Replies

If, or when, an Inquisition convenes in the United States, it will employ methods of our (supposedly enlightened) time. Then, if guilt is found, the faaithless Catholic will be publicly excommunicated, and will no longer able to call himself Catholic yet teach against the Church. If any civil law were broken, as in case of child molestation, the District Attorney can handle it promptly and not 30 years after the fact based on accusations that cannot be proven. This would be a vast improvement over the state of American Catholicism today, and I advocate it with passion.

I've got to hand it to you, there are few posters that can get me to sit for a minute and just gape in awe at their comment.

Pray tell, what on earth is stopping your church from publicly excommunicating the faithless Catholic now? Why do you need any federal authority to help you take care of your own religious business? If any person, clerical or not, is guilty of crimes against the law of the land, the "state" should already have all the power it needs to prosecute the suspect. It would help, of course, if people stopped hiding behind the skirts of their hierarchy, or being allowed to.

No "American Inquisition" is necessary, only the courage of your own convictions that those who claim your mantle in the public arena but go against your teachings be publicly ostracized and refused the fellowship of the church. That's how it is supposed to happen. It worked in the first century and is still the only option the Lord has given to us.

I've got to hand it to you, there are few posters that can get me to sit for a minute and just gape in awe at their comment.

Pray tell, what on earth is stopping your church from publicly excommunicating the faithless Catholic now? Why do you need any federal authority to help you take care of your own religious business? If any person, clerical or not, is guilty of crimes against the law of the land, the "state" should already have all the power it needs to prosecute the suspect. It would help, of course, if people stopped hiding behind the skirts of their hierarchy, or being allowed to.

No "American Inquisition" is necessary, only the courage of your own convictions that those who claim your mantle in the public arena but go against your teachings be publicly ostracized and refused the fellowship of the church. That's how it is supposed to happen. It worked in the first century and is still the only option the Lord has given to us.

AMEN! That's a great rebuttal to the insanity of calling for another Inquisition.

Pray tell, what on earth is stopping your church from publicly excommunicating the faithless Catholic now?

Nothing formally prevents that from happening. However, it is not happening because for the Inquisition to be effective it needs to come from Rome. The local bishops are, for reasons known to them, unwilling to do public excommunications.

If any person, clerical or not, is guilty of crimes against the law of the land, the "state" should already have all the power it needs to prosecute the suspect

Of course. That goal is secondary as far as the Inquisition is concerned. The primary goal of the Inquisition is pulbicly, and not latae sententiae excommunicating heretics who have a public role. Evidence of crime might come across in this but it is not likely since the Church already cooperates fully with the civil authority.

Why do you need any federal authority to help you take care of your own religious business?

Indeed we don't; I never claimed we do.