Can you get excommunicated

In automatic excommunications, we as a Church recognize there are some things we do that are so damaging to our souls they sever our unity with the Church. What are the consequences of being automatically excommunicated? Well, the person is still considered Catholic and still has all the duties of that relationship, including going to Mass and the like. These persons are, however to refrain from receiving Communion.

Why, you may ask, do we say the person is still Catholic and should go to Mass if they are to refrain from receiving Communion? Its purpose is to bring about healing and conversion, not to inflict pain. Ultra-orthodox Catholics are ecstatic, and even mainstream newspapers turn into tabloids rushing to report the imminence of something that never happens.

I pay attention to this stuff. They frequently announce that I have excommunicated myself because of my pro-choice views, but as is true for Excommunication in the 21st century might have some benefits. Like Sonia Johnson. And, since there is no way the church could effectively police the excommunication, I could also ignore it and keep going to Mass and taking Communion.

As one canon lawyer told me, the church has only the power we give it. No more burning at the stake, no loss of one's job, no Vatican prisons -- what are they going to do? But in the end, excommunication is no joking matter, No Catholic, however rebellious and irreverent, wants to be excommunicated. And so I spent my 25 years as head of Catholics for a Free Choice with my fingers crossed. The fact that there were no firm canonical grounds for excommunication did not mean some overzealous bishop wouldn't do the wrong thing.

And because bishops are still feudal princes, the excommunication would be allowed to stand. Catholic politicians tend to worry more than radical women about the church's official disapproval because they have something more to lose -- elections and credibility.

During political campaigns threats of excommunication can become a distraction from getting heard on big issues like healthcare and war. When John Kerry was on "wafer watch," with reporters camped out in front of whatever church he was going to that Sunday in order to see if he would be turned away from the altar, he had trouble getting his message out. Download Share. Question: Which grave sins incur excommunication? The Code of Canon Law attaches the penalty of automatic excommunication to the following actions: Apostates, heretics, and schismatics can.

The individual must know that his action was a violation of Church law. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads.

Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Austin Cline. Atheism Expert. Austin Cline, a former regional director for the Council for Secular Humanism, writes and lectures extensively about atheism and agnosticism.

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