As an unvaccinated traveller -- I thought I should share my experiences with others like myself who are not vaccinated for religious/ethical reasons. (10-20% of the Canadian population is not vaccinated depending on how you determine vaccination status. Figures change based on numerous variables: province/ vaccine series / doses/month…) WestJet: Vancouver to Rome -- WestJet, Lufthansa, and Air Canada are the airlines I have flown with to Italy in the summer months during Covid and the extensive restrictions on non-vaccinated individuals such as myself. In June of 2020, I managed to fly to Rome on Air Canada via Toronto. And in June of 2021 to Rome via Frankfurt. Both summers had restrictions but not an outright ban on travel if you were unvaccinated. As most Canadians know, the Canadian Government introduced a travel ban in the autumn of 2021 for non-vaccinated travellers -- with few exceptions --flying out of Canadian airports whether domestic or international. I had my doubts whether I would be able to fly out of Canada this summer. A friend of mine, a Polish priest, wondered if he would ever be able to return to Poland. The fact is, we don’t know when the Laws will change or even if the Laws will change. I wanted to book my June-August flights for this summer before the fares went up. WestJet appeared on my computer with an ad that they flew non-stop from Calgary to Rome, exactly where I wanted to go – Rome! And Vancouver was only a hop from Calgary. I went through the WestJet website and I noticed they had a section for non-vaccinated travellers, and a link, specifically for religious exemptions with an online form to complete. I thought of checking Air Canada, but their website sounded like they rarely give religious exemptions; I did not bother. In April I immediately completed the necessary documents to request the religious exemption on WestJet. The airline that issues the religious exemption is the one you book and fly on. I prayed that my reasons justified the exemption. I also asked people to pray for me. I obtained the exemption, and I went ahead and booked my WestJet flights. Once I booked my flights from Vancouver to Rome via Calgary, following WestJet instructions, I discovered that my exemption would expire while I was still in Italy. Religious exemptions are only good for 3 months. I did not want to reapply; I asked if I could buy a one-way ticket since I also hold an Italian passport. Perhaps this didn’t make any difference, but WestJet did issue a one-way ticket based on my religious exemption. The first major hurdle was over, I got the exemption. But the next hurdle, I was required to take a CPR test – not to enter Italy but to exit Canada. My PCR showed “negative.” On June 15th I was flying out of Canada! A few days later, June 20th, the travel ban on the unvaccinated travellers was lifted. But I was happy I booked as early as I had done; I did not want to wait to book a flight at the last minute with limited seats and higher airfares. I’ve become somewhat of a neurotic traveller – even before Covid due to the “unexpected.” Probably because of my early travel experiences. When I was 16 years old I missed my Air Canada flight from Copenhagen to Toronto; managing with little cash I spent several days waiting for the next flight. And when I was 19 years old I slept on the floor at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv waiting for the next El Al flight to London. Mind you, given the number of flights between Vancouver and Harare (via Amsterdam), and Cape Town (via Singapore), and Bombay (via Munich), my travel experiences, thank God, have been excellent.
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 Is love between Russia and the Ukraine not possible? Between Putin and Zelensky? Between brothers? Between the Russians and Ukrainians?
From a Christian perspective we always believe a change of heart is possible, even the most hardened hearts. This is what conversion is, turning around, looking at your “enemy” differently. Seeing in the other a child of God, whether he speaks Russian or Ukrainian. The other is another “me”: a human being created in God’s image and likeness. The culture may be different, the religion, the language, and yet we are united by a common bond of being children of God. We have the same desires, don’t we? To be happy. To live in peace. To seek what is good for ourselves and others. To build community based on justice, namely, mutual respect, what is fundamental in human nature. Where do humans go wrong? We should ask ourselves this because it happens all the time. Since we know what we desire as individuals, can we not build our communities on such desires? Ultimately, truth, goodness, and happiness? Is this asking for too much. Where do we break down? When something goes wrong, we want immediate answers. A rupture in relations, whether personal, communal, transnational, “Whose fault is it?” We hear a story and repeat it. Or we kick off our shoes lie back on our lazy-chair and allow the news to feed us. And as we nibble and bite and swallow the news, daily habits of being informed, we realise who is at fault, who needs to be punished. We realise who the enemy is. We understand. Right? It’s repeated daily as I sit back and drink beer or wine or coffee and get the updates. We have the answers and explanations. That’s intellectual laziness. And we convince ourselves, yes, the enemy needs to be punished, blown up to smithereens if possible. That’s what they deserve, him/her, them, “those” people, “that” country. Let them have it! Certainly, if we look hard and honestly, we will discover how many of “those” countries in the world have a history of horrific crimes of genocide, of massacres, dropping Atomic bombs, blowing up abbeys, responsible for regime changes leading to exodus of refugees or migrants. Exporting/imposing the option of baby-killing, unnatural sexual unions, trans rights -- forms of neo-colonialism: telling others what is good for them, or what they must to do belong to a community, even if it violates God’s laws and nature. Moral differences are reflected in cultural differences shaped by religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and so on. If we go back to our earlier premise that communities are built on mutual respect, then we need to be aware that imposing the Western agenda of bankrupt morality would be the cause of resistance by many nations. Even in the European Union Poland and Hungary have been sidelined and punished by Brussels because these two nations continue to defend and preserve traditional Christian values.  When the vaccines became available as “protection” against Coronavirus-19 in the Spring of 2021, I needed to think about whether I should get vaccinated or not.
A friend of mine, a micro-biologist and devout Catholic, was the first to bring to my attention that the vaccines were the product of test/development/experimented on aborted fetal cell lines. My immediate reaction was “negative”: I could not take these vaccines. I also inquired with a couple of priests. I continued to study the subject of aborted fetal cell lines reading the findings from the Charlotte Lozier Institute; I listened to a video conference given by Janet Smith, The Morality of Covid Vaccines; I also read the work of the Catholic microbiologist, Pamela Acker, Vaccination: the Catholic Perspective. As more and more of my network of Catholics contacts were getting vaccinated including clergy, I wondered whether I should not be doing what others were doing given the strong push for vaccination, Pfizer, Moderna, Astra-Zeneca, Johnson & Johnson. I held nothing against those who decided to get vaccinated. They had their reasons. But what would be mine? I heard about the “charity” argument; indeed, as Christians, charity is central to living out our faith. Vaccination as an act of charity towards our community, the common good, not just to protect ourselves but to protect others. The focus on charity was appealing, but the arguments did nothing for me. I simply was not convinced by the “common good” reasoning. If Canadians were concerned about the common good, we would not have the abortion industry that we have. And if we had the collective determined effort to end abortion in Canada, we would be saving more lives from abortion than from Covid. In 2018 there were 83,576 abortions in Canada (Government of Canada Statistics); in 2021 there were 30,331 “Covid-related” deaths (Public Health Agency of Canada). Certainly, we can protest and demonstrate against abortion; but what personal measures can we take to defend life of the preborn baby, the most vulnerable of our community? Am I to believe that the common good is to be taken seriously, as an incentive to get vaccinated, while we do not have any laws to protect the unborn? I have heard the “remote material co-operation” of moral theologians which almost gives legitimacy to abortion-tainted vaccination since there is no “formal co-operation” where the person is directly implicated in the abortion. This means someone who gets vaccines that have been either tested/developed/ experimented with aborted fetal cell lines – would not be directly or “formally” participating in sin which is why the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (December 21, 2020) gave its approval under the Covid-19 pandemic conditions. |
AuthorFr. David Bellusci, O.P. List by Titles
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