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Welcome to Tuesday. An NCR commentator says that it is the moral obligation of Catholics to get a COVID-19 vaccine in order to protect our neighbors. The board of trustees at St. Leo University in Florida voted to derecognize its 44-year-old faculty union.
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** Catholics should love their neighbor by getting vaccinated ([link removed])
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As the vaccines for COVID-19 begin to be slowly administered across the country, Mary Catherine Redmond, a Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, received hers recently.

Redmond, who ministers in various aspects of health care and is currently serving as chief physician assistant in hospital emergency medicine in New York City, writes about the experience in commentary for NCR.

"As I wait to receive the vaccine, I sit humbly with a heart full of gratitude for all who spent tireless hours and worked together to create this vaccine, which has unprecedented efficacy to stop this virus and save lives," she writes. "I sit in reverence knowing that this vaccine is not only about protecting me. Like the mask I have worn religiously, this vaccine is about stopping the spread of COVID-19; it is about protecting others — my neighbor."

"I have a moral obligation to receive the vaccine and to witness to others who are fearful, most notably the people of color I work with and serve," Redmond continues. "People in racial groups who have been used for medical experimentation in the past are justifiably fearful."

You can read more of her commentary here ([link removed]) .

More background:
* The "gravity" of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and "the lack of availability of alternative vaccines," are "sufficiently serious" reasons to accept the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, two U.S. bishops said in a statement ([link removed]) .

* A new Vatican document ([link removed]) highlights the "critical role of vaccines to defeat the pandemic, not just for individual personal health but to protect the health of all."

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** St. Leo is latest Catholic university to nix faculty labor union ([link removed])
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The board of trustees of St. Leo University in Florida voted to derecognize its 44-year-old faculty union, making it the second Catholic university to take such action since federal courts and the National Labor Relations Board removed federal jurisdiction from union negotiations at religious colleges and universities in January 2020.

"As the COVID-19 pandemic has made clear to all of us, we need to be innovative and flexible," D. Dewey Mitchell, chair of the St. Leo Board of Trustees, said in an Oct. 23, 2020, statement. "By creating a new shared governance structure, faculty members can work closely with the administration to quickly adapt and meet the needs of our students."

During a virtual press conference Dec. 11, leaders of the United Faculty of St. Leo University decried the derecognition as thinly veiled union-busting that runs contrary to Catholic social teaching and the university's own Benedictine identity statement.

You can read more of the story here ([link removed]) .

More background:
* A Jan. 28, 2020, decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ([link removed]) said the National Labor Relations Board could not order a Pittsburgh Catholic university to approve an adjunct faculty union.

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** Building a Common Future ([link removed])
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This week, we began our series, Building a Common Future ([link removed]) , in which we asked Catholic politicians, activists and scholars to offer advice to President-elect Joe Biden.

"Building our common future: It's what the United States, indeed, the entire world needs right now," we wrote in an editorial ([link removed]) introducing the series.

Today's commentary ([link removed]) comes from Dwayne David Paul, director of the Collaborative Center for Justice, and addresses President-elect Joe Biden's promise to devote $300 million to so-called community policing, the central pillar of his plan to curtail police brutality. "This strategy of policing also promotes a dangerous vision of community that further marginalizes already vulnerable and over-policed communities," Paul writes.

You can read Monday's commentary from Sen. Tim Kaine on immigration here ([link removed]) .

Read the rest of Paul's commentary here ([link removed]) .
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** More headlines
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* ICYMI: More than 2,000 faith leaders and activists ([link removed]) are calling on Congress to honor the election result and avoid a "drawn out objection" when President-elect Joe Biden's win is set to be certified.

* At Global Sisters Report, read a Q&A with Peggy M. Delmas ([link removed]) , an assistant professor of educational leadership, who published a case study about the experiences and scientific contributions of Catholic sister scientists.

* Creighton University announced it plans ([link removed]) to phase out all investments in fossil fuels from its $587 million endowment within the next 10 years and target new investments in sustainable energy.

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** Final thoughts
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Every Tuesday and Thursday, we post a new Francis comic strip ([link removed]) . Throughout the week, we also post stories about Pope Francis' speeches, letters and audiences ([link removed]) . You can sign up to receive a twice-weekly email with the latest Francis news here ([link removed]) .

Until Wednesday,

Stephanie Yeagle
NCR Production/Online Editor
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
Twitter: @ncrSLY ([link removed])

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