We the parents of the children in the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese do not consent to the mandatory masking of our school children. It must be a parental and familial decision.

A family who chooses to do so may mask their children. A family who believes that masking causes irreversible emotional, mental, and physical damage to their children may choose not to mask their children.

The FWSB diocese has stated that the measures being taken in our parishes are a gesture of love for one another’s sensitivities and vulnerabilities. In a school setting, children are the most vulnerable. The continued mask mandate in our school system is not about our children since we know that they are not major transmitters of COVID, nor are they vulnerable to death from COVID. Many medical professionals dispute the efficacy of masks and discuss the risks they pose to children’s physical and mental health. Alternative therapeutics and emergency use vaccines are available for adults and teachers who wish to receive them. It is critical that parents decide what is best for their own vulnerable young.

It is time to restore this decision to the Domestic Church, the home.

We request Bishop Kevin Rhoades to approve OPTIONAL MASKING of our children.

Romans 12:2: Do not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.