The Catholic bishops of Florida took state Attorney General James Uthmeier to school on basic freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment and on the rights of religious institutions, not politicians, to decide matters of theology.
It all began in late July when Uthmeier sent a letter to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops threatening to disqualify its schools from the state’s school voucher program for refusing to grant faith-based vaccine exemptions.
In the process, he attempted to educate Catholic prelates on the ins and outs of holy doctrine and how they should employ theology in policy and practice.
He attempted to educate Catholic prelates on the ins and outs of holy doctrine and how they should employ theology in policy and practice.
Uthmeier invoked Catholic teachings on abortion, referenced Pope Leo XIV’s pronouncements on the important role of the family and the sacredness of human life, cited St. Thomas Aquinas’ writings on moral law and doctrine and noted that the Vatican itself once determined “‘vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation.’”
The famously combative and heavy-handed attorney general even offered his personal views on how the bishops should approach vaccine exemptions. “As a Catholic, I am confident that the teachings of the Catholic Church do not require Catholic schools to compel students to take vaccines derived from the tissue of aborted children against the sincerely held religious objections of their parents.”
His letter added that there exists “no legitimate religious reason” to deny vaccine exemptions to families that request them and that the Florida bishops are bound by church doctrine “to respect the right of conscience of persons who, for moral or religious reasons, object” to vaccine mandates.
“If the Conference nevertheless refuses to comply with Florida law, then please state clearly the religious grounds on which Catholic schools may force persons to take vaccines,” Uthmeier concluded.
Michael Sheedy
Conference Executive Director Michael Sheedy responded in an Aug. 7 letter explaining to Uthmeier that the bishops of Florida are not obligated to explain or justify the teachings of the Catholic Church or their reasoning on the state’s vaccine exemption mandate.
“Respectfully, any insinuation that a government official can dictate to the Catholic Church (or any religion) how to apply her tenets and dogma violates well-established constitutional religious freedom rights,” Sheedy wrote, adding it is patently obvious “that the bishops, not the state, decide how to interpret and apply Catholic principles and theology.”
The conference is willing to meet with state officials to discuss the issue but is equally prepared to “protect our students, defend our rights and preserve religious freedom,” he said.
Sheedy cited the First Amendment and numerous U.S. Supreme Court rulings protecting the prerogative of faith groups to determine how theology informs practices and policies.
“The religion clauses of the First Amendment provide that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Together, these clauses protect a religious organization’s right to define and govern its own faith and mission while ‘prohibit(ing) governmental involvement in such ecclesiastical decisions.”
The Constitution also denies public officials the right to judge the appropriateness of belief, Sheedy said. “The government may not decide that church teaching is insufficiently religious, insufficiently consistent with Catholic doctrine, or insufficiently compelling to justify an ecclesiastical policy. Nor may it require church leaders to defend their interpretation of Catholic doctrine before civil authorities as a condition of operating religious schools.”
“The government … may (not) require church leaders to defend their interpretation of Catholic doctrine before civil authorities as a condition of operating religious schools.”
The church-autonomy doctrine, Sheedy explained to Uthmeier, is the absolute “right of religious institutions ‘to decide for themselves, free from state interference, matters of church government as well as those of faith and doctrine.’”
Sheedy noted Uthmeier’s acknowledgment of the rights of religious groups when it comes to rejecting vaccine mandates.
“Yet, the First Amendment prevents the state from proceeding to the next step and determining for itself what Catholic doctrine actually requires. The church autonomy doctrine exists precisely to prevent civil authorities from adjudicating such disputes. As the Supreme Court has explained, religious organizations must remain free from state interference in matters concerning faith, doctrine and internal governance.”
Nor does the Constitution or legal precedent allow Florida to compel a Catholic diocese or school to alter policy adopted on religious grounds, Sheedy added.
“Whether Catholic educational institutions should recognize particular exemption requests necessarily implicate questions of religious teaching, moral theology, ecclesiastical authority and the mission of Catholic education. Those are matters entrusted to the church alone. Government officials may no more determine the content of Catholic teaching than church officials may determine the content of Florida law.”
But in an effort to strike a conciliatory tone, Sheedy explained the conference’s rejection of vaccine exemptions in its schools derives from Catholic teachings on the sanctity of life.
“The basis for the bishops’ position is rooted in the desire to protect the common good and to encourage the proportional benefits of utilizing vaccines. This position is rooted in our Catechism: ‘Life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God. We must take reasonable care of them, taking into account the needs of others and the common good.’”
The resultant protection provided to students, teachers, parents and elderly relatives make Catholic schools a safe haven for the most vulnerable, Sheedy said. But he also reminded Uthmeier that the willingness to meet and discuss the issue will not result in the conference’s acquiescence to state dictates.
Uthmeier turned to social media to generate popular pressure to force Florida’s Catholic schools to embrace vaccine exemptions. “If you’re a parent at one of these schools, I hope you read my letter to the bishops and start asking tough questions!”
While always concerned about the perspective of his school families, Sheedy said, the conference will not bend to political coercion in matters of faith.
“Our bishops periodically evaluate their positions on vaccines and communicate those positions to their communities. But they will not succumb to affronts to religious freedom.”
Others criticized Uthmeier’s handling of the situation.
“Your position smacks of overreach and is indeed a classic example of state encroachment on religion,” said William Donohue, president of the hard-right Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. “Your motives may be benign, but if the bishops were to accede to your demand, they would in effect render themselves impotent to any future impositions on their autonomy by a less-friendly attorney general.”
University of Notre Dame law Professor Rick Garnette said Uthmeier clearly misunderstands the concept of religious freedom, according to OSV News.
“It is not remotely the role of a government official, even a Catholic one, to tell the bishops what to teach or how to run the church’s apostolates,” he said. “It is certainly not up to him to decide whether the Catholic bishops’ reasons are ‘legitimate.’”
Uthmeier has been a controversial figure throughout his tenure in office.
Last January, he issued a 14-page opinion on Martin Luther King Jr. Day targeting more than 80 anti-discrimination measures he described as racist for favoring people of color.
At the same time, Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo has spread doubts about the effectiveness and safety of vaccines.