We’ve tackled this topic on the forums ad nausem. It’s tedious, but boy did I get excited browsing my Catholic blog links this evening. One blog I have saved as a resource is In the Light of the Law by Edward N. Peters, JD, JCD… basically it’s a blog on canon law. He has a new book out on excommunication called Excommunication and the Catholic Church. ANYWAY, Ignatius did an interview with him and I found some of his answers both familiar and interesting.
IgnatiusInsight.com: And the most common misperceptions?
Peters: I’d say there are two, maybe three.
First, there is the idea that excommunication kicks one out of the Church. That is not right. There are ways to cancel one’s Church membership, but excommunication isn’t one of them. The analogy I use to explain it is that of a felon serving a long prison term; he’s in prison, but he remains a citizen bound by the laws of his country. If he, say, owns property upon which he incurs taxes while in prison, he still owns the property and is still liable for the tax from prison; if he commits a crime in prison, he can be prosecuted for it, and so on. A felon loses certain important rights, obviously, like freedom of movement and the right to vote, but he is still a citizen. Similarly, an excommunicated person is still a member of the Church, but he or she has lost certain key rights attached to Church membership and is cut off from many of the activities and benefits of the Church.
The second misconception is that people who die excommunicated go to hell. Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t, but we don’t know with certainty either way. In any case, the Church does not claim to exercise jurisdiction over the dead, and one’s final fate is determined by God based on the life one leads. Of course, appearing before God for judgment in the state of excommunication from His Church on earth is not a good thing.
The third misconception is sort of complicated. Still want it?
