Filipino Archbishop: Abortion Entails Automatic Excommunication

LifeSiteNews.com -- Your Life, Family, and Culture Outpost ^ | August 9, 2010 | By Patrick B. Craine

[topher]

Monday August 9, 2010

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Filipino Archbishop: Abortion Entails Automatic Excommunication

By Patrick B. Craine

MANILA, Philippines, August 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A prelate in the Philippines is warning Catholics that they face automatic excommunication if they in any way participate in an abortion.

Archbishop Oscar Cruz, archbishop emeritus of Lingayen-Dagupan and a canon lawyer, told CBCPNews last week that this penalty applies to any who are “actively involved” in bringing about the abortion.  “That is called active participation … from the woman concerned, the husband who helped her, the abortionist, or the nurses,” he said to the bishops’ official news service.

“Excommunication means that the person concerned is separated from the spiritual benefits enjoyed by all members of the Church. Furthermore, the same person could not take communion,” the prelate added.

The Code of Canon Law specifies that participating in an abortion involves a latae sententiae excommunication (Can. 1398), meaning that the penalty follows automatically from the act itself, without need for official pronouncement.

Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Arizona appealed to this canon in the spring when he announced that a nun in his diocese had incurred automatic excommunication by permitting an abortion at a local Catholic hospital.  While he faced tremendous backlash, numerous Catholic commentators pointed out that the bishop had done nothing but alert the nun to the fact that she had excommunicated herself.

The Philippines is about 80% Catholic, and the bishops exercise considerable influence.  They have been actively and strongly opposing advocates of abortion and population control.  Recently, in particular, they have been fighting a ‘reproductive health’ bill that they say “poses a serious threat to life of infants in the womb.”

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Philippine Legislators Attempting to Resurrect Controversial Reproductive Health Bill
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10070701.html

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10080903.html

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[topher]

Too bad that the archbishop is not here in the United States!

[ansel12]

So Americans are not excommunicated for having an abortion?

[Salvation]

**this penalty applies to any who are “actively involved” in bringing about the abortion. “That is called active participation … from the woman concerned, the husband who helped her, the abortionist, or the **

This is indeed, the case with the Catholic Church all over the world.

[navyblue]

So what was the end result in the case of the nun in Phoenix? She was excommed, but what happens after that? And what about the sacrament of confession? Being a life=long Catholic, I didn’t think there was any sin that could not be taken away by absolution. Anybody have the 411 on this?
Does the sister have a way to get back into the church or is she a lost cause?

[married21]

I wonder if there is at the same time an outreach to those who have had abortions and are sorry. I think it is important that people understand that there is a way back to the church for the sincerely repentant.

[saltus]

Forgiveness of sin—with proper penance—is a vital part of doctrine.

But excommunication means nothing to non-catholics, that is all in the other Christian communities of Protestants, Orthodox, Copts, Mandaens, Mormons, and many others. Excommunicating publicly affects almost no one, merely for publicity, since those excommunicated don’t care and are already separated from true communion by their thoughts and deeds.

Church clerks will be very busy trying to keep up their rosters...

[NTHockey]

Automatic excommunication means nothing to the child molesters. Public humiliation does mean something.

[topher]

People who are ex-communicated as publicly as the nun was, the Church tries to work with. I don't know any updates on this case, but a number of Catholic [medical] doctors in Phoenix spoke out against what the nun did.

So she has the Bishop condemning her as well as medical doctors...

I have not heard any updates...

[topher]

In 2004, Archbishop [now former or Emeritus] of Atlanta John Francis Donoghue issued an edict that all pro-abortion Catholic polticans were ex-communicated in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. The next Archbishop [a liberal African American by the name of Gregory] overturned this proclamation.

There have been other cases where Bishops/Archbishops/Cardinals have contacted pro-abortion Catholic politicans about this matter -- PRIVATELY.

One such politican was Congressman Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island. He was such an idiot about this that he made it a public discussion and not a private one.

That forced Bishop Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island to respond.

The result is that Rep. Patrick Kennedy is not running for re-election -- he botched the situation that bad.

[whence911]

Too bad PK was not aborted. That’s one I would have supported.

[topher]

There are two movements that help these people:

Rachel's Vineyards /www.rachelsvineyard.org/ (Healing after abortion)
and Silent No More Awareness http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org/ (Women and Men speaking out because they regret their abortions)

Local Dioceses/Archdioceses also have local program to help with healing from abortion.

Some of this healing is spiritual. Some of the healing is emotional. And sometimes the healing needs to be physical as well (which girls/women are physically injured by their abortions.

There was the case of an abortionist in Indiana that would put a questionaire to girls/women. If he found out that this was an underage girl who was afraid of the parents finding out, he would sexually assault them.

This abortionist did the same thing with married women who cheated on their husbands -- he would sexualy assault them as well.

So there can be some real basket cases out there because of the abuse found in the abortion industry.

Most abortionists are doctors who cannot get jobs in another part of the medical profession. They are forced into being abortionists because of their poor performance.

Abortion organizations try to protect these medical professionals -- and Planned Parenthood as well as NARAL have lots of money to spend protecting the abortionists since there are so few of them.

[ansel12]

So American Catholics are not excommunicated for abortion, the reason I asked is because some less than honest Catholics here claim just that, when the majority Catholic vote for the Democrat party comes up.

It does seem like the excommunication of millions of Catholics would have made the newspapers and resulted in a corresponding reduction of the number of Catholics claimed to be living in the United States.

[BenKenobi]

you are correct. With repentence and confession mortal sins can be absolved.

[old republic]

Isn't the penalty of automatic excommunication a ridiculous concept? Doesn't every mortal sin automatically excommunicate a person? After all every grave sin separates one from communion with the body of Christ and one who has committed such a sin (like one who is excommunicated) cannot receive any of the sacraments licitly save for confession.

The whole point of excommunication was to prevent public scandal by formally proclaiming that judgment upon the unrepentant sinner. There is no such thing as a private excommunication which is effectively what automatic excommunication is. It does nearly nothing to prevent scandal, especially since many priests still give communion to those who are known to have committed a sin that incurs this penalty anyway. (So what is the point of an automatic excommunication) If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it does it make a sound? The code of canon law needs to be revised to revive the old rite of excommunication and the bishops need to get a little more courage and actually use excommunication ferendae rather than these pointless latae sententiae excommunications that seem to never be enforced anyway.

[ichabod1]

Nobody goes into med school with the intention of becoming an abortionist. There is no specialty for abortion.

[old republic]

Being a life=long Catholic, I didn’t think there was any sin that could not be taken away by absolution. Anybody have the 411 on this?

I don't know what's going on with the Phoenix excommunication, but as to your absolution question: All sins can be forgiven by absolution, but for some sins an absolution is reserved to a bishop or even to the Apostolic See. So some sins can only be absolved by the pope himself, or by a priest whom he authorizes. Of course, an absolution is only valid if the person is sincerely contrite and has a purpose of amendment. Considering the nuns reaction to the excommunication, it is unlikely that she is repentant, nevertheless, her cause is not lost if she allows grace to change her heart.

[ichabod1]

I think the point is just because nobody saw you and you didn't get caught doesn't mean you're off the hook. You're excommunicated immediately, ipso facto. Getting it pronounced publicly later provided humiliation, and could also proceed criminal charges, which could result in losing your head, depending on the time, location, and seriousness of the charge. I should think abortion, having one or committing one, was probably something you could be sentenced to death for.

[old republic]

I think the point is just because nobody saw you and you didn't get caught doesn't mean you're off the hook. You're excommunicated immediately, ipso facto.

But that's true of any grave sin no matter whether the code of canon law prescribes excommunication latae sententiae or not. Nobody gets off the hook for any grave sin. Every person who commits a mortal sin is technically excommunicated immediately, ipso facto, so what is the point of calling the punishment excommunication? The code of canon law may as well say that everyone who commits a mortal sin is excommunicated latae sententiae. The term excommunication loses much of its force if everyone in the Church is constantly excommunicated. Which is why it was usually reserved as a way to prevent scandal for grave public sins.

[ichabod1]

It loses its force when you can’t chop off their heads anymore.

[old republic]

It loses its force when you can’t chop off their heads anymore.

No one's advocating executions...we're talking about excommunications. Most Christian countries don't execute people for ecclesiastical crimes anymore. Its one thing to say no you can't have communion, and quite another to chop off someone's head. So I am not sure why you are bringing up the melodramatic example of getting your head chopped off for being excommunicated. No one's going to get their head chopped off for being denied communion at present.

If the Church is going to say that you get excommunicated for committing a certain act, then the Church had better back it up otherwise people get the impression that the sin isn't a serious sin after all. Politicians particularly become emboldened by a lack of enforcement of these rules by the Church.