Welcome to the Nov. 25, 2020 edition of Just 3 Things, the weekly social action newsletter of the Office of Human Life & Dignity. Our wishes for a blessed and happy Thanksgiving. This verse from St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians seems on point particularly this year: "Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ." Below are some of the social justice news items of the week. If this email was forwarded, and you'd like to receive it each week, please click here.    

The official U.S. Catholic bishops' conference position is that the use of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is morally acceptable. Confusion has arisen in recent days in the media after at least two bishops questioned “the moral permissibility” of using the COVID-19 vaccines just announced by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna, because of concerns about a connection to the tissue of aborted fetuses. Both vaccines are on a fast-track and appear to have demonstrated more than 90 percent effectiveness against the coronavirus. It is "not immoral to be vaccinated with them,” the bishops said in a memo to their brother bishops, obtained by Catholic News Service Nov. 24. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops pro-life secretariat also published an explanatory memo Nov. 23.

( Photo shows researcher working in a lab run by Moderna Inc., who announced Nov. 16, 2020, that its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19. CNS photo/Moderna Inc. via Reuters) 

Thanksgiving is a time for families but for those in jail, it is a time that can feel particularly lonely. Volunteers and donors of the restorative justice ministry of the Archdiocese of San Francisco brought 800 meals to be served to those in San Francisco County jails in San Bruno and in San Francisco. Because of COVID-19, the meals were blessed outside the facilities and served by jail staff inside.

"Free the Mass" was the powerful slogan that crystalized the Archdiocese of San Francisco's campaign to return to in-person Mass. In an essay published in First Things, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone recounts how the effort evolved and the importance of attending Mass in person. (Photo of Mission churches pastor Rev. Moises Agudo leading the procession to St. Mary's Cathedral Sept. 20, 2020.  By Dennis Callahan/Archdiocese of San Francisco Office of Human Life & Dignity)