The most recent Letter to Friends of Benefactors" of the Society of St. Pius X in Canada has a worthwhile section on a matter recently addressed on this blog. I urge you to visit the link and read it in its entirety. If only we heard such logic and clarity from our bishops.
I point to the matter of wearing a mask over one's nose or mouth in the church where, as in the case of the Province of Ontario, the government's medical authorities and Premier have commanded it and in our churches, our Catholic bishops have affirmed it and even police it.
"If the unjust law goes against God's law, I may not obey it. But if it is not directly against God's law, I am not bound to obey it, but I must make a judgement. If submitting to the law would lead to a greater good, then I may submit to the unjust demand."
If one peruses my posts on this matter, this is the very logic that I used to describe the matter.
The mask is not against the Laws of God, it is not a matter of morality or conscience. While one can ignore the masking request in those things under their own control that is the person's right. In a church, public space and owned completely under corporation sole by the bishop, one may consider the matter unjust. Yet, submitting to the annoying and bothersome and perhaps, inane and insane request does fulfill a "greater good" to the "unjust demand." That is, the very survival of the parish no matter what form of the Mass is at stake.
The matter of the injection is something completely different. It can be good and charitable and necessary, notwithstanding the abortion question and the health effects we see. For example: in one case, a person takes the injection out of charity to one's elderly parents who have taken the injections and have a real fear of the disease. The charity is to take it so one can assist, visit or live with them and relieve them of the stress and concern. This is particularly charitable when the person would have not taken it if the circumstances were different. Another is a man that must provide for his family whose employer has used unjust threats and coercion. He must survive, he must support his family, he cannot allow them to suffer and cannot find a new appointment or receive government insurance due to the evil actions of his employer and the government. Both are cases known to me. Both are justified.
In my own case, I have not and will not take the injections. First, I believe I already had SARS-CoV-2 in that mysterious illness in December 2019 and, I have judged, based upon my research, that there is more risk from the injection rather than the virus, should I catch it or catch it again. The matter of abortion and the testing on fetal stem cells is a factor because so many of our medications have been done this way and we do not even know. For example, is my Wigwag prescription tested on some kind of fetal stem lines? It seems so. What is the difference? I need the Wigwag, it is not my fault how it was developed. I do not need any of these injections. This is how we must each interpret it for ourselves. Using Catholic teaching, our own well-formed conscience and logic.
We are in a time of tyrants. Where insanity, literally, has taken over the minds and spirits of our leaders. Where some, out of misplaced fear, have shut themselves up for 18 months in a prison of real or imaginary walls.
We cannot change them. We must outlast them.
November 2021 - Letter to Friends and Benefactors: "Morality of vaccins" - District of Canada (sspx.ca)What is the correct attitude towards abuse of power?
We should note first that the power of the state or of the Church is not the same as the power of that of parents. Parents have dominative power over their children. They can command their minor children to do anything except sin. The State and the Church authorities have legal power which is limited. Bob's dad can tell Bob at what time he has to go to bed, but the government can't tell Bob or Bob's dad at what time to go to bed.
Saint Thomas Aquinas sums up the teaching of the Church on how we should treat an unjust law [1]. The laws of God can never be unjust (for He Himself is the rule) and so we are always bound to obey them. The laws of man however can be unjust either because (ed. they are) opposed to God’s Law or because (ed. they are) damaging to some human good. If an unjust law is opposed to God’s Law, it cannot be observed even if we had to pay with the price of our life. Saint Thomas More was ordered to recognise Henry VIII as head of the Church. This was a lie and therefore against God’s Law. He chose to be put to death rather than to lie.
If however the law is not directly opposed to God’s Law, but simply very burdensome, or intended by the lawgiver for some ulterior motive, or quite simply, something that the lawgiver has no power to command, this law does not oblige in conscience. If the government required me to have my children take part in secularist propaganda classes and I refuse; although I am disobeying the law, it is not a sin.
Note the difference: if the unjust law goes against God's law, I may not obey it. But if it is not directly against God's law, I am not bound to obey it, but I must make a judgement. If submitting to the law would lead to a greater good, then I may submit to the unjust demand. This is what our Blessed Lord meant when He said, “if a man were to take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him.” (Mt. 5, 40) He gave us the example in this when he submitted to the unjust sentence of the high priests and of Pilate and gave Himself to die in order to save us from our sins.