or un-vaccinated: all are called to be one in Christ. We must put away those things that needlessly divide us,” he wrote in the letter.
The letter also comes at a time when Canadians across the country are rallying to demand an end to oppressive mandates that have stripped them of their rights and freedoms.
About Campaign Life Coalition
Campaign Life Coalition is a national, non-profit organization involved in political action and advocacy for legal and cultural change in Canada with respect to protecting human life & the family. For more info visit www.campaignlifecoalition.com.
Media Contacts
Jeff Gunnarson, President, Campaign Life Coalition, 519-835-8201, [email protected]
Pete Baklinski, Director of Communications, Campaign Life Coalition, [email protected]