{"id":4248,"date":"2026-08-06T15:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T15:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=4248"},"modified":"2026-08-06T15:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T15:40:19","slug":"are-floridas-catholic-bishops-fighting-to-force-vaccines-on-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=4248","title":{"rendered":"Are Florida\u2019s Catholic bishops fighting to force vaccines on kids?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Florida\u2019s attorney general, James Uthmeier, last week told the state\u2019s Catholic schools that they must allow religious vaccine exemptions.\u00a0\u00a0The Florida bishops\u2019 conference, which CBS reports has historically \u201curged lawmakers to keep vaccine requirements,\u201d intends to respond to Uthmeier\u2019s demand tomorrow.<\/p>

Read more Mamdani\u2019s commissars botch their central planning for government-run groceries<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

In a letter sent Friday to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, Uthmeier, citing the Catholic Catechism, Pope Leo, and scripture, argued Catholic doctrine does not allow its schools to reject vaccine exemptions for religious reasons.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It looks as though the Catholic bishops in Florida are ready to go to the mattresses to force schoolchildren to get jabbed, but the truth is a little more complicated.<\/p>\n

For one, the state government isn\u2019t threatening to liquidate the Church, as the government of Mexico did (with Calvin Coolidge\u2019s help!) a hundred years ago.\u00a0\u00a0The state\u2019s mechanisms of \u201cpersuasion\u201d are more subtle here: Provide religious exemptions, or else lose access to the education voucher system.<\/p>\n

ABC again:<\/p>\n

\n

Many\u00a0Catholic schools\u00a0in Florida accept students who pay tuition with help from the state\u2019s private school vouchers. Currently, more than 500,000 students across the state participate in the program. As of March 2026, about a quarter of the state\u2019s education budget goes to voucher programs, up from 12 percent in 2021. [snip]<\/p>\n

\u201cBe assured, Florida\u2019s Catholic schools are operating in accord with the law and Church teaching,\u201d wrote Michele Taylor, a spokesperson for the conference.<\/p>

Read more The silence that speaks volumes in women\u2019s sports<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For another, the \u201cshowdown,\u201d as lefty Catholic mag America calls it, appears to center on religious liberty.\u00a0\u00a0In short, it\u2019s unconscionable from a First Amendment perspective for the government to tell the Church what to do.\u00a0\u00a0So it\u2019s conceivable that Florida\u2019s Catholic schools don\u2019t have a problem in theory with granting religious exemptions, but they just don\u2019t want to be bullied or extorted into doing it.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of angles here, like Uthmeier\u2019s cheeky insistence that the bishops justify forcing Catholic students to take vaccines derived from murdered babies versus a Notre Dame University law professor\u2019s rejoinder that layman Uthmeier is out of his depth.\u00a0\u00a0Also the \u201cCatholic inside baseball\u201d contentions regarding the Church\u2019s spotty relationship with religious liberty.<\/p>\n

Rather, two things about this story stand out to me:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. In the wake of COVID church closures, the optics of Catholic bishops preparing to fight Florida to protect forcing vaccines on children is not great.\u00a0\u00a0I will never forget my own bishop in 2020, faced with Catholics clamoring for him to open up the churches, entreating his flock to stand up and…\u201cfollow the guidance of public health and scientific leaders.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Catholics in Florida may well have another medical interdict in the offing the next time politician-doctors have an election to win.<\/li>\n
  2. This story reinforces my opposition to school vouchers.\u00a0\u00a0The government takes our money, renames it \u201cpublic education dollars,\u201d and then gives back some to educate our children as we see fit.\u00a0\u00a0But wouldn\u2019t it be simpler, and more pro-freedom, just to lower property taxes?\u00a0\u00a0Let public education stand on its own feet.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m sure a few Elon Musks will be delighted to fund it, along with the millions and millions of Americans who will enthusiastically write checks to their local Government Elementary.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In any event, Catholic parents in Florida may have a back-to-school dilemma on their hands this autumn: secular (or maybe kinda-sorta Protestant) indoctrination with some relief from our country\u2019s intense shoot-\u2019em-up vaccine regime, or Catholic values (one hopes, anyway!) with a hearty side of \u201cthou shalt vax.\u201d<\/p>\n

    The Notre Dame lawyer intoned, \u201cIf a parent objects to these vaccines, which the church teaches are\u00a0\u00a0morally permissible and which clearly serve the common good of the community, they may move their children to state-run schools.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0This kind of condescension and dismissiveness swells the ranks of homeschoolers, so thanks for that.\u00a0\u00a0And it reveals the real answer to the rigged choice in Florida: Educate your own kids.<\/p>

    Read more Marxists, Muslims, and surrender<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

    Image: SELF Magazine via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Florida\u2019s attorney general, James Uthmeier, last week told the state\u2019s Catholic schools that they must allow religious vaccine exemptions.\u00a0\u00a0The Florida bishops\u2019 conference, which CBS reports has historically \u201curged lawmakers to keep vaccine requirements,\u201d intends to respond to Uthmeier\u2019s demand tomorrow. Read more Mamdani\u2019s commissars botch their central planning for government-run groceries In a letter sent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,45],"tags":[1715],"class_list":["post-4248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholic-church","category-religion","tag-related-topics-catholic-church-florida-school-choice-vaccines"],"yoast_head":"\nAre Florida\u2019s Catholic bishops fighting to force vaccines on kids? - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=4248\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are Florida\u2019s Catholic bishops fighting to force vaccines on kids? - Interstate Logistics Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Florida\u2019s attorney general, James Uthmeier, last week told the state\u2019s Catholic schools that they must allow religious vaccine exemptions.\u00a0\u00a0The Florida bishops\u2019 conference, which CBS reports has historically \u201curged lawmakers to keep vaccine requirements,\u201d intends to respond to Uthmeier\u2019s demand tomorrow. 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