I have felt burnt out lately in terms of writing. The ideas and energy to write are like a ghost town in my brain and soul , without even any tumbleweeds rolling around to give the place atmosphere.
I think one of the reasons is that my constant best friend insomnia likes to cuddle with me every night and keep me awake. So when ordinary everyday things hit me in my personal life, my lack of sleep makes me tired and I have less energy to take it all in and process the information. I could also dedicate more time to formal prayer, but I get lazy. So when I lost my bag at the mall containing a couple of books, my bag of cough drops and my Magnificat, it seemed overwhelming. But thankfully St. Anthony came through and found them for me.One of the books is for next month’s science fiction club at the local library. I just hate losing things in general. I thought I lost another DVD I got from the library, but it was under a plate. I blamed my wife because she had moved it. I did apologize.
Sometimes the overarching dismay of bad news spilling from media outlets can be overwhelming.
For example TheDevastating Earthquake in Haiti – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
This weekend, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. The disaster is the second crisis to befall the Caribbean nation in just over a month — its president, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated in July.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, the situation on the ground has been dire.
Haiti’s government is in no position to offer help. Foreign aid has not been as forthcoming as it has been in the past. And churches, a source of aid for many Haitians, lie in ruins.
And of course the situation in Afghanistan is heart wrenching. I found Steven Colbert’s take on the situation to be quite reasonable overall.
Then we get to this story in the National Catholic Register
Pope Francis, along with six cardinals and archbishops from North, South, and Central America, worked in collaboration with the Ad Council to produce a public service announcement promoting COVID-19 vaccines.
“COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective and save lives,” the Ad Council stated in an Aug. 17 release.
In the PSA, Pope Francis is heard saying, “Getting the vaccines that are authorized by the respective authorities is an act of love. I pray to God that each one of us can make his or her own small gesture of love, no matter how small, love is always grand.”
The cardinals and archbishops who also make an appearance in the PSA are Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles; Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes of Mexico City; Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa; Cardinal Cláudio Hummes of Sao Paolo; Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez of San Salvador; and Archbishop Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte of Trujillo.
A world leader taking charge and trying to lend his voice to help stop a deadly pandemic. And what is the overall Catholic response on the NCR page???
- It is not his role to encourage vaccines. This pope is a politician.
- His statement is a Sin..
- I’ll trust medical science (the real stuff not the pseudo bs that’s in the news) for my health. The pope and bishops should ONLY be converted with spiritual health. Keep churches open, get rid of bad priests and bishops, censure “Catholic” politicians—Those thing are in your job description, not pushing ppl to take poison.
- I haven’t read anything about his opinion on what’s happening in Afghanistan, enough with the vaccines!
- Francis should focus more on being a Pope than a vaccine campaigner.
- We need to pray for his salvation and for the flock under his care.
- Um… im a catholic and all the catholics i know including myself will not be getting it… you can legit order religious exemption papers to not get the vax to fight for their right to choose.. so promoting that isnt a good look as a pope but then again you expected biden to actually show up to the pro life rally and speak
Trust in God guys!! - There is no pandemic
- Let me fix it for you:
Pope Francis & six cardinals & archbishops, urge Catholics to go to confession, go to mass & receive the sacraments @AdCouncil PSA. The new video will stream internationally in Latin, English, Spanish, & Portuguese, focusing on Spanish-speaking countries…
One of the reactions to these comments was this…
Good Lord. The comments on NCR posts never fail to disappoint me. If they were representative of the Catholic faith I’d justifiably be Protestant. Or atheist.
These reactions sparked my writing juices and I came out with something to say. These are embarrassing responses from faithful Catholics.
There are dozens of other things we should abject to first involving abortion and other objective intrinsic evils before rejecting a COVID vaccine. Most of them are far less necessary (some drugs aren’t) and often far more connected to intrinsic evil. To demonstrate how different these degrees of remoteness were, I estimated spending $6.61 on Chinese-made goods contributed as much to a future abortion (via Chinese forced abortion programs) as 1 billion people using one of the two vaccines in use in the USA.
Let’s oppose abortion but let’s not create false rigorist interpretations of Catholic moral theology. People should follow their conscience but priests like me have a duty to inform your conscience. It is licit to take the COVID vaccine as the cooperation is extremely remote. Given the other surrounding circumstances like the risk to self and others, all Catholics should take the COVID vaccine if medically recommended to do so. Comparing COVID Vaccine to Other Vaccines (patheos.com)
What a deep state cabal puppet! God have Mercy on us and this man we call Pope!
I was one of the first in my community to get the vaccine and I am as convinced as ever about its efficacy and safety. I heartily recommend it to anyone who has not received it.I will observe that the mRNA vaccines do not use tainted cell lines in their production.
In any event, as the CDF has clearly stated (a number of times, not just under Francis), the consumer is not required to refrain from taking a vaccine produced using a cell line derived remotely from an abortion (as is the case with the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines).The pharmaceutical company should seek alternatives, if possible, but the burden does not fall on the consumer.
I am, however, a little concerned about a certain genre of messaging that seeks to convince the hesitant (who are a diverse group, not just conservative Christians—although they all share in common a certain distrust of our pandemic-control bureaucracy) by “shaming” them into action.I am not accusing you, Mark Wilson, of doing this intentionally, but I have already seen this in other places: “See, Cardinal Burke was a vaccine skeptic who peddled conspiracy theories.” Usually left unsaid is the implication, “He got what he deserved.”
I think that sort of discourse is rather counterproductive.So I recommend a different tactic: giving people the facts, and allowing them to make their own decisions. Not everyone will choose correctly, but now, at least, they are unlikely to hurt people who are protected.
Cardinal Burke is close to death because he has Covid AND he’s elderly AND he’s overweight AND he didn’t get the shot.
My parish priest is in his 60’s and otherwise in reasonably good health, had Covid, and recovered in a week.
Just get the dang shot. Or don’t. It’s (quite possibly literally) your funeral.
And this comment…
So, Cardinal Burke is near death and in need of urgent prayers with a disease that supposedly threatens no one and should be ignored?-William C. Michael
They should listen to Papa. The one’s that aren’t listening are paying for it.(I’m an ICU nurse that works with Covid patients.It’s an awful thing to watch people dying as they gasp for air.This article from coworkers across the country covered the bases. We’re all worn out.
I want to end with some words from a wise Doctor with a good head on his shoulder. As a side bonus he’s also very entertaining.
Dr. Z cites this article in his video. Here is a link to it.
The vaccine effect is considerably more encouraging when it comes to the risk of severe disease and hospitalization on those 50 percent of the country — and 61 percent of adults — who have gotten the shots. According to Kaiser, the hospitalization rate for vaccinated people is, for most states, at or just below 0.01 percent — meaning one out of every 10,000 vaccinated people has been hospitalized. Over the past year, the hospitalization rate for the country as a whole is about 0.7 percent. That is an enormous difference in protection against hospitalization — about 70-fold. But Delta is likely changing things here, as well. Even in low-breakthrough Virginia, for instance, there were 17 breakthrough hospitalizations, out of 430 total — about 4 percent, implying about a 17-fold reduction. Still very impressive, but notably lower than the effect implied by pre-Delta data.-Breakthrough COVID-19 Cases May Be a Bigger Problem (nymag.com)
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In