Commit the sin and get the shot

To The Eagle:

The Archdiocese of New Orleans last week released a statement advising Catholics that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is “morally compromised as it uses an abortion-derived cell line in the development, testing and production of its vaccine.”

The cell line used by Johnson & Johnson originated from a fetus aborted in the early 1970s. Those cells have been artificially replicated 1000's of times across many scientific firms and pharmaceutical companies. Any such cellular material has only a vanishingly distant connection to its origin - a connection as removed from the original cells, as our own genetic heritage is from our cave dwelling ancestors.

The pronouncement that today’s vaccine is tainted by a 42 year old sin, is a judgement more than a little tainted itself, coming as it does from a prince of a Roman religious dynasty notorious for 2000 years of its own deadly moral compromises.

The Catholic Inquisition that burned Jews and women at the stake persists today, having merely re-branded itself as “The Congregation For The Doctrine Of Faith.” You’re thinking, “That happened such a long time ago!” So, distance from the original sin does make a difference?

Get your covid vaccination. Ignore the Bishop who just told you that protecting yourself and your loved one’s is a sin. Tell us Monseigneur - is it a big sin? A little one? Mortal or venial? Bishops have been creating moral dilemmas to entrap the Church faithful for hundreds of centuries. It’s all about creating guilt, and it’s been literally worth it’s weight in gold.

So commit the sin and get the shot, then go to confession! Get forgiven. Do your penance - three Hail Mary’s and two Our Fathers. Thank God for Her forgiveness, and for the Divine plan that caused those fetal cells to become available.

JB Bouchard

Puget Island