Saskatoon Catholic bishop pens open letter calling vaccine mandates 'severe,' 'ethically questionable'

A Saskatoon bishop has written an open letter on what he calls the severity of vaccine mandates. He copied both the Premier Scott Moe and Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark in the letter.

Bishop Mark Hagemoen of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon wrote the letter after a City of Saskatoon bylaw that would have restricted gathering sizes in Saskatoon — including for places of worship, unless proof of vaccination was required — was recently defeated.

"The vaccine mandates for the general population are becoming severe and perhaps ethically questionable in our current circumstances — at least as these relate to environments outside of health-care facilities," said Hagemoen in the letter.

The bishop said he was concerned with the notion that Catholics would be prevented from attending religious services if they decide not to get vaccinated.

"It is a long-standing principle in the Catholic faith tradition — and in similar religious and other ethical and social teachings — that free and informed consent is required for all medical interventions," Hagemoen said in the letter.

The bishop wrote, however, that the "expression and exercise of conscience is not an absolute and isolated moral principle."

He called for governments to understand how widespread mandates could affect people with these principles.

"This includes navigating carefully the issue of 'exemptions.' On this point, I am not speaking about 'religious exemptions' but the fundamental exemption that comes from the personal right to a person's choice to not be forced to assent to a medical intervention."

The Government of Saskatchewan has not mandated vaccines in places of worship.

Motivation

CBC reached out to the bishop for comment. He said the proposed Saskatoon bylaw helped motivate him to write the letter. He said Saskatoon Catholics came to him with concerns.

"The ways in which the proposed bylaw might be implemented ended up being another kind of further way in which many people with very strong opinions were in touch with me. And further polarization and strong concerns were being brought up. And they were looking to me, some of them as a faith leader, to kind of speak to this or even advocate for this."

Hagemoen said he hopes his open letter will provide insight to those considering COVID-19 policies in the future.

"I fully support implementing all of the guidelines and directives that the province and SHA implement.… But also maybe there are some other nuances to how we deal with people who choose not to be vaccinated."

Hagemoen said he is vaccinated, but does not support vaccine mandates.

"I also don't want to see someone's livelihood and their whole family situation turned on its head because they choose to not be vaccinated."

He said he does not want his letter to be used by those on the extreme side of the anti-vaccine spectrum as a protest tool.

"I strongly would say that no one can take my letter and say, this is proof that a faith leader supports the kinds of things that we want to see absolutely happen on a protest line that mean we have no respect for government and the role of science. That's not the tone of the letter at all."

Hagemoen said he has spoken to other Roman Catholic bishops in Saskatchewan and they're aware of his letter. He believes they are supportive.

He said Catholics value the right to personally choose a medical intervention, as well as "the common good and the need and obligation to protect the health of the compromised and vulnerable."

"I think that's all the more important than ever that it's not either or it's both.… I don't have the solutions, but I'm highlighting a principle that I think we need to continue to be in the tension and work on. Because if we simply see the few unvaccinated as the evil ones … that is a problem for building human community in the midst of a pandemic crisis."

Provincial response

According to the province's online COVID-19 dashboard, more than 60 per cent of the new cases reported Thursday among people eligible for vaccination involved people who were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

The Government Saskatchewan provided a statement to CBC.

"Our government implemented necessary public health measures, including mandatory masking and proof of vaccination or negative test, in order to limit the spread of COVID-19 and reduce the pressure on our health system," the statement said.

"As a result, we are now seeing a significant reduction in the number of new cases, hospitalizations and patients in ICU. We recognize these restrictions are an extraordinary measure, but they are necessary to save lives and we strongly encourage everyone who has not already done so to get vaccinated."