Julian Young was in seminary when Pope Francis told him to get the HPV vaccine Gardasil. He got it, and it changed his life. Now, he s in a wheelchair, and he s looking for help to get some treatment.
00:00:00.000And then by the time it came to the summer of 2021, things had gotten so bad and the burning and the inflammation spread up my body to the point where I just I had to be in a wheelchair because I couldn't even I couldn't walk.
00:00:13.320There was so much pain in my feet that I could barely do anything but take a few careful steps.
00:00:24.520There's a young man by the name of Julian Young.
00:00:26.680He was in seminary right at the middle of COVID.
00:00:53.240He's looking for help to get some treatment.
00:00:57.280He's tried all sorts of things already.
00:00:58.920There's this one treatment that looks promising and he's asking for help to get that.
00:01:05.160But we're going to talk to him now about, you know, about his vocation and about how he got into this and what happens with the taking of this vaccine, so-called.
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00:04:32.180And it wasn't until an interior voice prompted me to pray to our Lord, which was not something I had ever done before.
00:04:39.880But once I did that, I started to feel a flame ignite within me as if my soul just intuitively recognized its Lord and wanted to worship him.
00:04:53.040And that was kind of like the journey that, the start of the journey that set me on the path towards Christianity in general.
00:05:00.400And I did have a little bit of a sidetrack with Protestantism for a while.
00:05:03.780But eventually, Divine Providence led me into the Catholic Church.
00:06:39.980So, actually, during my whole conversion, I did have a girlfriend at the time, and I thought that I wanted to be married.
00:06:47.000But once I became Catholic and I started growing deeper in my faith, I started recognizing this desire growing within me, particularly while I was at Mass.
00:06:59.380I started feeling the desire that I wanted to be the one up there, and I felt this strong desire to be able to unite myself to Christ in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
00:07:08.260And I think my girlfriend at the time recognized this, because we eventually came to a point where we had a mutual agreement that I think we both thought God was calling us in different directions.
00:07:20.200So, we eventually went our separate ways.
00:07:23.060It was a very peaceful end to the relationship, and that's when I really started discerning my vocation seriously.
00:07:30.800So, I didn't immediately think that I wanted to be a diocesan priest.
00:07:35.960In the first place, I wanted to maybe do evangelization in terms of, like, missionary work overseas.
00:07:44.460So, I did end up leaving the country in 2019, and I went to join the foreign missions of Paris.
00:07:53.560And their mother house is in Paris, but they evangelized the eastern countries for the most part.
00:08:00.180So, I joined them as a pro-kodudic novice for a period of five months in discernment.
00:08:07.820And then I eventually realized during that time of discernment that it really wasn't the calling for me after all.
00:08:14.080So, that's when I made the decision to come back home to the States and join the seminary.
00:08:19.220And that was, by that time, it was around 2020.
00:08:21.920So, you came back, and to think of it, what was going on in 2020 when you arrived?
00:08:29.740Was there any already signs of COVID, or what was going on then?
00:09:46.440When I was in seminary, I was reading a book by Henry Nouwen.
00:09:50.180He talked about a nuclear man, you know, and people who grew up in the 1980s were kind of formed by that immediate and constant threat of nuclear annihilation.
00:10:00.820And my generation has grown up, you know, under the specter of priestly sexual abuse.
00:10:09.040What say you, Mr. Foreperson, is the defendant guilty or not guilty?
00:10:13.360I think that for many of us, that has also been all-encompassing.
00:10:17.920You know, I mean, I entered the seminary in January of 2004.
00:10:22.600And it's basically been there for me from in the beginning.
00:10:25.280One priest's sacrifice for many priestly sins.
00:10:44.020So I joined the seminary in my diocese.
00:10:46.680And I began the fall semester of 2020.
00:10:50.440And as we know, of course, that's when all the hype and fear about COVID was starting to pick up.
00:10:57.600And all the talk about the vaccines that were, or I shouldn't say vaccines, because technically we know that's not what they really were.
00:11:04.980But that was when they were beginning to be rolled out.
00:11:08.820And there was a lot of disagreement, of course.
00:11:12.740And there was a lot of, of course, we know within the church, there was a lot of trying to convince us that it was an act of charity to get the vaccines.
00:11:21.400And then we have other people who were rightly so saying that they were produced too fast and that they're potentially dangerous.
00:11:31.060So it was hard to know what voice to listen to, really.
00:11:55.320I did start to experience some inflammation in my lower body, which seemed kind of weird because it's not something I had ever experienced before.
00:12:03.000And it was making it a little bit uncomfortable to sit and a bit painful.
00:12:08.580But I just, I went to the chiropractor.
00:12:10.760I figured that would, like, be the thing that helps me.
00:12:14.140And it had a little bit of a helpful effect, but it didn't really fix the inflammation.
00:12:20.560And then around that time of that fall semester in my second year, I had also injured my foot by running down some steps and landing on my foot too hard.
00:12:32.540And the ball of my foot began to become inflamed.
00:12:35.040And then to my bafflement, I couldn't really explain why.
00:12:40.820And no doctor had been able to explain why.
00:12:42.960But the other foot started to experience the same exact pain pattern and inflammation.
00:12:48.380And I had done nothing to injure the other foot.
00:12:50.900So it was kind of just a very odd phenomenon that I was dealing with.
00:12:55.580Um, I, I had gone to the podiatrist at that point and he put me in a boot and he said it would be better in six weeks or so.
00:13:03.800Um, unfortunately, that's not what happened.
00:13:07.760Uh, the pain in my feet, both, both of my feet, uh, elevated to an extreme burning and a tingling.
00:13:14.980And I eventually started having muscle spasms, like these very, very crazy muscle spasms, um, particularly while I was trying to sleep, I would experience like my limbs and my body just jolting out of nowhere.
00:13:27.340And I really started to, um, just really freak out at this point because I had no idea what was going on with my health.
00:13:34.020And I remember going to my dean in the middle of the semester and just really being, um, just kind of frantic and hysterical about this because I, I'm trying to focus on my studies.
00:13:44.980And all these odd things are happening to me.
00:13:48.140And, uh, it's very, very hard to get around campus at this point.
00:13:52.600Um, so I did manage to, thankfully to finish the semester, but it was very hard.
00:13:57.780I had to use a knee scooter for the rest of the semester.
00:14:01.840Um, and then by the time it came to the summer of 2021, things had gotten so bad and the, the burning and the inflammation spread up my body, um, to the point where I just, I had to be in a wheelchair because I couldn't even.
00:14:15.960There was so much pain in my feet that I could barely do anything, but take a few careful steps before having to sit back down.
00:14:23.540Um, and so I was forced to take a medical lead to, um, from my studies, unfortunately.
00:14:30.960And, um, my bishop was very, very agreeable.
00:14:34.440And he, he said, you know, I could come, I'm welcome to come back after I regain my health.
00:14:39.280And he gave me that time to really try to find out what's going on and go to different doctors and specialists and try to figure out my health.
00:14:47.960Um, so that was a year ago that I started that medical leave and I'm still not better, despite the fact that I seen, I've seen so many doctors.
00:14:59.040I've been in and out of the ER so many times.
00:15:02.140I can't even keep track of how many times it's been.
00:15:05.020Um, I have been able to get some answers, um, in terms of the autoimmune conditions that have developed, um, from what I believe to have been these COVID shots.
00:15:18.200Um, and it really wasn't until, um, some friends pointed out to me, the timing between my getting the shots.
00:15:24.920Um, I should also clarify and go back that it was after I received the booster shot, uh, of that, the same year that I got the Moderna shots, I received the booster in the winter.
00:15:35.380And then that's when things really blew up with my health.
00:15:38.840Um, so it was my friends who pointed out the timing between my getting the shots and the decline of my health.
00:15:45.580That really started to open my eyes to what I may be dealing with here.
00:15:49.840Um, and I've tried a lot of the different detox protocols, um, particularly, um, the FLCCC frontline COVID, uh, COVID critical care, um, doctors and researchers who really done a lot to try to help people recover from these, uh, injuries that have resulted from the shots.
00:16:08.540Um, I've done a lot of the different protocols that they put out.
00:16:42.620And so life in seminary before this started happening, but in the middle of COVID, I mean, all over the world, uh, seminaries tended to be pretty strict in terms of masking and, and pushing the vaccine.
00:17:01.740Um, so in our seminary, thankfully, the, uh, they weren't mandating that we get these, uh, shots.
00:17:08.440Um, I know that some other seminaries were.
00:17:11.060So, um, I wouldn't, I'm very grateful that ours wasn't doing that.
00:17:14.220However, they were, uh, they were trying to convince us that it was an act of charity.
00:17:18.280Um, and, um, they really wanted us to do it because they believed it was the safe thing for us to do.
00:17:24.840Um, and, you know, uh, being in the position of, again, I was confused in, in terms of the conflicting, um, voices as to whether this was safe or whether it wasn't.
00:17:34.760Um, and when it's coming from positions of authority, you, you want to obey, you want to do the right thing, um, in your conscience.
00:17:42.480So that's kind of where I, uh, part of why I made the decision also, and also coupled with the fact that, um, my mother has an already a compromised immune system.
00:17:53.000So, um, there were not the seminary itself, but in general, how the media was pushing fear about protecting your loved ones, um, um, et cetera.
00:18:03.020So in terms of the seminary, however, themselves, they weren't really mandating that we do get the shots, but they were strongly encouraging.
00:18:11.360And were they doing the whole masking thing as well, or were they?
00:18:15.160Uh, yes, we were doing, we were required to mask, um, for a period of time.
00:18:20.900Eventually they did lift, lift that, um, and became more lenient as the, uh, the COVID, um, cases started to die down, um, in particular on our campus.
00:18:30.800So a lot of seminaries too, uh, forbade communion in the hand, excuse me, on the tongue, uh, and allowed it only on the hand if they allowed it at all.
00:18:41.620In the very beginning, um, when everything was just blowing up, they, they did make, um, a quick decision to not allow us to receive on the tongue.
00:18:51.400Unfortunately, it did receive some, um, criticism and backlash from some of the seminarians.
00:18:58.040Um, but it was very quick where they, they turned that decision around and they allowed us, they simply just, um, incorporated, um, uh, a little cup with a hand sanitizer for them to dip their fingers in and wipe their fingers between each person receiving Holy Communion.
00:19:14.640Um, so that was, we're very grateful for that.
00:19:16.980We were still able to receive, uh, on the tongue very quickly.
00:19:35.740So my hopes, um, again, I had this life funder that I, I, I've started that, uh, LifeSite has helped promote for me, which I'm very grateful for.
00:19:44.340Um, in particular, I'm trying to, to get to this one clinic in Arkansas called the Sparrow Clinic.
00:19:54.820Um, and it's a, they have an intensive three month, uh, neuro-regenerative program, um, where they've combined all these different modalities aim at restoring the autonomic nervous system.
00:20:05.740So the two different autoimmune diseases that have developed as a result of these shots, um, are both rooted in autonomic nervous system dysfunction.
00:20:15.060So the one of, one of them is, um, called complex regional pain syndrome.
00:20:19.160Um, and that's causing chronic inflammation throughout all the nerves of my body, which has really spread to my entire body at this point.
00:20:26.420Um, and then the other one is postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, which affects the blood pressure and the heart.
00:20:33.260Um, if I'm standing up for too long, um, my feet will, well, first of all, from the CRPS, the feet will spike up in nerve pain.
00:20:41.740And from the POTS, I will start to get dizzy and lightheaded and I'll have to sit down immediately.
00:20:47.300Um, so I'm very limited on the time that I can be on my feet, um, which is why I've had to use the wheelchair.
00:20:52.540Um, so yes, my hope to get to this clinic is they have a very high remission rate for these conditions in particular.
00:21:01.280And just the fact that I've spent so much time in the traditional allopathic medicine world, trying to pursue solutions to these issues.
00:21:10.840And it's been a year, a little over a year now, and I've gotten almost nowhere.
00:21:18.120Um, the solutions that they want to give are just bandaid solutions, or they just want to give you, um, drugs that'll honestly, in a lot of cases, make things worse or won't help at all.
00:21:29.400Um, so it's just, it's been very frustrating and I've gotten nowhere.
00:21:33.780And given the fact that this particular clinic that I'm trying to get to has a high remission rate, and they also have a YouTube channel where you can see people going through their treatment program.
00:21:44.020Um, and you can see how bad they were going into the clinic in a wheelchair.
00:21:48.100Um, and you see the end result where they're standing there.
00:22:08.260Um, what are your thoughts about priesthood?
00:22:11.300Are you still, you still feel a vocation?
00:22:14.460I do still very strongly feel a vocation.
00:22:17.180Um, I really hope that after I'm able to get well, that I'd be able to immediately reapply to the seminary.
00:22:25.040And my bishop has been very, again, he's been very, um, generous in that regard of saying that I can reapply once I get better.
00:22:31.960Um, so I still feel that strong calling, um, in a way I do feel like I am still in formation because this suffering has really been an opportunity to offer it up and unite it with Christ.
00:22:44.660And I know that's an important part of the priesthood.
00:22:47.480So, um, although it's been very, very difficult, nonetheless, um, I do feel like, um, a lot of grace has come through it.
00:22:55.800And it's been, uh, very, um, encouraging, I would say, in that regard.
00:23:00.700Um, and I think it would, it's really been a experience that I'll take with me into my priesthood, God willing, um, when one day I'm ordained.
00:23:26.800A lot of people might tell you, like, Job, curse God and die.
00:23:30.100What's been your experience of any of that?
00:23:33.000Um, in terms of people offering any criticism for my decision?
00:23:36.380And the whole thing, that the experience of it, going through it, working out yourself and any kind of sentiment like that you might have received.
00:23:43.740So, um, I, I'm thankful that I haven't really received too much, uh, criticism for my deciding to get the vaccine or, um, the quote unquote vaccine.
00:23:54.260Uh, the, uh, really the response has been more one of overwhelming support.
00:24:08.800They didn't, they themselves didn't decide to get the vaccine, but they had warned me prior, um, to my getting it.
00:24:16.480Um, unfortunately, just again, with all the confusion, I didn't really take that to heart.
00:24:20.840Um, so that's really my fault for not really taking that into more deeper consideration before making the decision.
00:24:28.840Um, but in general, I would say there hasn't really been too much negative criticism.
00:24:33.300There's just been an overwhelming amount of people, um, particularly within my parish that have just seen, want to, uh, want to see me get better and go back to the seminary, uh, really.
00:24:43.840So I'm very thankful for just the support that people have given me in that regard.
00:24:49.880There are a lot of people that are still, um, they've taken one, sometimes two vaccines.
00:24:55.600They're thinking about taking boosters.
00:24:59.100I would say we've been being told that these, uh, these shots are going to help us in some way, but I think we've very, very clearly seen, um, there's just mounting evidence of, it doesn't make you immune to getting COVID in the first place.
00:25:18.760People can still get COVID as we've seen, and it doesn't make you any less susceptible to spreading it to other people.
00:25:25.060Um, and we've seen the amount of deaths, the amount of people coming out with autoimmune issues, um, cancers, all these different things, these negative effects, people, a lot of athletes dropping dead as we've seen.
00:25:39.700So I would say, um, very critically think about the, uh, the evidence that we've seen so far.
00:25:46.580If you're somebody who's considering getting another booster and, and really question to yourself, whether it's even helped you to begin with.
00:25:53.980Um, I know people who have received the vaccines and have still gotten COVID, um, and I don't think there's any evidence to suggest that had they not received, uh, these shots, that it would have been any worse.
00:26:05.200Um, I know people got it, gotten it, and they got COVID and they didn't end up in the hospital.
00:26:10.880And I know people who didn't get the vaccine and they got COVID and they didn't end up in the hospital.
00:26:15.780So I don't think there's any conclusive evidence that these are really helpful in any way at all.
00:26:20.720And I think to the contrary, we've seen overwhelming evidence that it's, it's doing a lot of harm to people.
00:26:25.660So I would ask people to really question, uh, why they would want to put more of these toxic substances into their body in the first place, if it's not helping anybody.
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00:28:11.840So, with that, I did give some thought to that before I received the vaccine, and that was an issue that I talked to, like, some friends about.
00:28:24.460I think the whole thing with the Vatican coming out, with the whole moral thing in terms of it being an act of charity,
00:28:33.860I can't remember all the reasoning that they gave behind kind of overlooking the abortion aspect of the shots.
00:28:45.220But I know that in terms of my having considered it, unfortunately, at the time, that kind of seemed, that response from the Vatican kind of seemed to suffice for me.
00:28:56.620If I'm looking back now, I think that was a really dumb decision on my part to overlook that and not think about that more critically.
00:29:06.080I will say it definitely was a concern in the beginning, but I don't know.
00:29:10.660Really, in terms of the confusion, I guess, between people saying it's good and whether it's bad and whether it's moral or not.
00:29:17.520And also, I think the biggest factor was just wanting to protect my family, my mom in particular.
00:29:22.760I think that's kind of what caused me to just say, okay, if the Vatican is saying it's fine, then I'll do this.
00:29:32.560And now I know, of course, that wasn't the right decision.
00:29:38.040Do you think that's characteristic of a lot of people?
00:29:40.360Do you think a lot of people who would have said, no, it's abortion-tated, I'm not going to do that,
00:29:45.040but were swayed by Pope Francis very explicitly stating this and basically saying you must get it,
00:29:53.520and also that it's remote material cooperation, it's nothing around, in fact, then turning it on its head and calling it an act of charity?
00:30:03.440Yeah, I think it is something that probably has swayed a lot of people.
00:30:08.120I think that, in combined with the fear aspect, is really what maybe kind of blinded a lot of people to overlook something so serious as that.
00:30:19.700I think the fear, if you can get a lot of people to fear, you can get them to do anything almost, I would say.
00:30:26.600And I think the media really used that to its advantage.
00:30:32.020So, with the whole fear component, of course, there's a lot of people who weren't swayed by the fear, and thank God for that.
00:30:41.400But I think, yeah, if you're combining the fear and all these other aspects of confusion,
00:30:49.080I think it's easy to kind of say, okay, the Vatican's saying it's all right, so I'm afraid and I don't want to harm my family.
00:30:56.400I don't want to bring any sickness to my family, so I'm going to get this shot anyway, regardless of whether there's a grave moral issue involved.
00:31:06.500I think, unfortunately, yeah, that has swayed a lot of people, myself included, and shame on me for really being swayed by that in the first place.
00:31:15.340But I guess what's done is done, and I've definitely prayed about that afterwards and asked for forgiveness for even making that decision, despite that moral qualm.
00:31:27.680But, yeah, unfortunately, I think that's just what we've dealt with.
00:31:32.000Yeah. Well, Julian, thank you for speaking out, because I think that's really important.
00:31:38.860It's hard on the other side to speak out, and you've done so.
00:31:44.820Your witness will be a warning to many, many people.
00:31:48.120Well, I hope people can go, and I wish you all the best with your vocation.
00:31:54.160We'll get to your life funder, life funder for Julian Young, to help him get this treatment,
00:32:00.760which will hopefully, God-willing, lead not only to his healing, but to his getting back to seminary and becoming a holy priest.
00:32:08.200And can I ask you, I'm sure you'll be praying for those who donate, and perhaps even when you're a priest.
00:32:18.800Like I said in the beginning, I'm so grateful for the amount of support that is just within the first three days of the article being published
00:32:25.960and the life funder being up, the overwhelming amount of donations that have flooded in.
00:32:33.940And I'm so very grateful to everybody who supported me, who have left just comments wishing me well, wishing for my better health and praying for me.
00:32:46.040So I'm definitely going to keep everybody in prayer.
00:32:48.560And, yeah, I'm just looking forward to see the amount of support that continues on from here.
00:32:55.860Beautiful. Julian Young, thank you so much for being with us. God bless you.
00:32:59.740God bless you, too. Thank you for having me.
00:33:01.300And God bless all of you. And we'll see you next time.