I think there’s an airtight case to be made that in our tradition you have an obligation to other people, that you’re not the center of all of this. And I just find that we’re losing that sense when I hear people like the attorney general in Louisiana talk about individual rights and my right to be vaccinated or not. You’re an individual, and no one denies that, but you have an allegiance and fidelity to the church and to the country. Growing up in Catholic schools, you were always taught that you were subservient to something larger than yourself. It is morally imperative that you get vaccinated. It’s the moral jeopardy that you place yourself in when you’re not vaccinated. JC: It’s not just that you should get vaccinated. They think that this question is some kind of deep theological thing or that it’s an ethical quandary, when really what Catholics need to know is: Should you get vaccinated? And the answer is yes. MM: How much of it do you think is a communication issue? It seems to me that we have the wrong priority here. They say it’s “permissible,” right? Not only is it permissible, but it’s the morally right thing to do. I think that the church’s response has been somewhat timid on this. And I really wish we would explore the morality of not being vaccinated.
His piece, which is in the Baton Rouge diocese newspaper, was in response to, in my opinion, a particularly odious Catholic attorney general telling people how to get around vaccine requirements or whatever.Īnd I have a little bit of a problem with the church’s response, and this is it: They say it’s “permissible,” right? Not only is it permissible, but it’s the morally right thing to do. He’s committed to the church first in every sense. James Carville: I just love John to death. Father John Carville, your cousin from the Diocese of Baton Rouge, wrote a piece recently addressing some of the arguments that people are making about why they’re not getting vaccinated. Matt Malone, S.J.: One of the reasons that we’re talking is because your area of the country is having trouble getting folks vaccinated. It has been edited for style and clarity. This week, on America Media’s “Behind the Story” video series, Matt Malone, S.J., the president and editor in chief of America, spoke with James Carville, a long-time political consultant, author and the co-host of the “Politics War Room” podcast, about the moral obligation Catholics have to get the Covid-19 vaccine.īelow is an excerpt from that conversation.