Jesuit College: No Exemption for Catholics

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A Jesuit college in the Bay State is forcing the jab on Catholic students — and Catholic students only. On a case-by-case basis, Boston College considers religious exemptions for Jehova's Witnesses, and every other religion under the sun — except Catholicism. Church Militant's William Mahoney spoke with one student's parents, who are spotlighting the hypocrisy.

Stephanie Grimes, RN: "How will I tell my daughter that her beliefs in why she's not getting vaccinated don't count at her Catholic university?"

The Grimes, devout Catholics, backed in a letter from their parish priest, requested a religious exemption for their daughter, a first-year student about to begin at Boston College, but were shot down with extreme prejudice. 

They objected to Boston College's forced vaccines "because the vaccines are either developed, tested or produced using abortion-derived fetal cell lines."

Stephanie Grimes, RN: "And then we found out on July 5 — interestingly, Independence Day weekend — that she was denied with no context, no specific information about why she was denied."

Their daughter, Caroline, had received a letter from Fr. Tony Penna, the associate vice president and director of campus ministry: "The University ... has determined that the documentation you provided is complete and does not adequately support an exemption based on religion," reminding Caroline "all BC students must be fully vaccinated by Aug. 23 and have uploaded their vaccination card to participate in any on-campus activity."

Stephanie Grimes, RN: "We spoke with a Fr. Penna, who is the director of campus ministry, who said, 'Because it's not the tenets of the Catholic faith, the school has decided, they have made a policy decision that they will not be offering exemptions to Catholic students.'"

Meanwhile, another daughter at Dartmouth College, a non-Catholic school, was granted a religious exemption.

Back to Boston College, what if a student doesn't have a vaccine card? What will Boston College do?

Stephanie Grimes, RN: "They gave me no specifics in terms of ... are they going to rescind their decision to admit my daughter?"

And finding an answer to that question seems virtually impossible. 

Correspondence from the Boston College health services staff informing students of the mandatory vaccine specifically states, "To better assist you, please do not call with questions, but instead email uhs@bc.edu and include your full name and Eagle ID." 

And the answering machine makes it clear the health services does not want voice messages.

Boston College health services: "You are unable to leave a message on this line, so please call back when we are open. Thank you."

But Caroline's mother did hear back from Dr. Douglas Comeau, who also signed Fr. Penna's letter. 

Stephanie Grimes, RN:

He was completely unaware that the university was discriminating against Catholic students. He had no idea that the religious exemption portion of the exemption process was not going to consider Catholics. And I told him, well he should be aware because his name is on the letter that Caroline received.

Caroline's father confirmed Fr. Penna did clarify other religions will be granted exemptions.

While the Grimes have no idea if Caroline will be refused education at Boston College, they are certain she will not be getting the jab.

Boston College has invited pro-gay Jesuit James Martin to speak on his LGBT agenda more than once.

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