From the September 2001 Idaho Observer:

CDA church actions exposes conflict between politics and traditional Catholic doctrine

by The Idaho Observer

Six weeks after Vaccination Liberation had secured a meeting room at Coeur d'Alene's St. Pius Catholic Church with a $50 deposit and a signed contract, group co-Director Tanya Osterson received a call from church administrator Wanda Litalien. Litalien informed Osterson July 26, 2001, that St. Pius had decided to cancel VacLib's meeting because it was, “too political.”

VacLib President Ingri Cassel immediately contacted Litalien who directed her to Deacon Gary McSwain. Deacon McSwain explained that the Roman Catholic Diocese in Boise made the decision to cancel the four-hour vaccination workshop that was scheduled for Saturday, August 18. “Though Deacon McSwain concurred with Litalien that the reason for the cancellation was 'political,' I was not satisfied,” commented Cassel. “We had spent money advertising the event, we had made a deposit and had a signed, handwritten contract. Besides, the church allowed the Human Rights Task Force (HRTF), an extremely political group, to meet at the church on several occasions,” Cassel noted.

The Diocese refusal to allow VacLib to hold its workshop at St. Pius while allowing the HRTF to hold its meetings there seems to illuminate a conflict between the Church's attempts to comply with contemporary political correctitude and adhere to traditional Catholic teachings. For centuries the Catholic Church has viewed homosexuality as an abomination yet several active HRTF members are open homosexuals -- some of whom publicly advocate and promote homosexual instruction in public schools. The Catholic Church has traditionally been opposed to abortion yet it wanted to prevent VacLib from holding a workshop at St. Pius even though it would inform workshop attendees that certain vaccines are cultured in aborted fetal tissue.

Cassel demanded a written explanation of the reason the Diocese would find it necessary to breach its obligations to VacLib. Deacon McSwain did not feel such a written explanation was necessary but responded the following day by stating that his church had, “No record of a written agreement or a deposit made by your organization.,” and that, “This letter is to inform you that we are unable to accommodate your workshop on that date.”

Cassel FAXed copies of the canceled check and the handwritten contract to Deacon McSwain July 28 and asked that he put himself in her shoes. “We have been advertising the location as being in your church since we had no reason to believe there was a problem...Your church needs to have enough integrity and honesty to honor your agreements,” Cassel explained.

Then she stated that, since the Church was unable to give her a good reason in writing, VacLib would use the meeting room as planned and would make arrangements with Litalien to pick up the key.

Cassel called Deacon McSwain July 30 and, to her relief, he said that VacLib could use the room as planned but added that he will be posting disclaimers on all the doors the day of the workshop (The “disclaimer” was published in the September edition of The IO).

On August 18, a woman in a beige pantsuit wearing a crucifix around her neck was on the periphery throughout the workshop to make sure the disclaimers remained posted and to make sure the group left promptly at 5 p.m. Though the event was a success and Deacon McSwain made sure we had everything we needed, the group was not warmly welcomed by the church as a whole. A clue as to why was found on a bulletin board in the church lobby. A large poster advocating participation in Idaho's Childhood Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), the same poster that can be seen in area hospitals and welfare offices, was prominently displayed.

Another curious conflict between political correctitude and traditional Catholic teachings was illuminated by the poster. State public health officials openly encourage primarily hispanic illegal aliens to bring their children in for shots with the promise that their illegal status in this country will be ignored for the sake of the children. It would appear that the poster encourages, enables and facilitates criminal behavior so that more children may be exposed to the toxins contained in vaccines.

At least one VacLib member has stopped attending the church she was so outraged. Her August 1, 2001 emailed letter to St. Pius Church has yet to receive a response.

On September 3, Cassel thanked Deacon McSwain for allowing VacLib to use the room. Though he has yet to respond, Cassel asked him to tell her exactly what it is about VacLib that is inconsistent with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. She also asked him to show her a passage in the Bible that supports the use of vaccinations. She noted the poster described above and asked if the poster had to endure an approval process before being displayed in the Church. “Also, does the Kootenai County Human Rights Task Force still meet at your church as they did last year and earlier this year?” Cassel asked.

Cassel encourages people with access to the Internet to visit the websites of the American Life League and Human Life International at www.all.org and www.hli.org respectively. “Type in 'vaccines' in the search engines of those websites and you will find numerous well-written articles on the topic of vaccination, and even information on the tetanus toxoid vaccine that has been given to third-world women causing them to abort their babies and become sterile,” said Cassel who believes that such examples of vaccine policy should not be advocated by Christians or anyone else.