I have already addressed this issue in a previous post, but recent events have brought it back to the forefront of my mind, so, here we go again I guess.

It disappoints me that virtually all of my fellow Traditionalist Catholics here in the USA are anti-vaxx.

As you know if you read my other post, I’m not enthusiastically pro-vaccine. I’m not one of those people who proudly posted a selfie with a Covid vax bandaid and some virtue-signally caption about the importance of getting vaccinated. I’m skeptical. I’d never get my kids the Covid shot.

I do get my kids their routine vaccines – but I dread doing so. I hate it. Because I know there is a risk of harm every time.

But I still do it, because the risk of harm is very slight, and the protection against serious disease is basically guaranteed. And very valuable.

“But all the mysterious shit and heavy metals that they put in your body…” so they say, but I simply don’t see enough evidence that the things they put in vaccines are so harmful. Pretty much every one of my friends and family, and everyone I ever knew, growing up in the pre-internet, pre-antivaxx era, is fully vaccinated, with no adverse effects.

Again: I don’t love doing it, but the protection from serious illness is worth it to me.

“But they’re made from aborted fetal cells” — I’ve looked into this one, and yes, it’s unfortunately true, and I wish they’d find a new way to make these vaccines.

However, two things: (1): my duty to protect my children and my community from serious illness is more pressing, ethically, than my obligation to not purchase unethically-sourced goods, and (2): in the case of the origins of these shots, the cooperation with evil is very removed, very distant – many degrees of separation between the aborted child and the vaccine that my child receives, especially if (3): no other vaccine is offered against a certain illness. Which reduces or even negates my culpability.

Furthermore, nothing in Catholic doctrine or papal writings is against vaccinations. Catholicism is very pro-preventative medicine. Catholic hospitals throughout the decades have offered vaccines.

The antivaxx movement is a trend. A trend that’s arisen because of the internet. (Ironic, considering that the same people who are antivaxx are the ones who hate the internet and say we shouldn’t use it.) That’s all it is. It’s American trads trying too hard to retaliate against the secular mainstream culture.

And yes, the secular mainstream culture is bad, and the government is not trustworthy. However, it is also true that modern medicine does some good things, and vaccines provide valuable protection against disease.

With all due respect, I think that American trads are trying so hard to be “counter-cultural” that they’re saying “no” to certain harmless and even beneficial things as well. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater, if you will. Swinging the pendulum too hard in the opposite direction.

And this is why this country is seeing new cases of things like measles and polio. It’s because of the antivaxxers.

As a trad who vaccinates, I feel really alone and frustrated. I feel alienated from my peers, and like they’ll think I’m a traitor and/or an idiot if they get to know me too well.

I’ve been going to my TLM parish for almost two years now. This was my first introduction to the Latin Mass. I’ll admit, in the beginning I was starstruck. As you know if you’ve read my previous posts on the topic, I thought I’d found something of a Catholic Mecca. I cherished a secret little belief that the SSPX was rather perfect, that they could do no wrong. “These people,” I thought to myself, “have got it figured out!”

But I see now that, like any human institution, it has its flaws. And one of those, in my humble opinion, is that its faithful tend to take the counterculture thing to an unhealthy extreme. People accuse SSPX trads of being “a cult,” and that is entirely untrue and uncharitable. But I can almost kinda see how they get that reputation now, given how they seem to live by these niche cultural standards – standards which are optional, not at all mandatory, for Catholics.

Which I can understand. Like I said, the culture is bad, and we can’t trust the world nor the government. I’m not saying my fellow trads are stupid. Not at all! They’re very smart. I’ve actually observed that trads tend to be more well-read, more high-achieving, and more knowledgeable than most “normie” Catholics. I have a ton of respect for my fellow trads, and am honored to be in their company! But, it also seems to me that they’ve largely fallen victim to a misguided philosophy. That some untruth has perhaps snuck in with the truth that they’ve found; ridden into their minds like a parasite on the back of the truth.

It’s disappointing to see. However, it’s also kind of liberating.

Because for a while now, I’ve been laboring under this delusion that all these lay trads, my fellow parishioners, had it all figured out. That I just had to copy them, to blend in with their lifestyle and subculture, in order to be a good person. I idolized them, and that’s on me.

But then this vaccine issue got rubbed in my face again. And now I see, now I realize, that the subculture is not perfect. It’s just a subculture, and it has its flaws. I don’t need to live just like them in order to be a good Catholic.

Which takes the pressure off. I don’t need to live like the Amish! I don’t need to live on a farm! I don’t need to raise chickens or make sourdough! Those things are lovely, but not required! I don’t need to even want to do those things!

Wow! I can breathe. A great weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Being able to see the subculture for what it is, is so freeing. But also, like I said, disappointing. As you all know, I’ve never fit in anywhere; I’ve always longed for a place to belong, to find My People. It would be nice if the people who shared my religious beliefs were not so strict about their cultural norms and preferences as to feel like an exclusive club.

I wish I could find some other trad Christians who aren’t antivaxx. If you fit that description, please feel free to leave a comment – it would bring me great peace of mind to know that you exist.