Stop Catholic School Mandates DC-No Vaccine or Boosters Mandates

Dear Cardinal Gregory, Superintendent Branaman, and The Archdiocese of Washington Catholic Schools Board of Education: 

We—the community of the Archdiocese of Washington Catholic Schools—are writing this urgent letter to state our opposition to the Archdiocese of Washington Catholic School’s mandate that all students receive a COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of enrollment for the 2022-2023 school year. We have very serious safety, moral, and spiritual concerns about the recent vaccine mandate issued by the Archdiocese. 

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.” Psalm 28:7 

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ~John 8:32 

We are not anti-vaccination or anti-booster. We are for objectively evaluating data and respecting the rights and beliefs of those in the Washington Archdiocese community to determine their own personal risk and that of their family members from COVID-19 and to make those medical decisions with the assistance of their doctors. 

The CDC's own data highlights that vaccination, even with the booster, has very limited capability to stop virus transmission. A similar conclusion has been reached by CDC research: vaccinated people transmit COVID-19 similarly to unvaccinated people. The virus will continue to be transmitted among our highly vaccinated population the same as it will among the unvaccinated. The Archdiocese is fully aware that vaccines and booster injections cannot stop the spread of COVID-19. 

COVID-19 vaccines formulated against the SARS-CoV-2 strain prevalent two years ago have not effectively prevented infection or transmission of the latest variant. This undercuts the core argument for a vaccine or booster mandate in a population with statistically zero risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes. The Archdiocese of Washington Catholic Schools is mandating a vaccine formulation that will soon be obsolete. Additionally any vaccine that is untested for years and under an EUA should not be mandated onto children and young adults.  

Perhaps of most concern, vaccine inoculations themselves are not without risk, particularly for young people. Early signals of heart inflammation and clotting related to the mRNA vaccines are getting stronger with time. A University of Oxford study of 42 million vaccinated UK residents reported a doubling of myocarditis risk with each Pfizer dose for males under 40, with nearly four times the number of myocarditis cases following a 3rd (booster) dose than occurred following COVID-19 illness. The authors concluded that their study has “important implications for public health and vaccination policy.” 

The latest scientific research shows that COVID-19 vaccine side effects, such as myocarditis, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, menstrual cycle changes, and pericarditis, are more common in young people. There are NO long term studies on these experimental (Emergency Use Authorized) vaccines.  We do not know what the long-term effects will be on our young students. As long as the vaccines are administered under the EUA, the pharmaceutical companies are free from any liability, and families have no recourse should a child be vaccine-injured. The vaccines currently offered in the United States are not fully approved by the FDA.   

It is a vastly accepted truism that harm and irreparable damage to innocents in the minority, almost always resides in “one-size-fits-all” approaches to institutional and governmental policies and practices. 

We would like to call your attention to more than 140 published scientific articles regarding COVID-19 vaccine adverse events related to children and young adults. This letter will serve as notice that the Archdiocese of Washington Catholic Schools, the Board of Education, and the administrators are in possession of these articles and fully aware of these risks documented by the scientific community:   https://www.rwmalonemd.com/references. 

The community understands that the Catholic Church has determined that the COVID-19 vaccinations are not sinful; however, spiritually, the mandates go against free will and conscience. The ability to think, reason, and make our own choices are all part of the gift of free will that has been granted to all human beings by God. Freedom is God’s idea from start to finish. When our freedoms are imposed upon, this stands against and opposes God, who alone is Supreme. Freedom is our inalienable right. It has been placed in every human heart by the Creator himself in the form of our conscience. According to Pope Paul VI, a man “is not to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his conscience.” In summary, the Church’s permission on this matter undermines an individual sanctity of conscience which is a treasured teaching of Catholicism. Our students should not be forced to receive the COVID-19 vaccine if it violates the sanctity of their conscience.

Therefore, the Community of the Archdiocese of Washington DC asks that the Board of Education modify this mandate. We ask that the Archdiocese recognize that each family has unique circumstances and a mandate would make it impossible to continue to educate our children in the Catholic school system. 

We ask that the Archdiocese recognize that a mandate unfairly discriminates against marginalized populations with its “one-size fits-all” approach. 

We ask that the Archdiocese recognize that a mandate does not consider the risk tolerance of each family to participate in experimental trials as there are no long term studies on these vaccines at any age level. 

We ask that the Archdiocese recognize that free will is a gift from God, and to follow a mandate that opposes freedom is to oppose God himself. 

And finally, we ask that the Archdiocese reduce this mandate to a recommendation or risk alienating innumerable families and parishioners. 

“Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not to have quarrels over opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but the one who is weak eats only vegetables. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” ~Romans 14:1-4

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