[The Great RJ]

Too bad the old bell, book and candle ritual of excommunication isn't still in the Roman ritual.

In the ritual the Bishop would pronounce:

We separate him, together with his accomplices and abettors, from the precious body and blood of the Lord and from the society of all Christians; we exclude him from our Holy Mother, the Church in Heaven, and on earth; we declare him excommunicate and anathema; we judge him damned, with the Devil and his angels and all the reprobate, to eternal fire until he shall recover himself from the toils of the devil and return to amendment and to penitence.

After reciting this The bishop would ring a bell to evoke a death toll, close a holy book to symbolize the ex-communicant's separation from the church, and snuff out a candle or candles, knocking them to the floor to represent the target's soul being extinguished and removed from the light of God.

[COBOL2Java]

That is what some people still mistakenly believe still exists, particularly those who incessantly carp "Well, why doesn't the Church go ahead and excommunicate her already???"

I agree with you. That ritual no longer is in effect, but I wish it was.