CCBI Resources for Covid-19 – May 18, 2021

Dear Friends of CCBI,

Here we are, post-Ascension Sunday moving towards the great feast of Pentecost. This week is also Laudato Si‘ week, placed in the Church calendar this year to remind us of the gift of creation and our responsibilities towards it. The Dicastery for Integral Human Development has set up numerous webinars and discussions this week to help us to learn what we can do and how to participate. It is making strides in trying to communicate globally and to involve as many of us as possible in helping make the planet ‘healthier,’ for itself as part of God’s creation but also for human beings, as well as other life forms.

We humans are the only ones who can change or improve matters. We need water and safe supplies of food: the staff/stuff of life. Pope Francis reminds us of the ethics involved: we need to conserve all that God has given us in nature; we need to move away from consumerism and individualism and look more to caring for the common good and our less well-off neighbours, at home and abroad. Truly, Laudato Si’ is not that new: since Jesus’ time on earth we have been encouraged to share the ‘bread’ that is the gift of the Father in the first place, not due to our being deserving of any special treatment. The stories of the Good Samaritan, the rich young man, the man who sought to store his wealth in his barns…our Christian DNA has these parables (really, universal truths) written into it, and every so often we need to exercise our conscience and bring these matters to the fore. Pope Francis reinforces this in Fratelli Tutti, where even the title reminds us of our obligation to our neighbours.

Some people do not see the point of ‘the common good,’ but for us there’s no escaping that concept. The Catholic Register reports the Pope saying: “Closed nationalism…which is not simply concern for one’s citizens first, but also a lack of concern for others, is ‘a variant’ of the virus of individualism.”The article adds, “And when combined with putting ‘the laws of the market or intellectual property above the laws of love and the health of humanity,’ people suffer.” Nationalism, individualism, profits before health and humanity — we can see how this links with the Pope’s constant insistence in Laudato Si’ and elsewhere that ‘everything is connected,’ and that, in our current pandemic context, our actions in demanding and purchasing vast supplies of vaccines means fewer are available in countries far worse off than we are.

A balance is needed: it is right for us to want to have our own population vaccinated to prevent more cases, more deaths and further virus spread. It is likely that once our needs have been met, Canada will send its ‘extra’ supply to countries in need. Here’s a thought that’s controversial: if Canada and countries like the US are not going to use their AstraZeneca vaccine supply to the maximum, then it should be used elsewhere. It has been effective in the UK, and although it may seem like heartless calculation to approve its use in light of the numbers who have died from its use, it must also be noted that the daily count of the dead reported in India for Monday, May 17, is 4 000 people. In one day, and almost every day! Moreover, this number is reckoned to be grossly underestimated. Compared with the very small chance of blood clotting problems, it seems unreasonable to withhold this vaccine when it is available, effective, and could prevent thousands more deaths.

Ethics in a pandemic will always be a little strained. For example, in working out policies for triage, ethicists and physicians hoped and prayed that the contemplated scenarios would not come to pass, but they knew that facilities still had to be prepared for that possibility. In these drastic situations, someone responsible has to make decisions, rather than have decision-makers acting randomly, with no rationale at all. Resorting to triage had happened in other countries and is happening now in the worst hit countries, where there is little chance of ventilator treatment, or of finding a supply of oxygen or a facility where one might be at least cared for until death. Canada has on the whole been spared from these extreme situations, but we all know there have been close calls and no end of tragic outcomes.

Laudato Si’ calls us to be positive despite tragedies and to move forward towards improving and healing the world, step by little step. Please see the link below for more information. While it may not seem to be specifically ‘bioethical,’ we are following the Pope’s counsel that everything is connected, and health and the ethics surrounding it are crucially important for people and the planet we inhabit.

Our Lady, Health of the Sick, pray for us!

Let us pray that those in charge of finance will work with governments to regulate the financial sphere and protect citizens from its dangers!

(Pope Francis’ intentions for May)

Let us also pray for the success of Laudato Si’ week in promoting integral human development!

Moira and Bambi

Laudato Si’ Week

The Catholic Register
Put health before profits by making vaccine more available, Pope says

Suggested ways to help COVID – India appeals:
Donate to the India COVID-19 Response Appeal – redcross.ca

Covid-19 Emergency Appeal Donate to Covid-19 Emergency Appeal by CANADIAN JESUITS INTERNATIONAL, and make a difference today. Support the causes you care about at CanadaHelps. Donating is easy and secure.www.canadahelps.org

Development and Peace/Caritas Canada – www.devp.org
Covid Emergency Fund – Donation Page