Excommunication

[betinabean]

What exactly is excommunication and if once excommunicated, are you always excommunicated? I've never been told exactly what it's all about.

Thanks

[Pio Nono]

JMJ
12/31 - Pope St. Sylvester I

betinabean,

"Excommunication" is the term used when someone is officially given [i]das boot[/i] by the local bishop - they're told that not only are their beliefs/actions are so far out of line with what the Church teaches (and the individual claims to be Catholic) that they are no longer a part of the Church. Excommunication doesn't come as a whim - one chooses to be excommunicated. Once one professes belief in what the Church teaches and does what she asks, the excommunicated person is welcomed back into the Church with open arms. Hope this helps.

Yours,
Pio Nono

[phatcatholic]

also see the entries on "excommunication" from the following resources:

1910 New Catholic Dictionary
[url="http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/ncd03169.htm"]http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/ncd03169.htm[/url]

A Catholic Glossary
[url="http://eapi.admu.edu.ph/bodega/glossary.htm"]http://eapi.admu.edu.ph/bodega/glossary.htm[/url][list]A penalty or censure by which a baptized Roman Catholic is excluded from the communion of the faithful, for committing and remaining obstinate in certain serious offenses specified in canon law; e.g. heresy, schism, apostasy, abortion. As by baptism a person is made a member of the Church in which there is a communication of spiritual goods, so by excommunication he is deprived of the same spiritual goods until he repents and receives absolution. Even though excommunicated, a person is still responsible for fulfillment of the normal obligations of a Catholic. (See Censures).
[/list]
Catholic Glossary: Other Terms to Know
[url="http://www.archstl.org/links/gloss-terms.htm"]http://www.archstl.org/links/gloss-terms.htm[/url][list]A penalty of censure by which a baptized person is excluded from the communion of the faithful for committing and remaining obstinate in certain serious offenses specified in canon law. Even though excommunicated, that person still is responsible for fulfillment of the normal obligations of a Catholic.
[/list]
Glossary of Church Terms
[url="http://www.usccb.org/comm/alphagloss.shtml#e"]http://www.usccb.org/comm/alphagloss.shtml#e[/url]

New Advent
[url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05678a.htm"]http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05678a.htm[/url]

Pocket Catholic Dictionary
[url="http://www.therealpresence.org/dictionary/edict.htm"]http://www.therealpresence.org/dictionary/edict.htm[/url][list]An ecclesiastical censure by which one is more or less excluded from communion with the faithful. It is also called anathema, especially if it is inflicted with formal solemnities on persons notoriously obstinate to reconciliation. Two basic forms of excommunication are legislated by the Code of Canon Law, namely inflicted penalties (ferendae sententiae) and automatic penalties (latae sententiae). In the first type, a penalty does not bind until after it has been imposed on the guilty party. In the second type, the excommunication is incurred by the very commission of the offense, if the law or precept expressly determines this (Canon 1314). Most excommunications are of the second type. Among others identified by the new Code are the following:[list]
[*]"An apostate from the faith, a heretic or a schismatic incurs automatic excommunication" (Canon 1364).
[*]"A person who throws away the consecrated species or takes them or retains them for a sacrilegious purpose incurs an automatic excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See" (Canon 1367).
[*]"A confessor who directly violates the seal of confession incurs an automatic excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See" (Canon 1388).
[*]"A person who procures a successful abortion incurs an automatic excommunication" (Canon 1398).
[/list]There are three principal effects of this penalty, so that "an excommunicated person is forbidden:[list]
[*]to have any ministerial participation in celebrating the Eucharistic Sacrifice or in any other ceremonies whatsoever of public worship
[*]to celebrate the sacraments and sacramentals and to receive the sacraments
[*]to discharge any ecclesiastical offices, ministries or functions whatsoever, or to place acts of governance"
(Canon 1331).
[/list]
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