Vaccination and the Common Good

"Getting a vaccine, the note [from the Vatican Congregation of the Faith] added, is also a question of promoting the common good.” The note clarifies conflicting reports from some quarters that getting the Covid-19 vaccines may be immoral.

Vatican endorses Covid vaccines: Covid-19 vaccines that use the cells of aborted foetuses are 'morally acceptable' according to the Vatican’s doctrine office. @ctrlamb reports

https://t.co/4dfPaZXoeJ

— The Tablet (@The_Tablet) December 21, 2020

Ethics for Opening

The concern to reopen schools weighs heavily everywhere. In the U.S. the couple hundred Catholic universities and colleges have Catholic ethics to guide them. A conversation is set for next week.

There are approximately 200 Catholic colleges and universities in the country. What does Catholic ethics have to offer, as we face the challenge of reopening? We at the @curran_center welcome you to a discussion next week ... pic.twitter.com/GuDPPDitLe

— Michael Peppard (@MichaelPeppard) July 7, 2020

Being and Doing

Jesuit Michael Rozier reflected well about human character during the pandemic. “This crisis can make us feel that we are the objects of other people’s decisions, but as I wrote in a previous column (“We must not allow the coronavirus to rob us of our humanity. How can we (safely) preserve it?”), reclaiming our agency is a spiritual task as much as it is a temporal one.”

Seniors who lived through earlier challenging times offered some 1^st-person advice about character, namely being a person who makes the world better. The seniors shared their memories with 2020 graduates.

How the coronavirus can help us reclaim the virtues of self-sacrifice and prudence https://t.co/bF3eEq0gcw

— America Magazine (@americamag) May 15, 2020

Here is some guidance — senior to senior — from people who graduated in the midst of epidemics, wars and the fight for equal rights. https://t.co/hifOVPrIUw

— CNN (@CNN) May 15, 2020

Problems or Virtues?

The political races have underscored the problems facing the retirement set. Those do need to be addressed. However, are those years to be each retiree’s “20-year vacation?” Jesuit Edward Vacek wonders about that.

“Many gerontologists, under the influence of individualism, affluence and secularism, encourage retirees to enjoy to the hilt their new found release from responsibilities. Their message is a far cry from that of Christianity in the past which encouraged the elderly to practise resignation, self-sacrifice and religious trust.”    “What virtues should Christians today recommend?”

Read Fr. Vacek's suggestions.

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Wiki-image by Gerrit of Chelsea Pensioners Great Hall used by CC BY-SA 3.0.

“Global Scourge”

Human “trafficking touches on some of the most uncomfortable and conflicted areas of American public discourse.” The cover story of today’s CSM is not a brief read. It does uncover incorrect statistics. It also offers clarity amidst all the “ambiguities and confusions and facts and fictions” surrounding human trafficking.

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Wiki-image by Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department of prostitutes and potential customers in Thailand used with permission.

Tongue in Cheek

Jesuit Fr. James Martin portrayed Jesus having a bad day. The irony of his “the not-so-social gospel” is that many consider the challenges of Jesus to be “just metaphors.”

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Wiki-image by Phillip Medhurst of man lowered through the roof used by CC BY-SA 3.0.

Drought, Gasoline and World

The drought affecting the U.S. also affects the world. The U.S. exports corn, soybeans and wheat, and it exports more than other countries. Isobel Coleman, of The Atlantic, notes that “high food prices are devastating for importing countries that are already deeply food insecure [and] they can also be economically destabilizing for lower- and middle-income countries with big populations that import large amounts of food.” She continues to urge reconsideration of the law that “channels some 40 percent of U.S. corn into gasoline and away from food each year.” She is not alone. Read the source of the above quoted sentences.

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Wiki-image by Spedona of corn tassel used by CC BY-SA 3.0.

Preferred

People prefer seeing true Christians over hearing about Christianity. Many notice when they see those who embody their beliefs and enact them. Dr. Paul Farmer noticed in his early days in medical school.

He spoke last month at the Divinity School, Yale University, about the corporal works of mercy. He knows them well. Jamie L. Manson wrote about Dr. Farmer’s visit in the NCR. It was an ecumenical event requiring two overflow-rooms to accommodate those who came. The YouTube video of his lecture is embedded below.

How Much?

O

ne concludes that distance from constituents and greed are related.

This NYT report on a failure by most members of Congress to answer an informal survey is not cheerful. It is in sync with standing observations and concerns about the disconnect between Congress and people.

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Wiki-image by Vincent.Mar of bar graph meeting is used according to CC BY-SA 2.0.

David, Goliath and Robots

Patrick Lin, Ph.D. is the director of the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group, based at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.  Yesterday The Atlantic published a readable post of some length. Mr. Lin’s “briefing about the ethics of drones…[is] a thorough and unnerving survey of what it might mean for the intelligence service to deploy different kinds of robots.”

The “usual reason” robots are deployed, Mr. Lin summarized, is to do jobs, which are dull, dirty and dangerous. Those three Ds are disquieting. To them Mr. Lin added an unnerving one: “a new, fourth ‘D’ that’s worth considering, [is] the ability to act with dispassion.” Some examples:

• If doctors won’t violate their oath to do no harm and refuse to torture others or inject them with dangerous materials, would robots be used for that?
• If robots can fire with near-total accuracy, then states using them would “violate a rule by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which bans weapons that cause more than 25% field mortality and 5% hospital mortality.”
• How do we clean up after [microbots and disposable robots]? If we don’t, and they’re tiny—for instance, nanosensors—then they could then be ingested or inhaled by animals or people.

How did humans get to this? That question was not entertained in this briefing.

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Wiki-diagram by Leonidl of a Skeet drone is used according to the CC BY 2.0 license.

“Anticipating the Future”

A priest-scientist discussed the intersection of science and faith. 

Jesuit Fr. Kevin FitzGerald noted in a video-interview that while “specifics” can’t be predicted we can “learn to anticipate upcoming ethical questions.”
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Wiki-image of spinning device is in the public domain.

Atomic Challenge

Dialogue seems especially necessary because so many in so many countries depend on nuclear power. A brief post offers a glimpse of the thoughts and actions of an experienced Jesuit in Bangalore, India. Fearing dialogue will lead to being embraced by fear.

Nuclear power poses complex problems. Many assert that nuclear power is free of greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, how does nuclear reach that green state?

Critics, however, say that painting nuclear power as free of greenhouse gas emissions is misleading, because it considers only plant operation. If the entire fuel cycle, from mining through processing, is considered, nuclear energy's carbon footprint increases significantly.

That is one question among many. A 22 March 2011 article in the Catholic Sun raised more.

Put on Crops We Eat?

"Sludge is the toxic mix that is created by our municipal wastewater treatment facilities." Turns out that sludge has been used as fertilizers on crops grown for foods in the United States.

Read the newsletter from December 2009, published by Mercola.com. It was recently tweeted by the reputable folks at Bioletics.

Decisions and Making Them

People make decisions many times each day. Some decisions are less agonizing than others. An example of a less agonizing decision may happen in a supermarket: I choose this product because it is less expensive than that one. A less agonizing decision may take little time or more time: This product is more expensive than others, and it's also more healthy for me to eat. Does one decide by price or by benefit to health?

Other decisions are more agonizing, costing deciders emotional investment, learning new information about self and others as well as taking a psychic toll. Decisions in more complex situations demand much from people. Unlike a decision in a supermarket, a broader range of perspectives presents itself: does one choose for the greatest good; for the common good; to promote justice; to ensure the dignity of people involved?

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University offers this practical framework for making ethical decisions. It won't remove agony from decision-making, but it offers clarity, which agony frequently clouds.