As season vaccinations ramp up, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski is accusing Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier of "bullying" Catholic schools in a dispute over religious freedom, public health and state scholarship funding.
In Monday's episode of State Affairs' "Between the Lines with Dara Kam" podcast, Wenski elaborated on the clash between the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops and Uthmeier over religious exemptions to school vaccination requirements.
Catholic schools do not offer religious exemptions for the vaccines at issue because the Catholic Church does not consider them objectionable under its teaching, said Wenski, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Miami.
"Somebody going to a Catholic school expects the Catholic school to be Catholic," he said.
Uthmeier sent a letter to the conference in July questioning a requirement that schoolchildren be vaccinated against diseases such as measles to attend Catholic schools, which overwhelmingly serve students receiving state-funded vouchers. Uthmeier warned that Catholic schools could risk losing state voucher funding if they do not grant religious objections to vaccinations.
The bishops' response to Uthmeier in August said the Catholic leaders "do not have to justify" their position on Catholic teaching and their rationale for current vaccine policies, citing religious liberties.
Florida law requires schoolchildren to be vaccinated against diseases such as measles but has long allowed parents to opt out when vaccinations conflict with their religious beliefs.
Catholic schools — which overwhelmingly serve students receiving state-funded vouchers — do not allow such religious exemptions.
Wenski said the bishops viewed the letter from Uthmeier — a self-described practicing Catholic who is the father of three young children — as an improper attempt by a state official to influence the church's teaching.
"The stronger argument was the argument for religious freedom," Wenski said, adding that the state's attorney general should be familiar with constitutional protections for religious liberty.
Uthmeier's letter focused on some parents' objections to the use of fetal stem cells in vaccine development, a long-standing issue for people opposed to abortion and a flashpoint for some Catholic leaders and churchgoers.
Wenski said the attorney general did not contact the bishops about the vaccination requirement prior to publicly issuing the letter, which warned that the policy could put Catholic schools' scholarship funding at risk.
"That's basically a stance of classic bullying, because the fact that we're vaccinating kids is also that we're obeying Florida law. We're not the ones that have invented which vaccines should be used. The state of Florida, the health department tells us that kids should be protected," Wenski said. "I think this an idle threat, but it is an example of bullying, and really it is not worthy of a public official."
For families who oppose vaccination, Wenski said alternatives to Catholic schools are available, including homeschooling.
But he argued that parents choosing a Catholic school should expect it to follow Catholic teaching and protect the school community.
Catholic schools do grant medical exemptions, such as when a child has an allergy, Wenski said.
But vaccinating students helps protect medically vulnerable children as well as teachers and families, the archbishop added.
"It is basically another principle of Catholic social teaching that we should promote the common good, and the common good would require that we take care of ourselves, take care of our health in appropriate ways," Wenski said, adding that children's mortality rates have declined since the advent of vaccinations of diseases such as measles and rubella.
Wenski pointed to a recent resurgence of measles in Florida and throughout the country, as vaccine skepticism blossoms.
"This measles epidemic, this is a disease that should have been conquered 50, 40 years ago, like polio was. You do away with these vaccines, and you'll see all these things coming back. I'm not sure where the attorney general was coming from, or what, you know, what motivated his rant, if you will, but it certainly wasn't profound theological reasoning, that's for sure," Wenski said.
Uthmeier's criticism of the school vaccination policy reflects a broader rift within the Catholic Church sparked by a growing number of socially conservative members who have criticized recent popes' inclusive approach to ministry.
"In the past we've been expecting attacks from the left, and now we get out of left field, this attack from the right in the person of this attorney general," Wenski said.
The clash over Catholic school requirements reflects broader debates across the country about vaccination requirements — an issue that has gained attention because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine skepticism of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Debate over vaccinations intensified in Florida in recent weeks as the Department of Health moves ahead with a proposal that would eliminate requirements for children to be vaccinated against hepatitis B; varicella, commonly known as chickenpox; Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib, which can cause meningitis; and pneumococcal conjugate, which can cause pneumonia and meningitis. Pediatricians and epidemiologists strongly oppose the plan to relax vaccine mandates.
Addressing concerns over the potential shifts in state policy, the department clarified its stance in a social media post on Friday.
"This proposal does not ban or prohibit these vaccines. Parents may continue to choose these immunizations for their children, and the vaccines will remain available. The proposed changes are intended to strengthen parental rights by giving parents greater authority to make health care decisions for their children," the health department posted on X.
Dara Kam is the senior Statehouse reporter for State Affairs Florida. Reach her at dkam@stateaffairs.com or on X @TheDaraKam.
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