Many Seem to Fear "Excommunication"
By Kevin Roeten (06/08/07)
On 5/9/07, Pope Benedict XVI flew to Brazil. During an unprecedented 25-minute on-flight press conference, Benedict left little room for interpretation: pro-choice politicians should not only be denied communion, but face outright excommunication from the Church for supporting "the killing of a human child". A reporter broke the ice by asking him if he supported the excommunication of Mexican legislators who had voted to legalize abortion. The Pope replied, "Yes, this excommunication was not something arbitrary, but is foreseen by Canon Law..." At that point, it had hit the fan, and reporters immediately thought of the guilty 'Catholic' politicians.
Later, the Vatican Secretariat of State attempted to change the tone. He typically cleans up the Pope’s remarks every time he allegedly speaks ‘off the cuff’. But the Pope was emphatic, and continued to insist that such actions involved excommunication.
The Pope was talking directly about “latae sententiae”(automatic “excommunication”). This occurs without formal declaration if there is an obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin[Canon Law 915]. Abortion is one of those intrinsically evil deeds classified as grave. With this sin, excommunication is inflicted by the perpetrator on herself/himself.
But misperceptions about “excommunication” abound. Actually, excommunication is a medicinal, rather than a vindictive penalty. It is intended, not so much to punish the perpetrator, as to correct him and bring him back to the path of righteousness. The penalty(meant to be temporary), deprives the guilty Christian of all participation in the common blessings of Catholicism. Some will return to the right path. Some will not.
Sister Mary Walsh(media director/ USCCB) said the Vatican really meant that neither the Holy Father nor the Mexican bishops have excommunicated any legislator. She did not say that those legislators have actually incurred ‘automatic’ excommunication on themselves. No formal pronouncement need be made by the Pope, or the bishops. Benedict made excommunication crystal clear. Would any organization continue to keep you as a member if you continually acted against their most precious values? Can an avowed racist be a member of the NAACP?
What is sure to raise hackles, is that an automatic excommunication is likely triggered when any Catholic votes for those who vote for abortion laws, funding, and structures that encourage and perpetuate such obvious and egregious evil[CCL 1364, 1398, & 1329]. One exception can be if the voter does not realize for what the candidate is voting. There is no exception for those who consider abortion a lower priority than other issues for which the politician may vote, because abortion and euthanasia are at the top of the priority list.
But on 5/14, eighteen ‘Catholic’ Democrats in the House issued a signed statement condemning the Pope for his above comments. Per Deal Hudson(Morley Institute), those 18 said excommunication would “offend the very nature of the American experiment and do a great disservice to the centuries of good work the Church has done.” Not too long ago, 55 House Democrats signed a nearly identical document in 2/06. Interestingly, 44 of those Catholic House members that signed last time would not sign this time. Curiously, the signature of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not there.
More lines have been drawn, and rightly so. If an ‘alleged’ Catholic will lie about his/her faith, what else would they lie about? Catholics would like nothing better than to bring those interlopers back into the fold. But will any of them admit their wrongdoings, and be part of the Faith again? And why are all of them from only one party?
Obviously, Catholics usually won’t dare admit if they’ve been excommunicated. Per the Catechism, excommunication has occurred if, 1)the law is on the books, 2)one must know about it, and 3)one has to break it. It would make stimulating conversation at the dinner table.
Kevin Roeten
http://kevinroeten.us/
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