Matt C. Abbott column
'Excommunication and the Catholic Church'
Matt C. Abbott
Canon lawyer Edward Peters is no stranger to Catholic media. (Click here to see his blog; click here to see his homepage and resource center.)
A brief bio of Dr. Peters:
The following are two excerpts from another book he authored, Excommunication and the Catholic Church (in question-and-answer format), published by Ascension Press. Thanks to Matthew Pinto and Dr. Peters for allowing me to reprint this material.
Click here to order a copy of Excommunication and the Catholic Church from the publisher.
How does denial of communion differ from full-fledged excommunication?
Denial of holy communion (i.e., the Eucharist) is quite distinct from excommunication, but both practices are receiving increased attention in Catholic life today and many people are confused about the differences between these two situations.
Excommunication is an ecclesiastical penalty. It is imposed or declared on those who have committed a certain type of canonical crime. In most cases, specific procedures have to be followed for the effects of excommunication to be fully visited upon an individual, and these steps include numerous procedural safeguards to guard against unjust infliction of such a severe penalty. To be sure, one of the consequences of excommunication is the loss of the right to the receive holy communion, but it is only one of the consequences that accompanies excommunication (for the others, see question 24). Finally, an excommunicated individual has to follow, in most cases, certain formal steps to have the penalty lifted.
On the other hand, denial of the Eucharist under canon 915 is not an ecclesiastical penalty but a sacramental disciplinary norm. It is designed to prevent the immediate harm that can be caused by the reception of the Eucharist by those whose own actions have demonstrated a fundamental disregard for the teachings of the Church. Because denial of the Eucharist is not a penalty, it is not limited to those cases in which one has been convicted of canonical crime. Canon 915 allows the Church to respond more quickly in the face of public sin. The other consequences that accompany excommunication (for example, restrictions on receiving the other sacraments or holding ecclesiastical office) are not included in a notice under canon 915 that one is not permitted to receive the Eucharist. Moreover, if one wishes to be readmitted to the Eucharist, instead of having to follow a detailed canonical procedure for the lifting of a penalty, one can simply repent of the sinful behavior, go to confession, and promise not to engage in it again.
Continue reading here: http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/130404
A brief bio of Dr. Peters:
- [He] has held the Edmund Cdl. Szoka Chair at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit since 2005. He earned a J.D. from the University of Missouri at Columbia and a J.C.D. from the Catholic University of America. In 2010, he was appointed a Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura by Pope Benedict XVI.
The following are two excerpts from another book he authored, Excommunication and the Catholic Church (in question-and-answer format), published by Ascension Press. Thanks to Matthew Pinto and Dr. Peters for allowing me to reprint this material.
Click here to order a copy of Excommunication and the Catholic Church from the publisher.
How does denial of communion differ from full-fledged excommunication?
Denial of holy communion (i.e., the Eucharist) is quite distinct from excommunication, but both practices are receiving increased attention in Catholic life today and many people are confused about the differences between these two situations.Excommunication is an ecclesiastical penalty. It is imposed or declared on those who have committed a certain type of canonical crime. In most cases, specific procedures have to be followed for the effects of excommunication to be fully visited upon an individual, and these steps include numerous procedural safeguards to guard against unjust infliction of such a severe penalty. To be sure, one of the consequences of excommunication is the loss of the right to the receive holy communion, but it is only one of the consequences that accompanies excommunication (for the others, see question 24). Finally, an excommunicated individual has to follow, in most cases, certain formal steps to have the penalty lifted.
On the other hand, denial of the Eucharist under canon 915 is not an ecclesiastical penalty but a sacramental disciplinary norm. It is designed to prevent the immediate harm that can be caused by the reception of the Eucharist by those whose own actions have demonstrated a fundamental disregard for the teachings of the Church. Because denial of the Eucharist is not a penalty, it is not limited to those cases in which one has been convicted of canonical crime. Canon 915 allows the Church to respond more quickly in the face of public sin. The other consequences that accompany excommunication (for example, restrictions on receiving the other sacraments or holding ecclesiastical office) are not included in a notice under canon 915 that one is not permitted to receive the Eucharist. Moreover, if one wishes to be readmitted to the Eucharist, instead of having to follow a detailed canonical procedure for the lifting of a penalty, one can simply repent of the sinful behavior, go to confession, and promise not to engage in it again.
Continue reading here: http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/130404
Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic columnist with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication, Media and Theatre from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, and an Associate in Applied Science degree in Business Management from Triton College in River Grove, Ill. He has worked in the right-to-life movement and is a published writer focused on Catholic and social issues. He can be reached at mattcabbott@gmail.com.
© Copyright 2013 by Matt C. Abbott
