September 5, 2021
Archbishop Etienne -
I write you today with burning concern regarding your recent Covid-19 guidance, which supports a government-led vaccination mandate and improvidently and publicly disqualifies Catholics from a religious exemption thereto (https://mailchi.mp/seattlearch.org/prayer-card-about-virus-from-archbishop-1992411?e=c146dbe754). While I myself am not subject to this mandate, I speak out on behalf of the hundreds of men and women who faithfully serve our community and stand to lose their jobs, in part, because of your decision to categorically deny a religious exemption for Catholics.
Importantly, the guidance from your office is not aligned with Church teaching. As outlined by the Vatican, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20201221_nota-vaccini-anticovid_en.html) has clearly stated that
“practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that, therefore, it must be voluntary.” Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid -19 vaccines (Dec. 21, 2020) (emphasis added).
Archbishop Etienne, I respect your opinion and the choices that you may make. It may no longer be a great concern to you that, during various stages of development and manufacturing, cells from aborted fetuses were used in the vaccine line (stem cells from the retinas of unborn babies for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and stem cells from the kidneys of unborn babies for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines). You may also be unconcerned that the mandate was issued before the FDA had even approved one of the vaccines (the other two remain experimental). You may disagree with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that “[t]he forcible injection of medication into a non-consenting person’s body represents a substantial interference with that person’s liberty.” Washington v. Harper, 494 U.S. 210, 229 (1990). You may not find it material that people who have been vaccinated can still contract, and subsequently spread, Covid-19. You may believe that the termination of the employment of hundreds or thousands of dedicated and skilled civil servants, and the increased risks that such terminations will pose to the health and safety of the citizens of Washington State, is simply an acceptable lesser evil. Granting that you may hold opinions contrary to mine in respect to the aforementioned matters, it is nonetheless incontrovertible that you have no legitimate right to bar Catholics from asserting their sincerely held religious objections to forced vaccination.
The Seattle Archdiocese has publicly stated that Catholics have no religious ground for refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The basis of this conclusion is that Pope Francis has determined that the moral evil of the abortions that resulted in the cell lines from which the vaccines were derived is sufficiently attenuated from the vaccines themselves, thereby making receipt of the vaccines permissible for Catholics. The fact that Catholics may receive the vaccines based on Pope Francis’ conclusion does not compel the conclusion that Catholics may not properly object to forced vaccinations on religious grounds. For example, a Catholic could legitimately defend Church doctrine by refusing to accept vaccination in order to vindicate Church teaching that vaccinations may not be compelled. The public stand taken by the Seattle Archdiocese impairs the ability of conscientious Catholics from standing up for Church doctrine with respect to coerced vaccinations, merely because the Pope has suggested that the vaccines at issue are not prohibited. Catholics who resist forced vaccinations can and should act upon their sincerely held religious convictions. Bishop Daly of Spokane has reaffirmed that a Catholic could exercise his or her right to a religious exemption. The position of the Spokane diocese, which I now urge you to adopt, is as follows:
While the Church seeks to form and mold consciences of the faithful, each person has by virtue of his or her identity as a human person the right to act in conscience, a liberty the Church respects and upholds. A Catholic school employee could, therefore, exercise his or her right to a religious exemption. This exemption places the burden on the individual’s conscience rather than on Church approval.
The action taken by the Seattle Archdiocese also represents an unwarranted abandonment of the Church’s responsibility to safeguard religious liberty from state intrusion – a responsibility that the Church has taken seriously since at least the 313 A.D. Edict of Milan. This abandonment is both legally unnecessary, and in practical terms incredibly dangerous for the Church. The U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that the Constitution protects the right of churches and other religious institutions to decide matters of faith and doctrine without government intrusion, and that “any attempt by the government to dictate or even to influence such matters would constitute one of the central attributes of an establishment of religion,” which is why “[t]he First Amendment outlaws such intrusions.” Our Lady of Guadalupe Sch. v. Morrissey-Berru, 140 S. Ct. 2049, 2060 (2020). Even if the interpretation of Catholic doctrine by the Archdiocese of Seattle were not incorrect – and I submit that it is – publicly stating that Catholics cannot legitimately object to mandatory vaccination on religious grounds is a gratuitous invitation to Washington State to make assertions regarding what beliefs and practices are or are not permissible for Catholics. This is a singularly unwise and unnecessary step which can be used against the Church in the future. This is the proverbial camel's nose.
A final and equally serious consequence is the position in which Archdiocese policy has placed the faithful clergy. You have instructed our priests not to sign documents claiming a religious exemption, thereby forcing them to make the difficult and unnecessary decision to side either with the Seattle Archdiocese or to the teachings of the Church and the consciences of the faithful. The ordained are subject to the hierarchy of the Church - first to the Pope, then to the Bishops. Divine law requires priests to obey the instructions of the Church. By preventing priests from helping members of the flock who stand against forced vaccinations, you are placing them on the horns of an avoidable moral dilemma.
To all who read this letter: When Christ asks you, “Where were you when I was losing my job?”, what will be your answer? For my part, I hope to respond that I did everything I could to help. I chose to be vaccinated, in consultation with my doctor. But I absolutely recognize that others should not be coerced to get a vaccination in order to keep a roof overhead or food on the table. Governor Inslee’s tactics are reckless and illegal, and the Church needs to stand up for those in greatest need. Right now, those in greatest need are the people who have faithfully served our community for all these years as teachers, firefighters, nurses, and other civil servants.
Archbishop Etienne, you may argue that the "choice" of vaccination still exists, with or without your support for a religious exemption. But I urge you to understand that depriving one of their livelihood removes the voluntary nature that our Doctrine of Faith makes clear must be supported. This is no longer a choice, but coercion, and exploitation for those with the most to lose. With a profound respect for the Catholic faith and the office that you hold, until the Church of Western Washington changes its position on this injustice and affirms a position that faithfully articulates Catholic teaching, I cannot in good conscience support the Archdiocese of Western Washington financially. I urge others that have the same reservations to carefully consider what message their continued financial support to our archdiocese sends. It pains me to withhold tithing to my local parish, the ACA, CCS, and other truly worthwhile causes. But it pains me more to passively comply with the decision of the Seattle Archdiocese to abandon our brothers and sisters while they endanger their jobs to safeguard the teachings of the Church.
Respectfully,
Lou Lucarelli