Sunday, September 27, 2020

Is Government "Lockdown" Moral? Nope.

Yes, there are moral considerations involved in 'lockdowns.'  The Bishop of Springfield, IL, +Thomas Paprocki, explains it all.

...“The distinction between ordinary and extraordinary means of preserving life is important, for if a means is extraordinary — that is, if the burdens outweigh the benefits — then it is not morally obligatory and should not be coerced by state power,” he states.

In the face of a pandemic, “do we have a moral obligation to shut down our society, require people to stay at home, put employees out of work, send businesses into bankruptcy, impair the food supply chain, and prevent worshipers from going to church? I would say no,” the bishop argues....

Typically, Catholic moral/ethical theology uses the term "extraordinary means" when discussing an individual's situation, not that of an entire society.  But the application of "extraordinary" certainly can include the "remedy" imposed by various Governments to this epidemic.

...The impact of lockdowns “on people being able to go to church, receive Communion, go to their jobs, go to school, with all that being basically shut down for a period of time, again, it just struck me as extraordinary, that this had never happened in my lifetime, and probably in the lifetime of most people who are alive today, and so the word extraordinary kept coming back to me,” he said.

In making this distinction, the Catechism of the Catholic Church asserts that when forgoing extraordinary treatment, the intention is not for people to die, but rather to avoid remedies that outweigh the harm of the disease itself....

The Bishop observes that we do not forbid driving cars and trucks to 'prevent 35,000 road fatalities every year.'

...“It’s not that simple to say we have to do everything to save every life possible, because we just don’t do that, that’s not possible,” he continued. “Instead we take ordinary means, and that’s what I’m hoping to contribute to the conversation here.”...

There's a reason that Chesterton referred to the Catholic Church as 'the Church of common sense.'  Perhaps that's one reason that the Church has been persecuted throughout history, eh?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Of course the government "lockdown" is moral.