Our letter to be delivered to Cardinal Gregory and ADW School Leadership
His Eminence Wilton Cardinal Gregory, Archbishop of Washington,
We write to you as concerned parents of Catholic school children from across the Archdiocese. Next month marks two years of our children’s childhood being massively disrupted by Covid-19 restrictions. As parents and the primary educators of our children, we know first-hand that our children have suffered immensely over the past two years. One of the most damaging aspects of the pandemic on our children has been the requirement to wear masks for most of their daily lives. This is most notable at their schools, where they wear a mask for more than seven hours a day.
While some assume that masking is a trivial inconvenience, we as parents have seen the detrimental effects of masking on our children. While you may not see it initially, it impacts our young children’s ability to breath, speak, hear, see, learn, and develop properly. Perhaps most troubling is that masking affects our children’s emotional well-being and mental health. The effects of masking and the social, emotional, developmental scars of the pandemic will impact our children for the rest of their lives. They are desperate for a return to normalcy.
A recent barrage of literature, news articles, and experts document the detrimental effects these restrictions have had on our children, resulting in bi-partisan, urgent calls from all sides for normalcy. And yet, the ADW continues to require masks.
Compassion, science, and respect for parental authority all point towards ending the mask mandates within our Catholic Schools. The Church has a duty to protect the children in its schools, and the Archdiocese has the power to set its own masking rules.
Accordingly, we respectfully request that the ADW implement a mask-optional policy for all students by no later than February 28th, 2022, which it clearly has the authority to do for our Catholic Schools in Maryland.
If you conclude you do not have this authority in the District, we ask that you forcefully advocate for change directly with the Mayor and that you otherwise explore all available legal options to implement mask choice in Washington.
Sincerely,