A dispute between Florida\u2019s Catholic bishops and state Attorney General James Uthmeier over vaccine exemptions in Catholic schools is testing the boundaries between state law and Church authority, with both sides arguing religious freedom is at stake.<\/p>\n
The dispute began with what Wenski described as Uthmeier\u02bcs \u201cveiled threat\u201d in a July 31 letter<\/a> to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. In it, the attorney general urged the bishops to bring Catholic schools into compliance with Florida law requiring religious exemptions for school vaccine mandates, on pain of the loss of state funding through its school choice scholarship program. <\/p>\n Florida has one of the most expansive school choice programs in the United States, whereby families can use state-funded scholarship money for a variety of education-related expenses, including private school tuition.<\/p>\n Uthmeier argued in his letter that \u201cat least one diocese\u201d in Florida appears to have adopted a policy based on what he characterized as the bishops’ erroneous interpretation of guidance<\/a> given to Wenski in 2011 by the National Catholic Bioethics Center.<\/p>\n The bioethics center\u2019s then-president, John Haas, said Catholic institutions could not grant exemptions to vaccines on religious grounds because the Church has determined that utilizing vaccines derived from aborted fetal cell lines was \u201cnot intrinsically evil\u201d because of the remoteness of the original, evil act of abortion. <\/p>\n At the same time, Haas made a distinction between religious and conscience objections, stating Catholic institutions should grant the latter \u201cas liberally as possible for the sake of the delicate consciences\u201d of Catholic parents. He also noted that the consciences of those making school policies must be respected.<\/p>\n Wenski told \u201cEWTN News in Depth\u201d host Catherine Hadro in an Aug. 14 interview<\/a>: \u201cIf a Catholic has conscience objections to the vaccines you can\u02bct say that your objections come from your understanding of the Catholic faith because the vaccinations available and developed are not contrary to Church teachings.\u201d<\/p>\n Religious exemptions or conscience exemptions?<\/p>\n The distinction between the two types of exemptions is important, making the Florida case complicated, Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, an attorney and the founder of The Conscience Project<\/a>, told EWTN News. <\/p>\n While most states offer some combination of medical, religious, and conscience exemptions to vaccine mandates, Florida law does not explicitly protect conscience objections, only medical and religious ones.<\/p>\n Uthmeier argues that conscience objections fall under the protection of religious liberty, particularly for Catholics, for whom the formation of conscience is a central aspect of the faith.<\/p>\n \u201cThe teachings of the Catholic Church do not require Catholic schools to compel students to take vaccines derived from the tissue of aborted children against the sincerely held religious objections of their parents,\u201d Uthmeier wrote.<\/p>\n The attorney general also noted that some Catholic families object to certain vaccines not only because of their connection to aborted fetal cell lines, but also because of concerns about the safety of vaccine ingredients and methods of production, including the use of mRNA technology, which he said brings a \u201cheightened risk of health defects, including miscarriages.\u201d<\/p>\n The National Catholic Bioethics Center declined to comment to EWTN News. However, the organization maintains resources on its website<\/a> stating the Church\u2019s position that although vaccines developed through morally problematic means may be used for grave reasons, vaccination is not a moral obligation for Catholics and, in order to protect human dignity and the free exercise of conscience, should be voluntary.<\/p>\n The organization also states that \u201cpublic health measures and policies should be built upon sound science and ethical principles.\u201d<\/p>\n Uthmeier: Parents’ rights are being violated<\/p>\n Uthmeier told EWTN News he is concerned about the “religious freedoms and rights of parents.\u201d He pointed out that many Catholic families have come to him noting the irony that their conscience rights are protected in public schools in Florida but not in Catholic ones. <\/p>\n Uthmeier also said families are confused because Catholic schools in several dioceses across the country do grant vaccine conscience and religious exemptions.<\/p>\n Because Catholic schools receive state scholarship funds, he argued, the state has an interest in ensuring that religious freedoms are protected.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere First Amendment rights [and] the religious beliefs of parents are being violated, we as a state have a duty to investigate and see what legal tools we may have to protect our parents in Florida,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n While acknowledging that the state cannot dictate religious beliefs, he said he remains unconvinced that the bishops have identified an authentically religious reason for denying exemptions.<\/p>\n A Catholic himself, Uthmeier further pointed to what he said were long-standing Catholic teachings regarding parental authority and conscience rights.<\/p>\n \u201cRespecting the right of conscience is deeply embedded in our catechism,\u201d he said. \u201cHow these rights can be violated, and how Catholic Church officials can disagree on citing religious teaching across the country, perplexes me.\u201d<\/p>\n Wenski: Catholic schools must protect the common good<\/p>\n Wenski likewise framed the controversy as a religious freedom issue, from the perspective of the Church\u02bcs right to determine and apply its own teachings.<\/p>\n He described Uthmeier\u02bcs position as \u201can unfair and ill-advised interpretation of separation of Church and state\u201d and argued that lawmakers never intended school-choice scholarships to impose a religious test on participating schools. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Church has a right to determine our own teachings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Wenski told EWTN News that the bishops \u201ccertainly respect the rights of conscience of every person.\u201d At the same time, he said Catholic social teaching also obligates schools to promote the common good and protect children through immunization.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u02bcve witnessed in recent months an upsurge of cases of measles, and we know that that presents certain dangers for pregnant women,\u201d Wenski said.<\/p>\n The archbishop noted that Catholic schools already grant medical exemptions when a physician certifies that a child should not be vaccinated.<\/p>\n But he maintained that parents who object to vaccination are free to choose another school.<\/p>\n “Nobody is forced to go to a Catholic school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The bishops sent Uthmeier a formal response<\/a>, Wenski said, outlining what they view as the religious freedom issues implicated by the attorney general\u02bcs intervention.<\/p>\n Wenski said the bishops are \u201cprepared to protect our students, to defend our rights, and to preserve religious freedom\u201d while remaining open to continued dialogue with the state.<\/p>\n Critics of Florida bishops\u2019 policy disagree<\/p>\n While Wenski suggested the issue is largely settled within Catholic teaching, critics of the Florida bishops’ policy disagree.<\/p>\n Yvonne Bontkowski, director of Children of God for Life<\/a>, said the controversy reflects a deeper disagreement over how Catholics should respond to vaccines connected to abortion-derived cell lines.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time I have ever seen where the state isn\u02bct asking the Church to violate its teaching, it\u02bcs asking the Church to honor it,\u201d she told EWTN News.<\/p>\n The organization argues that although the Church has determined it can be morally permissible to receive such vaccines under certain circumstances, Church teaching says Catholics still have a moral duty to advocate for ethical alternatives and resist what it sees as the continued exploitation of aborted fetal tissue in biomedical research.<\/p>\n Bontkowski cited a 2005 document from the Pontifical Academy for Life<\/a>, which established the moral permissibility of the use of vaccines developed from aborted fetal cell lines in order to protect health but also affirmed that Catholics may exercise conscientious objection regarding such vaccines.<\/p>\n \u201cOur conscience is directed to what is morally good,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Vatican never said these vaccines are morally good. It said we\u02bcre not sinning if we take them for grave reasons and on a temporary basis while we demand ethical alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n She argued that families exercising that duty should not be excluded from Catholic education, which, unlike immunization, is a moral obligation.<\/p>\n