Please join us for the diocese-wide Respect Life Mass!
Respect Life Mass
COVID Vaccine Discussion at St. Bernard’s
The Guild would like to thank the Diocese of Rochester’s Life Issues office, St. Bernard’s, most of all, Fr. Tad Pacholczyk for a wonderful presentation and lively discussion last Wednesday!
Fr. Tad did a masterful job framing both the scientific and moral issues related to COVID vaccines. He was also extremely generous with this time, answering questions and engaging in discussion with the audience (both those in-person and joining remotely) late into the evening.
Thank you also to the many people who joined us for this talk. We were very happy to see many of you in person and were also gratified to see so much interest from those joining remotely!
If you haven’t already, please check out the National Catholic Bioethics Center’s website. In particular, keep in mind that if you ever find yourself in an ethically difficult bind, you can Ask a Question 24/7 and an ethicist will help you find the path that is true to Catholic moral teaching in an ever more challenging world!
Fr. Tad at St. Bernard’s
Just a reminder that Fr. Pacholczyk will be at St. Bernard’s on Wednesday, July 28…LIVE AND IN-PERSON!
Please go here to sign up.
This is also an excellent opportunity to plug the NCBC’s outstanding consultation service. If ever you face an ethically challenging situation in the world of healthcare (whether as a healthcare professional or as a patient) they have a variety of ways to get help. Check them out here!
Help Oppose Planned Parenthood in Brighton!
This Wednesday is the Brighton Town Board Meeting. This will be the first in-person meeting since COVID started and it’s of utmost importance that there be as many people attend as possible- Brighton residents and non-Brighton residents alike.
When: THIS Wednesday (July 14, 2021) @ 7pm
Where: Brighton Town Hall at 2300 Elmwood Ave
If you are NOT a Brighton resident, we still need you in attendance.
If you ARE a Brighton resident, you will have an opportunity to speak at the open forum portion near the beginning of the meeting as to why you oppose a Planned Parenthood in Brighton.
Fr. Tad at St. Bernard’s!
We are excited to welcome the National Catholic Bioethics Center’s Fr. Tad Pacholczyk to St. Bernard’s! We are happy to be cosponsoring this event with the Diocese of Rochester, and St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry. There will be limited in-person attendance and the talk will also be available via Zoom. Click here to register.
VJC in The Pulse
Virtual Journal Club
Thank you again to Dr. Nosacek for a wonderful presentation last night! If you were not able to join us, please check out the video here.
We will be announcing the date of our next VJC soon, so stay tuned!
Advocate for Morally Acceptable Vaccine Development
The Holy Father, through the CDF, and our Bishops (along with others) have been clear that while we are able to accept the currently-available COVID-19 vaccines in good conscience, we are also obligated to both avoid scandal and advocate for the development of vaccines that are developed in morally acceptable ways. The advocacy can take many forms, including…
- Donating to organizations that are developing such vaccines, including the JP2 Medical Research Institute
- Thanking companies that are developing morally acceptable vaccines including Sanofi Pasture (Human Life Action provides a convenient contact template for Sanofi specifically)
- Urging companies to are almost there to switch to a fully morally acceptable vaccine development process. You can contact Pfizer here and Moderna here.
- Charitably admonishing companies that are not almost there (i.e., developing very morally problematic vaccines) to change course. AstraZeneca is the company closest to getting a severely morally problematic vaccine approved and can be contacted here.
COVID-19 Vaccines
The Guild has been closely following the development, and now distribution, of vaccines for COVID-19. There has been much written on this topic and we are in particular very thankful to the USCCB for their recent guidance on this important topic.
We will be posting our detailed thoughts on all of this shortly. In the meantime, we would like to provide some resources that we hope will be helpful in thinking through this important issue.
If you have questions or would like more information please don’t hesitate to contact us.
VJC
We had a great turnout last night for our 2nd Virtual Journal Club! Thank you to everyone who joined us. The discussion was lively and very informative.
Here are some pics from the VJC!
Stay tuned, we’ll be announcing details for our next VJC soon!