Excommunication: A Call to Grace

By Fr. William P. Saunders
Herald Columnist
(From the issue of 2/20/03)

In January, I read in a Catholic magazine that seven women were excommunicated for trying to be ordained as priests. When is a person excommunicated and can he/she be forgiven? — A reader in Washington, D.C.

Excommunication is the Church’s most severe penalty imposed for particularly grave sins. Through baptism, a person is incorporated into the body of the Church (i.e. the body of believers) through which there is a "communication" of spiritual goods; by committing a particularly grave sin and engaging in activities which cause grave scandal and fracture the body of the Church, that communication ceases, and the person is deprived of receiving the sacraments and other privileges.

The practice of excommunication arose in the early Church. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul castigated that community for tolerating the practice of incest — "a man living with his father's wife" (1 Cor 5:1). He admonished the Corinthians for not removing the offender from their midst. St. Paul said, "I hand him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord" (5:5). St. Paul further warned against associating with anyone who bears the title "brother" (indicating being a believer and part of the Church) but who is immoral, covetous, an idolater, an abusive person, a drunkard or a thief. He then closed the passage by quoting from the Torah, "Expel the wicked man from your midst" (Dt 6:13).

Note that St. Paul also expressed hope. He imposed the sanction upon the offender "so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord," indicating a hope for repentance, conversion, and a re-admittance into the community. (This motive is affirmed also in 2 Thes 3:15 and 2 Cor 2:5-11.) However, until such time, the obstinate sinner had to be removed to prevent both the infection of the rest of the believers and the appearance of condoning such a sinful action.

Later, excommunication became clearly associated with the sacrament of penance. At this time, the sacrament of penance was generally received once. Seeking forgiveness, serious sinners presented themselves to the bishop, who assigned them to a class of penitents (ordo paenitentium). The penitents were liturgically excommunicated from the Church and assigned to perform a penance, which usually lasted weeks, even months. Once the penance was completed, the bishop formally lifted the excommunication, absolved the sinners, and welcomed them back into full communion with the Church. By the seventh century, the Sacrament of Penance was repeatable and became more as we know it today, while the idea of excommunication became a severe Church penalty imposed for only the most serious offenses. Nevertheless, the lifting of the penalty of excommunication still was linked with the making of a good sacramental confession and the reception of absolution.

The new Code of Canon Law (1983) specifies that an excommunicated person is forbidden to participate in a ministerial capacity (celebrant, lector, etc.) in the Sacrifice of the Mass or in any other form of public worship; to celebrate or to receive the sacraments; to celebrate the sacramentals; to exercise any ecclesiastical office or ministry; and to issue any act of governance (no. 1331.1). An excommunicated person also cannot be received into a public association of the Christian faithful (no. 316.1).

On one hand, the penalty of excommunication can be imposed by a proper authority (ferendae sententiae) or incurred automatically (latae sententiae). A bishop may directly impose the penalty of excommunication, but only for the most serious offenses and after giving due warning (no. 1318). Following the same rationale of the early Church, this severe penalty intends to correct the individual and to foster better church discipline (no. 1317). The bishop or his delegate may remit the penalty when the sinner has repented and has sought reconciliation.

On the other hand, a person can also incur automatic excommunication. A person who is an apostate from the faith, a heretic, or a schismatic (no. 1364); or one who procures a successful abortion (1398) is automatically excommunicated. In these cases, the local ordinary or a delegated priest can remit the penalty.

In some very grievous cases, only the Holy See can lift the ban of an automatic excommunication: if a person desecrates the Blessed Sacrament or uses it for a sacrilegious purpose (no. 1367); if a person uses physical force against the Pope (no. 1370); if a priest absolves an accomplice in a sin against the Sixth Commandment (no. 1378); if a bishop consecrates someone as a bishop without permission of the Holy Father (no. 1982); and if a priest directly violates the seal of confession (no. 1388).

Concerning the case mentioned in the question, seven women participated in a mock priestly ordination last June conducted by a schismatic bishop from Argentina. In the 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, Pope John Paul II taught that "the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women." This mock ordination was not only invalid but also defied the authority of the Church. A formal decree of excommunication was published by the Vatican on Aug. 5, 2002. The women then appealed the judgment. The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith affirmed the judgment on Dec. 21, noting that the women did not show any repentance and the situation was "further aggravated by the fact that some of the women have been gathering round them members of the faithful, in open and divisive disobedience to the Roman Pontiff and diocesan bishops." Moreover, the congregation added, A In view of the gravity of the contumacy, the penalty imposed is not only just, but also necessary, in order to protect true doctrine, to safeguard the communion and unity of the Church, and to guide consciences of the faithful." Pope John Paul II approved of the Congregation= s decree.

We must keep in mind that the purpose of excommunication is to move the sinner to repentance and conversion. Excommunication is a powerful way of making a person realize that his immortal soul is in jeopardy. Excommunication does not "lock the door" of the Church to the person forever, but hopes to bring the person back into communion with the whole Church. Moreover, this penalty awakens all of the faithful to the severity of these sins and deters them from the commission of these sins. This line of thought is highlighted in the Catechism when it speaks of the automatic excommunication for abortion: "The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society" (no. 2272). In all, while the Church imposes this severe penalty for just cause, she also remembers, "A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn" (Ps 51:19).

Fr. Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Potomac Falls and a professor of catechetics and theology at Notre Dame Graduate School in Alexandria.

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