By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
Photographer: COURTESY | Sr. Elizabeth Worley
Archbishop Thomas Wenski speaks to people waiting to get vaccinated against COVID-19 at Notre Dame d'Haiti Mission in Miami on April 14, 2021. He recently put out a video in Creole urging the Haitian community to get vaccinated.
MIAMI | Notre Dame d'Haiti Mission hosted a vaccination event April 14, 2021 for people from the community. But it also attracted seminarians from St. John Vianney, and a visit from Archbishop Thomas Wenski.
The archbishop has released a video in Creole urging the Haitian community to get vaccinated against COVID-19. He worked in Little Haiti for 18 years before being named a bishop, most of them as administrator at Notre Dame d’Haiti.
Notre Dame is one of several archdiocesan parishes — among them St. Patrick on Miami Beach and San Lazaro in Hialeah — that have served as vaccination sites.
Photographer: COURTESY | Sr. Elizabeth Worley
Archbishop Thomas Wenski poses with Father Reginald Jean-Mary, administrator of Notre Dame d'Haiti Mission in Miami, which hosted a vaccination event April 14, 2021. With them are Father Jean-Mary's 92-year old mother and his sister, who also waited their turn to receive the vaccine.
The Catholic Church is encouraging Catholics to get vaccinated with any of the available vaccines. Both Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI have been vaccinated.
A “note” from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued in December 2020 stated that “all vaccinations ... can be used in good conscience...”
Archbishop Wenski also made the Church’s position clear to priests and Catholics in South Florida in a letter he sent them in March: “So to the question, can the parish be used as a site for all the currently available vaccinations, the answer is YES,” the archbishop wrote. “To the question, should I advise my parishioners to receive any of the three vaccinations available, the answer is also a definite YES.”
The archdiocese also has partnered with Jackson Memorial Hospital to offer vaccination appointments to priests, deacons, school faculty and staff, parish staff and volunteers at either of three locations: Lynn Rehabilitation Center in Miami, UHealth Jackson North in Miami Gardens and Jackson South in Kendall.
“Everyone is encouraged to be vaccinated, for their own health, the health of their families and for everyone with whom they interact in the community. It is especially important for all teachers to get vaccinated,” said Sister Elizabeth Worley of the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, who serves as chief operating officer and chancellor for administration in the archdiocese.
She previously served as CEO of both Mercy Hospital and Catholic Hospice in Miami.
Photographer: COURTESY | Sr. Elizabeth Worley
Archbishop Thomas Wenski chats with seminarians from St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami who got vaccinated against COVID-19 at Notre Dame d'Haiti Mission in Miami on April 14, 2021.
