I've never quite grasped the excommunication concept. God is the judge, not humans. The Catholic Church is certainly entitled to expel members, but to give it more cosmic consequences than that seems to be usurping authority that is not their's.
The authority on such matters was given to the Church in no uncertain terms directly from the lips of the Word Incarnate.
Matthew 16: 18-19
And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.
That's pretty cosmic, I think.
Members are free to come back any time after they've repented of their actions. They're not excommunicated forever (unless they refuse to repent).
I've never understood it either. It led me to being an agnostic for decades, before finding Christ in a non-denominational church. When I was about 12, we got a letter from the Priest of the Catholic Church we attended. It said that they had done some research and knew that Dad was not contributing enough according to his income. It said that he was expected to sr=tart giving more until he was giving the proper amount. We weren't very devout, but at least one of us went each week to sit through the service and drop the envelope into the basket. We got new "offering" envelopes that showed double the amount we had been giving. Dad continued to put the old amount into the new envelopes. We got another letter saying that since we were not willing to support the church properly, we were being excommunicated from that Parish and should not attend any more services there. It really soured me on religion. Today, I understand that religion, being man-made is a perversion of what Christ wanted in the Church. All religions put some burden of obedience to the institution itself, instead of asking us just to be obedient to God's Will. Jesus said his yoke was easy and his burden light as a way of telling us that coming to Him was the only requirement - all the onus of the Law was to be no more. Most churches don'y ascribe to that and insist on a lot of rituals, rites and sacraments to be performed as if we were all Israelites under the Old Coveneant.
< We do not deny that God is the final judge, and excommunication is not an eternal death sentence. it is simply a recogntion that the offender has publicly removed himself, through his public words and actions, from the Faith Community and may no longer join with us in our Sacramental life. When he chooses to re accept the Faith he is welcomed back with all the love seen in the parable of the Prodigal Son.
Excommunication is a Catholic way of stating who we are and what we believe as a Community.
Let's say someone has a spot of cancer on the lungs... would they leave it there? Would they give a doctor the authority to remove it... or hope it stays to itself, not affecting the rest of their body?
Someone has children... an older child starts using drugs and they have done everything to help... he doesn't want it. Their child starts to invite like characters into the home (known or unknown to the parents); You find out... do they let the child remain in the home to influence the other younger children, or do they remove them?
The church is a body and a family, all over the world. Bad analogies, but obviously, i'm no genius.
As for as authority... we could start a thread on that alone.
Scientists used to have a code of ethics as well, so did doctors. The mere fact that over 400 cures have been documented through adult stem cells of all types and none through embryonic stem cell research, should be enough. This is eugenics and science being a small g 'god'. If those who have eyes see where we have gone on this path now... I don't know what to tell them.
As you can see by those who spoke in the column... they're not listening... that doesn't tell you anything, but it tells Catholics all over the world something. Everyone wants it all, when in fact they don't want the church.
It's like a certain catholic senator or three speaking at a Planned Parenthood rally saying 'I will make sure abortion is always legal and it's right to have it', while heading off to mass after to receive communion. I don't care who you are... you see the contradiction. Meanwhile, some parishioners know they did the rally and may have complained to the priest or bishop. No one claims to know the state of their soul, it's scandalous... and is a wonderful example to those in the pews that the church is okay with abortion... I mean, they're not saying anything. Anyone with common sense couldn't think the Lord would want you to do that... regardless.
No one ever asks where they get most of the embryonic stem cells from... or where they got them from in the beginning.
Don't be fooled... this is not for the good of society, it's for the perfection of some and the extermination of others.
Rant off/
I didn't have my coffee yet.
Look at it this way: If you as Attorney General say that you are opposed to illegal immigration, but at the same time publicly state that you will not prosecute anyone who is caught illegally crossing the border, "because I'll let God be the judge, not me", then I would have reason to seriously question whether you are really opposed to illegal immigration or not.
If the Catholic Church doesn't do anything about members who are publicly flouting her teaching, wouldn't you wonder whether she really believes in those teachings? Besides, it would be offensive to God to give His grace to someone in a state of mortal sin.
Huh?
In the smaller sense, the Church is certainly entitled to decide who may be members thereof.
In the larger sense, Christ (i.e. God) specifically allocated that authority to the pope and bishops of the Catholic church:
"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:19
I always through excommunication was based on 1 Cor. 5:12-13:
"For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. 'Purge the evil person from among you.'"
Also, consider Matthew 18:15-17:
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."
The verse that Roman Catholics pull out referring to "on this Rock" has nothing to do with this. The "Rock" refers to Christ, not Jesus' friend Peter. But that's something those from the Church in Rome refuse to acknowledge, as it's fundamental to their doctrines....
The Catholic Church always has taught that only God can judge a person on a subjective level. However, the Church has a moral obligation to expel publicly those who are objectively in a state of serious sin. There is no contradiction here.
-A8