So does this mean that every Catholic politician who supports abortion “rights†has excommunicated himself? Not so fast. As we saw at the beginning of this column, no penalty of any kind is incurred if any of the conditions listed in canon 1323 are missing. The item on the list which is most relevant to the case at hand is the requirement that the perpetrator not be ignorant that he is violating the law by his action (c. 1323 n. 2). In other words, the politician has to know and appreciate the theological and canonical implications of his pro-abortion stance. If he doesn’t—if, in his ignorance, he erroneously thinks that he has some wiggle-room on this issue, or if he sincerely yet wrongly feels he can take the “personally opposed, but†line of defense as a way out—he incurs no penalty.
Before readers scoff at this notion, let’s acknowledge frankly the abysmal lack of sound catechetical formation of so many Catholics, both children and adults, here in the US. Countless Catholics have attended public schools as children, and received little or no education in CCD programs—perhaps because of parental negligence, perhaps because those programs were devoid of solid Catholic content. Other Catholics have been educated in Catholic schools where the religious instruction was either inadequate or of questionable orthodoxy. Many converts to the Catholic faith have received poor catechesis in their RCIA programs before they became Catholics. If we wanted to engage in recriminations, we could probably point accusing fingers in numerous directions here; but the sad fact remains, a huge number of American Catholics simply don’t understand even the most basic truths of our faith!
There is an obvious remedy for this problem, in the case of our Catholic politicians. By teaching clearly and unequivocally, our clergy can (and often do) explain the grave consequences of supporting abortion. In some cases, pastors and bishops have apparently judged it most prudent to meet with politicians who live in their parishes/dioceses on an individual basis, in order to counsel them about the implications of their actions, and to warn them of the spiritual consequences. We know that the Pope himself has met with Catholic politicians from the US on occasion, and the issue may have been addressed in the course of these private meetings as well. At issue here is not only the legal status of unborn children in our country; the spiritual well-being of these politicians must also be of great concern to those clergy who are responsible for their care.
And as angry as we may get with some of our political representatives, the fact remains that we should never lose sight of the importance of the salvation of their souls! Let’s return to the earlier observation that excommunication is a medicinal penalty. The whole purpose of excommunicating a Catholic is to ensure that he strives to get himself out of that state as soon as possible! After all, a member of the Catholic faithful should want to remain a member of the faithful, shouldn’t he? That’s why excommunication is intended to serve as a kind of alarm-bell, to tell a Catholic that he has overstepped his boundaries and needs to come back—sooner rather than later.
So what is the final answer to Patti’s question? It has several parts. First, it is indeed possible to excommunicate oneself; under certain circumstances church authorities do not need to make any declaration whatsoever. Second, asserting that politicians who promote abortion are excommunicated is not clear-cut under the Code of Canon Law, although an argument can certainly be made that they have in so doing obstinately denied a truth which constitutes a key component of the Catholic faith, and have thus fallen into heresy. It would certainly be helpful to all of us Catholics in the US for our bishops to provide us, publicly and repeatedly, with consistent, authoritative teaching on this matter. Next, for any penalty to apply, the politician would have to fully understand that holding his pro-abortion position constitutes a rejection of Catholic teaching that is heretical, and that this is an excommunicable offense. And finally, nobody should ever gleefully rejoice that a Catholic has been excommunicated; we should save that joy for the moment when that Catholic makes the prayerful decision that he needs to change his ways… and come home.
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