Thank you to the CMA for supporting the Virtual Journal Club!
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!
Virtual Journal Club
I hope you see you at our Virtual Journal Club tonight, see details here.
Here is a list of references from tonight’s presentation
•Population prevalence of Down syndrome in England & Wales in 2011 https://www.nature.com/articles/ejhg2012294
•Perinatal Hospice – AAPLOG https://www.aaplog.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/AAPLOG-Practice-Bulletin-1.compressed.pdf
•Formal and Material Cooperation, Ethics & Medics, June 1995 https://www.consciencelaws.org/religion/religion002.aspx
•Scandal definition http://www.catholictheology.info/summa-theologica/summa-part2B.php?q=267
•Catholic Encyclopedia – Scandal https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13506d.htm
•Eugenic Abortion in Iceland https://www.cbsnews.com/news/down-syndrome-iceland/
•Prenatal screening test characteristics https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4144440/
•What Are Women Told When Requesting Family Planning Services at Clinics Associated with Catholic Hospitals? A Mystery Caller Study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29024351/
•Dear mom with a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis https://aaplog.org/from-lauren/
25% Off for New CMA Members
The CMA is offering a 25% discount for new members, which is a great deal! You can sign up here. (When they ask, you can tell them that our Guild President, Thomas Carroll, referred you! =))
We are also always happy to welcome new (and returning!) members to our local Guild as well! Don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions…or you can just sign up!
White Mass
Thank you to everyone who joined us, whether in-person or online, for our annual White Mass this Sunday at the Cathedral! We would like to thank in particular Bishop Matano for celebrating Mass!
In these difficult times it is ever-more important to come together to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. As we continue to move through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and societal unrest the Finger Lakes Guild will continue to support our colleagues, patients, and neighbors in the Diocese of Rochester. If you would like to get involved with the Guild, please contact us here.
Finally, we would like to thank the Catholic Courier for live streaming Mass for those who could not attend in person. Their excellent coverage is here.
Guild Update
Membership Drive
It’s that time of year when we ask for your continued support of the Guild.
First and foremost, we ask for your prayers!
Secondly, if you feel so called, we ask you to assist the Guild financially. Truly, any and all support, no matter how “large” or “small,” is appreciated and will be put to good use.
This can be done in a number of ways, including:
- Becoming (or continuing as) a dues-paying member
- Contributing to our Education Fund
- Becoming an Event and/or Guild Sponsor.
Save the date – White Mass
October 18
Bishop Matano will be presiding at this year White Mass on October 18 at the Cathedral. We will be sending a more formal invitation soon.
Save the date – Virtual Journal Club
November 18
Our first Virtual Journal Club on August 6 was a huge success!
The next Virtual Journal Club will be on November 18 via Zoom, details coming soon!
Guild Partners and Resources
We’ve added a new Guild Partners and Resources page to our website. Check it out!
Virtual Journal Club…Success!
Thank you to everyone how made last night’s Virtual Journal Club discussing NFP a resounding success! We two wonderful presenters (Felix Rodriguez and Anne Olek) and we were both blessed and humbled to be joined by the authors of the paper, Dr. Fehring and Dr. Manhart!
We had a great turnout and appreciate everyone’s engagement. Lots of insightful questions and discussion!
We are planning to host VJCs quarterly, so stay turned for us to announce the Fall/Winter date!
