Opinion: It’s time to get beyond vaccines

I am very concerned that Catholics have now surrendered the ability to guide ethical decisions at the national or global level, not just for the single vaccine issue, but beyond it to any ethical stand.

March 3, 2021 Stacy A. TrasancosPrint

The COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTec vaccine is seen in this illustration photo amid the pandemic. (CNS photo/Kamil Krzaczynski, Reuters)

So far, all the COVID-19 vaccines depend on the use of fetal cell lines that originated with abortion. Lots of discussion about the morality of vaccines followed Moderna’s announcement last November that its phase III human trials were successful. It is a good time to slow down, climb up high, and survey our moment in history so we can better see the way forward.

Not again!

At first mention of a COVID-19 vaccine, I thought, “Oh no, not again!” Previously, the issue was mostly relegated to childhood vaccinations. Vaccines that use aborted fetal cell lines elicit strong reactions from pro-life parents because governing authorities at varying levels require them. To vaccinate or not? For fifteen years I have read and re-read Church guidance. We choose to vaccinate our children. We also dutifully voiced objections to doctors and wrote letters to companies and lawmakers. We were heartbroken knowing we were benefiting from abortion. Like anyone concerned about this issue, we just wanted to do the right thing.

The 2005 guidance from the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAL), “Moral Reflections on Vaccines Prepared from Cells Derived from Aborted Human Foetuses,” calls this ethical dilemma a “moral coercion of conscience.” Moral theologians termed our use of these vaccines “licit, passive, remote, material cooperation in evil,” but the terminology is unhelpful. The very remoteness that might ease our conscience also makes us powerless to demand ethical alternatives. Our protests fell flat on pediatricians’ floors.

With COVID-19, we are all backed into the same corner. The mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer were tested in HEK-293 cells, a line that originated with a child aborted in the 1970s. The AstraZeneca vaccine is an adenovirus-vector-based vaccine, which encodes the spike protein. The company uses the HEK-293 cell line to both test and grow the genetically engineered vaccine. The new Johnson & Johnson vaccine is an adenoviral vector grown in the PER.C6 cell line that originated from a healthy 18-week-old aborted child. (See the Children of God for Life website for specifics.)

A hard truth

An alarming number of people, 2.5+ million, have died from COVID-19 worldwide. Economies are crippled, liberties eroded. Mandates will probably be enforced. The stress parents felt for decades is now palpable globally, and a hard truth is emerging.

The 2005 PAL guidance told us to demand ethical alternatives, but that has proven ineffective. To accept the vaccines without accepting them? To wag a finger while getting a jab? To benefit from abortion while opposing it? It is a contradiction, like sporting a seal skin jacket while opposing the killing of baby seals.

The Church is clear that receiving the injection is a matter of informed conscience, and that will not change. But there is a bigger question for Catholics to face, one that goes beyond vaccines. How do we effectively oppose abortion if we are telling the world it is moral to benefit from abortion? It is useful to review our message.

Confirmatory testing

Controversy began abruptly last November when vaccine availability was imminent. The Charlotte Lozier Institute had reported the Moderna vaccine as “ethically uncontroversial,” claiming that researchers did not use fetal cell lines. The National Catholic Bioethics Center and Catholic News Agency, among others, repeated this claim. (See the timeline here).

But there was controversy. Months earlier, both companies had already disclosed the in vitrotesting of mRNA candidates in HEK-293 fetal cells, a critical step in development. The Charlotte Lozier Institute later added the term “confirmatory testing” to describe the in vitro tests, but they continued to call the vaccine uncontroversial. Moral theologians and Church authorities, including those at the Vatican, repeated this phrase and portrayed the testing as a one-time, ethically insignificant, event (examples here and here).

There was no discussion about whether the same in vitro test would be used in ongoing quality control during manufacturing. This information would likely be found in the FDA-approved manufacturing process, but Operation Warp Speed does not require FDA approval.

Most recently, Moderna announced a plan for pre-clinical trials on new mRNA vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 variants at its manufacturing facility in Norwood, MA, a $130M investment employing 230+ employees. The new mRNA vaccines can quickly be adapted for an evolving virus, which is good. The in vitro test, however, is the first step in the pre-clinical trials for vaccine variants before animal and then human testing. If they use the same in vitrotesting described in their scientific reports, then this testing is also critical to ongoing development.

From the start, the message was confusing as Catholics were scrambling to figure out what to do. Beyond Catholic circles, I am concerned that the message collectively sent to lawmakers and pharmaceutical companies is that we are not serious about opposing unethical practices.

Licit cooperation in evil

The guidance from the PAL back in 2005 was followed in 2008 with more formal instructions from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). “Instruction Dignitas personae on Certain Bioethical Questions” clarified that the exploitation of aborted human bodies is morally illicit, but the use of the vaccine is morally licit in certain situations. “Licit, passive, remote, mediate cooperation in evil” is only permitted if: 1) the need to protect individuals and populations is grave, 2) there is no alternative, 3) one continues to reject the evil of abortion and the use of aborted children in research.

In December of last year, Dr. Janet Smith insightfully argued that the word “cooperation” is an imprecise misapplication. “How can I,” she says, “contribute to something that has already happened?” She recommended the word “appropriation” (benefiting from ill-gotten gains) instead.

Dr. Smith also noted that Bishops Athanasius Schneider and Joseph Strickland et alii see the remoteness of the cooperation as irrelevant. They argued that “the crime of abortion is so monstrous that any kind of concatenation with this crime, even a very remote one, is immoral and cannot be accepted under any circumstances by a Catholic once he has become fully aware of it.”

Although this statement is more extreme than the guidance in the PAL and CDF documents, it essentially repeats the instructions to “reject” the vaccines – if rejection is taken in a general sense. Catholics could unite and voice an outcry in rejection of the vaccines, even as individuals receive it under moral duress. This interpretation, if accurate, does not resolve the contradiction problem completely, but at least it moves toward a stronger response.

Scandal

Dignities personae mentions scandal alongside cooperation in evil, stating that the “risk of scandal be avoided” (35). The document refers here to the choices of researchers.

When the illicit action is endorsed by the laws which regulate healthcare and scientific research, it is necessary to distance oneself from the evil aspects of that system in order not to give the impression of a certain toleration or tacit acceptance of actions which are gravely unjust. Any appearance of acceptance would in fact contribute to the growing indifference to, if not the approval of, such actions in certain medical and political circles.

The problem with remote cooperation in evil, as Dr. Smith points out, is that it only considers the past. When we are making decisions about using vaccines in the present, the focus is on how they were developed and produced in the past. Scandal deals with how our choices influence the future, but it has hardly been part of the conversation.

On December 17, the CDF issued a “Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines,” reaffirming the language in the 2008 Instruction Dignitas personae and the earlier PAL guidance. The note states that “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process,” but only if ethically irreproachable vaccines are not available and one opposes the practice of abortion. The short note did not mention scandal, but it is worth considering whether our words and choices give “tacit acceptance” to the evil of abortion.

No moral qualms

In January of 2021, Dr. Melissa Moschella at Catholic University of America wrote an opinion published by the Witherspoon Institute’s Public Discourse. She holds that the COVID-19 vaccines are not “morally compromised” at all and assertsthat “pro-lifers should not have any moral qualms about taking any of the available vaccines,” contrary to the guidance from the PAL and CDF.

Fr. Matthew Schneider, also at Public Discourseand on his blog at Patheos, argues that if we are going to reject any drug tested with HEK-293, or any other fetal cell line, then we should reject almost every aspect of modern medicine, including a long list of over-the-counter drugs. He says that unless we reject all of it and “say goodbye to modern medicine,” the argument that we shouldreject them fails.

These arguments are controversial; for over fifteen years, the Vatican has asked Catholics to advocate against the use of fetal cell lines in vaccines. Dr. Moschella and Fr. Schneider are right, however, to point out that the focus on vaccines took our attention off the use of fetal cell lines in other medications. The use of fetal cell lines has become ubiquitous. If we can’t beat them, however, the solution is not to join them.

Surrender

Try to imagine the decision-makers (executives, scientists, lawmakers, investors) sitting down with Catholic leaders after all that has happened since November 2020. Catholics ask them to stop using aborted children in research. Catholics demand ethical alternatives for vaccines. But the other side already knows we find it morally permissible to benefit from abortion. Why should they take our moralizing seriously? They will likely assume we do it just to make ourselves feel better.

I am very concerned that Catholics have now surrendered the ability to guide ethical decisions at the national or global level, not just for the single vaccine issue, but beyond it to any ethical stand.

Aborted children in research

Vaccine and fetal cell lines are part of a larger problem. Late in 2020, scientific reports of fetal tissue research populated scientific literature, but with hardly a mention in Catholic ethics.

For example, the University of Pittsburg reported how they grafted the scalps of aborted children onto rodents to study staph infections. Hundreds of children aborted in the second trimester were dissected to study the accumulation of flame retardants in utero (for wanted children). And an enormous effort is underway to build a fetal cell atlas. This will map molecular-level genetic changes throughout gestation, requiring a steady supply of fetuses. (Summaries here and here.)

The wave is coming. These research programs are intended to bring significant cures. The fetal cell atlas alone is predicted to end most pediatric deaths. Fast forward this current vaccine debate ten years into the future. The issue will not be fetal cell lines in vaccines. It could be the use of life-saving cures from fetal tissue research. What do we do? Perpetually point to the past and call it remote?

Cooperating in future evil?

Because if we shrug and say we are willing to accept benefit from abortion now, we are not avoiding the risk of scandal. We may be cooperating in future evil by influencing sin in researchers’ decisions.

I do not want my children to someday sit in doctors’ offices with their babies knowing that every medical benefit offered to them, not just vaccines, came from the exploitation of the remains of unwanted children killed by abortion and used like lab rats – and then wonder why Catholics did not unite and absolutely protest this entire practice when they could.

For these reasons, I suggest that consideration of the risk of scandal be re-inserted in our moral calculus, and that we think hard about the influence our words and choices have on our leadership roles in the fight for human dignity. I think it is time to get beyond vaccines.

https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2021/03/03/opinion-its-time-to-get-beyond-vaccines/

Related at CWR:
• “Cooperation, appropriation, and vaccines relying on fetal cell line research” (Jan 24, 2021) by Stephan Kampowski
• “Opinion: Is taking the COVID-19 vaccine a moral duty?” (Feb 19, 2021) by Fr. D. Vincent Twomey, SVD

A Battle Between Life and Death

There are many differences of opinion between America’s two political parties, but it’s the primary difference that’s the most crucial. This difference revolves around a fact, not an opinion.

This fact is made evident in the Republican Party platform…

“The Constitution’s guarantee that no one can “be deprived of life, liberty or property” deliberately echoes the Declaration of Independence’s proclamation that “all” are “endowed by their Creator” with the inalienable right to life. Accordingly, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to children before birth.”

— Republican Platform, 2016, The Fifth Amendment: Protecting Human Life. p. 13.

And this fact is clearly articulated in science…

“Human life begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm unites with a female gamete or oocyte to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.” “A zygote is the beginning of a new human being”

— Keith L. Moore, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 7th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2003. pp. 16, 2.

As a nation founded on the idea that all are equal, we must learn from our past failings. The Democratic Party supported and enabled American slavery and segregation, and today this same political party supports and enables the targeted discrimination and destruction of another class of human beings — the preborn.

This fact is made evident in the Democratic Party platform…

“We will continue to stand up to Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood health centers, which provide critical health services to millions of people. We will continue to oppose—and seek to overturn—federal and state laws and policies that impede a woman’s access to abortion, including by repealing the Hyde Amendment.”

— Democratic Platform, 2016, Securing Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice. p. 37.

As we consider our choice for President and the issues at stake, it’s clear that no issue holds the gravity of life and death like the issue of abortion. Even the use of the word ‘issue’ understates the magnitude of what abortion is and what it does to prenatal American children.

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We have transformed our nation from one that upholds human rights into one that views the destruction of humans as a right.

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When abortion is stripped of the euphemisms that shroud its reality, the stark truth of what we have allowed ourselves to become is repulsive. We have used our advancements in medical science to turn on the most vulnerable members of our human family. We have transformed our nation from one that upholds human rights into one that views the destruction of humans as a right.

Each one of us has a choice to make. We have the choice between a political party that enshrines the idea that some lives matter less and a political party that upholds the idea that all lives are equal. We must make a choice, like abortion itself, between life and death.

Which side of history will you be left standing on?

https://cultureshiftforlife.com/2016/10/09/presidential-debate/

Horrors at an abortion clinic went ignored--Dr. Kermit Gosnell

Horrors at an abortion clinic went ignored: This column contains material that is difficult to read. Dr. Kermit Gosnell's former Philadelphia facility, the Women's Medical Society, was the scene...

Horrors at an abortion clinic went ignored

Dr. Kermit Gosnell's former Philadelphia facility, the Women's Medical Society, was the scene of untold horrors for many years, involving hundreds of babies being killed after being aborted alive.

This column contains material that is difficult to read.  But for a long time it was difficult even to find material to read about the story, as major media outlets tried mightily to ignore the story of America's most prolific killer.

That may change now that "Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer" has been released in more than 600 movie theatres.  It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

Let me explain, with apologies for the details.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell owned and operated the Women's Medical Society clinic in Philadelphia.  Well known for providing grisly lateterm abortions, the Gosnell clinic was actually raided in 2010 by the police on suspicion of illegal use of prescription drugs.  They found an unsanitary, blood-stained, cat-infested "house of horrors" in which women were found suffering various degrees of malpractice by unlicensed and unqualified personnel.  Fetal remains from late-term abortions were found in jars, in milk bags, in cat-food containers.  The severed feet of dozens of fetal corpses were preserved.

In 2011, Gosnell was charged with eight counts of murder in addition to hundreds of violations of Pennsylvania's abortion laws.  The murder charges related to an adult woman, Karnamaya Mongar, who died following an abortion procedure, and seven newborns killed by having their spinal cords severed with scissors after being born alive during attempted abortions.  In the May 2013 trial, prosecutors focused on fewer charges to obtain the necessary convictions to send Gosnell away for life.  He was convicted of murder (first degree) for three of the infants, and manslaughter for Mongar.  Gosnell is in prison for life, having waived his right to appeal in order to avoid the death penalty.

But what was introduced at trial was only the bloody tip of a massive iceberg of killing.  An unlicensed physician at the clinic, Steven Massof, 49, pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree murder, murder conspiracy and other charges before Gosnell's trial.  He testified to a grand jury that he snipped the spines of more than 100 babies after seeing them breathe, move or show other signs of life.

"Severing the spinal cords of moving, breathing babies outside their mothers' wombs was, according to Massof, 'standard procedure'," reported the grand jury.

"Partial-birth" abortion is infanticide by another name.  "After-birth" abortion is infanticide, homicide, murder, pure and simple.  And it took place on a massive scale at the Gosnell clinic.

How then did America's most prolific serial killer get away with it for so long?  Therein lies a tale about regulators, the medical profession, police and journalists.

Gosnell had been sued dozens of times over more than three decades.  Detailed complaints on several occasions had been made to state regulators.  His clinic was found in violation by the state department of health as early as 1989.  But despite mountains of evidence that would have shut down an orthopedic practice overnight, Gosnell was allowed to operate, with abortion politics providing cover.  It went right to the top, with the grand jury finding Gov.  Tom Ridge's office responsible for regulators looking the other way, or not bothering to look at all.  That Gosnell preyed upon the poor made it easier for his victims to be ignored.

The police and prosecutors seemed deliberately lethargic, if not negligent, in following up deaths of women at the clinic, at least one of which resulted in a civil settlement.  It was, after all, a Drug Enforcement Agency investigation that finally brought Gosnell down for illegal prescriptions.  Had it not been for the DEA, Philadelphia police may have waited for the Internal Revenue Service to do its work for them.

Then came the trial.  By all accounts it should have been a notorious story locally, if not nationally.  But the major news media gave it a pass.  Only after a shaming campaign on social media built pressure on the major networks and newspapers did the Gosnell story get some of the coverage it deserved.

Abortion politics had corrupted the news media.  While a graphic sign outside an abortion clinic merits a disapproving story — to say nothing of violence at abortion clinics — the dismemberment of hundreds of babies born alive was treated as a non-story, unhelpful to the abortion cause.

And while Hollywood is eager to make movies about serial killers, the producers of the Gosnell film could not get the film financed.  It got made only after a crowdfunding campaign raised the necessary US$2.1 million, normally chump change in the movie business.

The Gosnell story is difficult to tell.  But that was not the reason that so many tried not to tell it.  Will its cinematic telling now also be ignored?

 

GOSNELL MOVIE--SERIAL KILLER

See the movie Hollywood does not want you to see. See the story the media would not cover. They are the crimes the government tried to cover up. See the true story of how abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell hid in plain sight for nearly twenty years, to become America’s biggest serial killer. And see how a Philadelphia detective and the District Attorney office took on a system bound to shut them down to put Kermit Gosnell in prison for life. GOSNELL: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer In Theaters Friday, October 12th Visit http://gosnellmovie.com/ for more information. ‘I hope that all of our viewers watch this movie.’ Tucker Carlson – Fox News ‘Everyone needs to see the Gosnell movie particularly young people. I can’t recommend this movie more strongly.’ Marjorie Dannenfelser – Susan B. Anthony List ‘After watching the Gosnell movie, I’m angry, I’m sad, and I’m more motivated than ever to end abortion.’ Kristan Hawkins – Students for Life of America ‘This movie is amazing!’ Michelle Malkin Based on the NY Times Bestseller — Gosnell: The Untold Story of America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer. The film stars Dean Cain, Sarah Jane Morris, Nick Searcy, Michael Beach and Earl Billings as Dr. Kermit Gosnell. The film is the shocking true story of the investigation and trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell – his 30-year killing spree and the political and media establishment that tried to cover it up. Originally investigated for illegal prescription drug sales, a raid by DEA, FBI & local law enforcement revealed crimes they could not have expected within the clinic.  The film was crowd funded on Indiegogo by over 29,000 people, who gave over $2.3mm to make sure this story was told. It’s an uplifting story of justice and the men and women in law enforcement who helped bring Kermit Gosnell to trial. While taking a hard look at the facts, the movie is not graphic or explicit. It’s rated PG-13 and is appropriate for teenagers. If you can handle an episode of Law & Order or NCIS you can see Gosnell. The film has faced opposition from the very beginning when Kickstarter kicked the campaign off their platform. It aced opposition in the production of the film. And recently NPR refused to run advertising describing Kermit Gosnell as an abortion. See the movie that shines a light on a story the mainstream media refused to cover.

The Irish Referendum is a Wake Up Call for Catholics

Constance T. Hull

When I woke up Saturday morning to discover that Ireland legalized abortion I was heart-broken. The bloody nihilistic tide had finally extended its reach over the whole of Western Europe, Portugal remains with the most conservative abortion laws, but it is not completely illegal there either. The loss has historical and spiritual significance.

The conversion of Ireland changed the world — thanks to St. Patrick and others — and led Ireland to help save Western civilization in the wake of the collapse of the Roman Empire. They preserved much of that civilization in their monasteries while also living the missionary spirit and evangelizing various areas of Western Europe.

The impact that Ireland had on what would become Christendom cannot be overstated. This is one of the reasons why it is so tragic that such a vibrant Catholic nation should succumb to the culture of death.

It is true that secularism is largely to blame, but we cannot overlook the deep pain the clerical sex abuse scandal caused the Irish people. There is a reason why it has become a cudgel people use to bludgeon us to death. Yes, this is unjust on their part because the vast majority of our priests and bishops were not involved and they have each worked diligently to live as another Christ to the world; however, we cannot pretend that it did not have a serious impact.

There is something that utterly devastates the world when a Catholic priest or bishop falls into grave sin, evil, and scandal. The world may not understand as we do the significance of the priesthood, but they know deep down that there is something different and other worldly about our priests. Our own culture is obsessed with Catholic priests, even as it attacks them in the nastiest of ways. Even as the world hates and reviles us, they deep down hope we are different and that our priests are different. They may want to see them fall, but when it happens it robs them of some kind of hope that they longed for in the deepest parts of their being. We cannot pretend that the sins of a small minority of our priests and bishops have not had a huge impact on the nations ravaged by the sex abuse scandal, a scandal that is still going on in various parts of the world.

If we also take an honest look at history, we can see where the modern Church has failed in her evangelical mission. She largely stepped out of intellectual discourse after the Enlightenment and left the West to move towards secularism until Blessed John Henry Newman wanted more for Catholic universities. While the West transformed, we largely disengaged until a revival of Thomism over a hundred years ago.

We cannot have a sentimental view of the Church or our faith. Anyone who has studied Church history will take their rose-tinted glasses and throw them in the trash where they belong. To love is to love the beloved with all of their flaws and we love the Church with all of the stains and failures caused by our brothers and sisters in Christ both in the laity and the clergy down through the ages. We are able to do so because in the end we know it is Christ who is the Head.

Sentimentality doesn’t convert souls and it does not come from a position of strength. We are at war. We’ve always been at war. This is a battle for the hearts, minds, and souls of every human being who has ever lived, is alive today, or will live in the future. The Enemy seeks to destroy us and drag us straight to hell with him and his demons. Moral therapeutic deism isn’t going to get us anywhere.

Christ told us the gate is narrow, this means we must live lives dedicated completely to Him. As Dr. Robert George stated a few years ago: “The age of comfortable Catholicism is over.” If anything, the legalization of abortion in Ireland should wake us from our slumber and complacency. The lands of Christendom have crumbled and now lie in ruins in the wake of secularism.

How do we fight?

The war begins in our own homes and families. Are we actively pursuing holiness and helping our children towards heaven? Are we as spouses living out this vocation faithfully? Are our priests living lives of deep prayer and heroic virtue? I think all of us can honestly answer that we fail repeatedly in our vocation. That isn’t the issue. We are going to fail and need to continue to rise again with Christ’s help. If we are actively trying, then we are on the path to holiness. We must truly desire to be a saint first and then we can begin on the journey.

The problem is in those Catholic homes where we view our faith journey as a one hour on Sunday obligation and that’s it. Our lives look no different from our neighbor’s. If asked, many people probably wouldn’t even realize we are Catholic.

We need to ask ourselves: How are we different? How are we living with Christ as the center of our lives? Are we a beacon of hope to the people around us who are trapped in the lies of secularism and all of the deadly philosophies that have ensnared them? People should be able to tell we are Catholic by the way we live our lives.

The Mass is the center.

The Mass is the center of our lives. According to Vatican II it is the “source and summit of the Christian life.” It is through the Mass that we are given the strength and grace we need to live our vocations and go out into the world to bring others to Christ. Moral therapeutic deism—the idea that we have to only be a “good” person—does not lead people to evangelize. It leads to apathy and complacency because everyone gets to heaven for being their own version of “good.”

Moral therapeutic deism has infected the Church and it is harming our evangelical mission. The Church still teaches that Christ is the only way even if she does not fully know who is considered inside of the Church by God at an individual’s death. That’s up to Him to decide. It’s up to us to draw people to Christ and to the Sacraments. The Church does not teach an individualistic carte blanche approach to religion.

Consider, each Sunday and at daily Mass we get to partake of the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The God of the universe who made us in His image and likeness out of a gratuitous act of love condescends to our altars in order to be our spiritual food. How could we not want to share that gift with ever single person we meet? God wants to feed everyone through the Holy Eucharist. He wants all peoples to come to the sacrifice and banquet of the Mass which is a foretaste of heaven.

We have this tremendous gift and we aren’t sharing it. Far too many of us don’t even see it because we are so focused on our daily duties and responsibilities. The Mass must be the starting point for all that we do. It is where we are prepared for battle.

Fighting the war.

A war requires heroic virtue and it requires summoning all we can into our reserves. That means holding fast to the Sacraments and receiving them frequently. It means being people of prayer and Sacred Scripture. It means actively asking God to make us saints and to be willing to endure what will be required of us. Not a single saint was made in comfort. Not one. The Cross is where saints are made. Pray and be ready.

The Enemy is cunning, vastly superior intellectually to ourselves, and hates us. He is actively trying to pull each one of us away from Christ. The one billion babies who have been murdered worldwide through abortion are the casualties of being “civilized” and being a “good” person. It is the smiling face of the demonic. Souls are being lost around us and we ourselves have often fallen into acedia or sloth. Sloth isn’t laziness. It is apathy or indifference to the spiritual. It is to seek the world over Christ. We all fall into it at times, but we need to recognize it when it strikes.

Acedia is often hidden by our desire for comfort. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI saw this danger when he proclaimed: “The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” What does he mean by “greatness”? He does not mean worldly prestige or glory. He is not talking about power and wealth. He is talking about holiness. We aren’t made for comfort because we are called to be saints. We are called to the radical life of holiness, which means giving every single aspect of our lives to Christ in His service. Everything! Our children, spouses, friends, family, house, cars, all the goods we own, our job, our gifts and talents, our sexuality, our bodies, and our souls. We cannot hold anything back from Him, if we do, He will use trials to help free us of our attachments. It’s the only way we can become the beautiful, truly good, and holy person He created us to be.

Why am I writing about holiness in the wake of the Irish vote? I am writing about it because we possess the answer to all of the sufferings, woes, immorality, darkness, weakness, stupidity, and horrors of this world. We have Christ crucified and Risen from the dead. We have the answer that dwells in the depths of even the most hardened of souls. Holiness is how we transform the world and bring it to Christ. Those who hate us the most have often been hurt the most by the wickedness of those of us within the Church, including our priests and bishops. Those people need Christ just as much as we do.

We must always look to Christ in hope, even as we lose countless battles here on earth. One of my favorite quotes for times like these is from one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s letters: “Actually I am a Christian,” Tolkien wrote of himself, “and indeed a Roman Catholic, so that I do not expect ‘history’ to be anything but a ‘long defeat’— though it contains (and in legend may contain more clearly and movingly) some samples or glimpses of final victory” (Letters 255).

We ourselves will fall daily and need to get back up. Battles are about small victories that lead to the ultimate victory. There is great evil in the world and it will largely maintain the upper hand, but the ultimate victory has already been won. Our job is to fight and in so doing attain our Crown of Glory along with countless other souls who persevered to the end.

By Constance T. Hull

Constance T. Hull is a wife, mother, homeschooler, and a graduate student theologian with an emphasis in philosophy.  Her desire is to live the wonder so passionately preached in the works of G.K. Chesterton and to share that with her daughter and others. While you can frequently find her head inside of a great work of theology or philosophy, she considers her husband and daughter to be her greatest teachers. She is passionate about beauty, working towards holiness, the Sacraments, and all things Catholic. She is also published at The Federalist, Public Discourse, and blogs frequently at Swimming the Depths (www.swimmingthedepths.com).