Difference between revisions of "Excommunication" - New World Encyclopedia

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'''Excommunication''' is a religious [[censure]] used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. The word literally means ''out of [[full communion|communion]]'', or ''no longer in communion''. In some churches, excommunication includes spiritual [[condemnation]] of the member or group. Censures and sanctions sometimes ''follow'' excommunication; these include [[banishment]], [[shunning]], and [[shaming]], depending on the group's religion or religious community. This article addresses excommunication and spiritual condemnation often associated with excommunication, but not the religious censures and sanctions that ''follow'' excommunication. 
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[[Image:Jan Hus-Council of Constance.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Jan Hus]] (right) at the [[Council of Constance]], where he was excommunicated and declared a heretic.]]
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'''Excommunication''' is a religious [[censure]] used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. The word literally means ''out of [[full communion|communion]]'', or ''no longer in communion''. In some churches, excommunication includes the spiritual [[condemnation]] of the member or group. Other censures and sanctions sometimes ''follow'' excommunication; these include [[banishment]], [[shunning]], and [[shaming]], depending on the group's religion or religious community.
  
== Christianity ==
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Excommunication is the most grave of all [[ecclesiastical]] censures. Where religious and social [[communities]] are nearly identical, excommunication is often attended by social [[ostracism]] and civil punishment, sometime including death if the associate crime is serious enough. In [[Christianity]], the [[Roman Catholic Church]] especially retains the practices of excommunication, as do several other denominations. The church maintains that the spiritual separation of the offender from the body of the faithful takes place by the nature of the act when the offense is committed, and the decree of excommunication is both a warning and formal proclamation of exclusion from Christian [[society]]. In Catholic tradition, those who die ''excommunicated'' are not publicly prayed for; but excommunication is not equivalent to [[damnation]]. Excommunications vary in gravity, and in grave cases readmission may be possible only by action of the [[Holy See]]. Excommunicates are always free to return to the church on [[repentance]].
=== Biblical origins ===
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{{toc}}
The Biblical basis of excommunication is ''[[anathema]]''. The references are found in [[Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians]] 1:8—“But even if we, or an [[angel]] from [[Heaven#Heaven in Christianity|Heaven]], should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be anathema!"  Then also, [[First Epistle to the Corinthians|1 Corinthians]] 16:22—"If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be anathema." The word can be translated several ways; the [[King James Version]] translates it ''accursed''.  
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[[Protestant]] churches have generally abandoned excommunication, with some exceptions. In [[Islam]], the [[Koranic law]] of ''[[takfir]]'' can deem an individual, or group, ''[[kafir]]'', meaning non-believers. In Judaism an individual may be excluded from Jewish religious society through the ''[[herem]]'', a solemn ritual equivalent to excommunication. [[Hinduism]] and Buddhism generally have no concept of excommunication, although some sects do exclude members for various violations.
  
In the [[New Testament]], we have limited examples of excommunication. Jesus, in [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 18:17, teaches that those who repeatedly offend others should be treated as "Gentiles or tax collectors." In [[Epistle to the Romans|Romans]] 16:17, Paul writes to "mark those who cause divisions, and avoid them.Also, in [[2nd John]] 10, the elders write unto the elect lady to "not receive into your house [assembly] those who bring not the doctrine of Christ."  
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==Christianity==
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===Biblical origins===
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The Biblical basis of excommunication is ''[[anathema]]'', often translated as "accursed." The references are found in [[Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians]] 1:8—“But even if we, or an [[angel]] from [[Heaven#Heaven in Christianity|Heaven]], should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be anathema!Likewise, [[First Epistle to the Corinthians|1 Corinthians]] 16:22 sates: "If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be anathema."  
  
Anathema was a used in the early church as a form of extreme religious sanction, beyond excommunication. The earliest recorded example was in 306. The [[Roman Catholic]] church still makes use of the sanction, though it is rarely used against an individual. Some modern churches refer to any form of exclusion as ''anathema''.
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[[Jesus]], in [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 18:17, reportedly taught that those who repeatedly offend others should be treated as "Gentiles or tax collectors," who were excluded from Jewish fellowship. <ref>The issue of fellowship with Jewish tax collectors was contentious in ancient Judaism, with the followers of [[Shammai]] taking a hard line against all Roman collaborators, but the followers of [[Hillel]] welcoming fellowship with sinners as well as the righteous. The two Pharisaic schools were also divided in their attitude toward Gentiles, with the House of Hillel taking a more liberal line than that of Shammai.</ref>In [[Epistle to the Romans|Romans]] 16:17, Paul writes to "mark those who cause divisions, and avoid them."  Also, in [[2 John]] 10, "the elder" instructs that one should "not receive into your house [assembly] those who bring not the doctrine of Christ."
  
Also [[1 Corinthians]] 5:11 states: "But as it is, I wrote to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother who is a sexual sinner, or covetous, or an idolater, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner. Don't even eat with such a person." ([[World English Bible]])
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Paul takes a particularly hard line toward those [[Christian]]s who practice sexual immorality. [[1 Corinthians]] 5:11 states: "You must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat."
  
=== Roman Catholic Church ===<!-- This section is linked from [[Humanae Vitae]] —>
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===Roman Catholic Church===
{{seealso|List of people excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church}}
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Excommunication is the most serious ecclesiastical penalty levied against a member of the [[Roman Catholic]] Church. The Church has an extensive history of the uses of excommunication, especially during the [[Middle Ages]]. [[Pope]]s and [[archbishop]]s used excommunication as a weapon against high ranking officials and kings who fell out of favor with the Catholic Church. With the rise of the idea of separation of church and state, excommunication no longer has any civil effect. An analogous penalty, interdict, arose as a form of excommunication of a whole area, barring celebration of the sacraments in a town or region.
Excommunication is the most serious ecclesiastical penalty levied against a member of the [[Roman Catholic]] Church. It is a seldom used punishment to discipline unrelenting defiance or other serious violations of church rules, especially by those who are accused of "spreading division and confusion among the faithful"—meaning, in practice, that the option of excommunication is more likely to be enforced when the disobedient Catholic is a visible and presumably influential public figure (such as a politician), but only rarely in the cases of non-public figures. Excommunication is never a merely "vindictive penalty" (designed solely to punish), but is always a "medicinal penalty" intended to pressure the person into changing their behavior or statements, repent and return to full communion.
 
  
Excommunicated persons are barred from participating in the [[liturgy]] in a ministerial capacity (for instance, as a reader if a lay person, or as a deacon or priest if a clergyman) and from receiving the [[eucharist]] or the other [[sacrament]]s, but is normally not barred from attending these (for instance, an excommunicated person may not receive Communion, but would not be barred from attending Mass). Certain other rights and privileges are revoked, such as holding ecclesiastical [[office]].
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[[Image:Ecce Agnus Dei.jpg|thumb|250px|Excommunication bars a person from receiving the [[Eucharist]], among other penalties.]]
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Prior to the [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|1983 Code of Canon Law]], there were two degrees of excommunication: ''vitandus'' (shunned, literally "to be avoided," where the person had to be avoided by other Catholics), and ''toleratus'' (tolerated, which permitted Catholics to continue to have business and social relationships with the excommunicant). This distinction no longer applies today, and excommunicated Catholics are still under obligation to attend Mass, even though they are barred from receiving the Eucharist or even taking an active part in the liturgy (reading, bringing the offerings, etc.).  
  
Excommunication can be incurred either ''ferendae sententiae'' (imposed or declared as the sentence of an ecclesiastical court) or ''[[latae sententiae]]'' (automatic, incurred at the moment the offensive act takes place).  Automatic excommunication is only applicable in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church.
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Today, excommunication is a seldom-used punishment to discipline unrelenting defiance or other serious violations of church rules, especially by those who are accused of "spreading division and confusion among the faithful"—meaning, in practice, that the option of excommunication is more likely to be enforced when the disobedient Catholic is a visible and presumably influential public figure (such as a politician), but only rarely in the cases of non-public figures. Excommunication is characterized as not merely a "vindictive penalty" (designed solely to punish), but it is always a "medicinal penalty" intended to pressure the person into changing their behavior or statements, repent, and return to full communion. Divorce is not grounds for excommunication; however, divorce and remarriage may be.
  
The excommunicant is still considered Christian and a Catholic as the character imparted by baptism is held to be indelible.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05678a.htm The Catholic Encyclopedia]</ref>
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Excommunicated persons are barred from participating in the [[liturgy]] in a ministerial capacity (for instance, as a reader if a lay person, or as a deacon or priest if a clergyman) and from receiving the [[eucharist]] or the other [[sacrament]]s, but is normally not barred from attending these (for instance, an excommunicated person may not receive Communion, but would not be barred from attending Mass). Certain other rights and privileges are revoked, such as holding ecclesiastical [[office]]. The excommunicant person is still considered a Catholic, as the character imparted by baptism is held to be indelible.
  
In the [[Roman Catholic Church]] excommunication is usually terminated by a statement of [[repentance]], profession of the Creed (if the offense involved heresy), or a renewal of obedience (if that was a relevant part of the offending act) by the person who has been excommunicated; the lifting of the excommunication itself, by a priest or bishop empowered to do this; and then the reception of the sacrament of penance. In many cases, this whole process takes place within the privacy of the confessional and during the same act of confession.
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In the Middle Ages, formal acts of public excommunication were accompanied by a ceremony wherein a bell was tolled (as for the dead), the Book of the Gospels was closed, and a candle snuffed out—hence the term "to condemn with bell, book and candle." Such public ceremonies are not held today. Only in cases where a person's excommunicable offense is very public and likely to confuse people—as in an apostate bishop ordaining new bishops in public defiance of the Church—is a person's excommunicated status even announced, and that usually is done by a simple statement from a church official.
  
Offenses that incur excommunication must be absolved by a priest or bishop empowered to lift the penalty. This is usually the local [[ordinary]] ([[bishop]] or [[vicar general]]) or priests whom the local ordinary designates (in many dioceses, most priests are empowered to lift most excommunications otherwise reserved to the bishop, notably that involved with abortion).
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Excommunication is usually terminated by a statement of [[repentance]], profession of the Creed (if the offense involved [[heresy]]), or a renewal of obedience (if that was a relevant part of the offending act) by the person who has been excommunicated.
  
The Roman Catholic Church has an extensive history of the uses of excommunication, especially during the [[Middle Ages]].  Popes and archbishops used excommunication as a weapon against high ranking officials and kings who fell out of favor with the Catholic Church.  With the rise of the idea of separation of church and state, excommunication no longer has any civil effect.
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Offenses that incur excommunication must be absolved by a priest or bishop empowered to lift the penalty. This is usually the local [[ordinary]] ([[bishop]] or [[vicar general]]) or priests whom the local ordinary designates (in many dioceses, most priests are empowered to lift most excommunications otherwise reserved to the bishop, notably that involved with [[abortion]]).
  
An analogous penalty, interdict, arose as a form of excommunication of a whole area, barring celebration of the sacraments in a town or region.
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===Eastern Orthodox Communion===
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In the [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Orthodox Church]], excommunication is the exclusion of a member from the [[Eucharist]]. It is not expulsion from the Church. This can happen for such reasons as not having confessed within that year; excommunication can also be imposed as part of a penitential period. It is generally done with the goal of restoring the member to full communion.
  
Prior to the [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|1983 Code of Canon Law]], there were two degrees of excommunication: ''vitandus'' (shunned, literally "to be avoided," where the person had to be avoided by other Catholics), and ''toleratus'' (tolerated, which permitted Catholics to continue to have business and social relationships with the excommunicant).  This distinction no longer applies today, and excommunicated Catholics are still under obligation to attend Mass, even though they are barred from receiving the Eucharist or even taking active part in the liturgy (reading, bringing the offerings, etc.).<ref>"Excommunicants lose rights, such as the right to the sacraments, but they are still bound to the obligations of the law; their rights are restored when they are reconciled through the remission of the penalty."  ''New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law'', ed. by John P. Beal, James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green, Paulist Press, 2000, p. 63 (commentary on canon 11).</ref>  Indeed, the excommunicant is encouraged to retain some relationship with the Church, as the goal is to encourage them to repent and return to active participation in its life.
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The Orthodox Church does have a means of expulsion, by pronouncing ''[[anathema]]'', but this is reserved only for acts of serious and unrepentant [[heresy]], not disobedience or sins that do not involve heresy. Even in the case of anathema, the individual is not "damned" by the Church, but is instead left to his own devices, outside the grace of the Church. The implication, however, is that the individual will indeed face damnation as a result.
  
In the Middle Ages, formal acts of public excommunication were accompanied by a ceremony wherein a bell was tolled (as for the dead), the Book of the Gospels was closed, and a candle snuffed out - hence the term "to condemn with bell, book and candle." Such public ceremonies are never held today. Only in cases where a person's excommunicable offense is very public and likely to confuse people - as in an apostate bishop ordaining new bishops in public defiance of the Church - is a person's excommunicated status even announced, and that usually by a simple statement from a church official.
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===Lutheranism===
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[[Image:Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach der Ältere.jpeg|thumb|Martin Luther was himself excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church.]]
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[[Lutheranism]] also has an excommunication process, but some denominations and congregations no longer use it.
  
==== Automatic excommunication ("''latae sententiae'' excommunication")====
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The Lutheran definition, in its earliest and most technical form, is found in [[Martin Luther]]'s [[Luther's Small Catechism|Small Catechism]], beginning at Questions No. 277-283, in "The Office of Keys." Luther endeavored to follow the process that [[Jesus]] laid out in the eighteenth chapter of the [[Gospel of Matthew]]. According to Luther, excommunication requires:
There are a few offenses for which [[Latin Rite]] Roman Catholics are automatically excommunicated:
 
# [[Apostasy]] (canon 1364),
 
# [[Christian heresy|Heresy]] (canon 1364),
 
# [[Schism (religion)|Schism]] (canon 1364),
 
# Desecration of the [[Eucharist]] (canon 1367),
 
# Physical violence against the [[Pope]] (canon 1370),
 
# Attempted sacramental [[absolution]] of a partner in a sin against the [[Ten Commandments#Lutheran and Roman Catholic Christianity|sixth]] [[Ten Commandments|commandment of the Decalogue]] ("Thou shalt not commit adultery.") (canon 1378 §1),
 
# [[Holy Orders|Ordination]] of a [[bishop]] without papal mandate (canon 1382),
 
# Direct violation of the sacramental seal of [[confession]] by a confessor (canon 1388),
 
# Procurement of a completed [[abortion]] (canon 1398), or
 
# Being a conspiring or necessary [[accomplice]] in any of the above (canon 1329).
 
 
 
These excommunications are not incurred when certain mitigating circumstances apply (canons 1323 and 1324), e.g., if the person is of minor age, is ignorant of the penalty attached to the act, or has diminished culpability due to force or fear used against them. In short, a person must be old enough, knowledgeable enough, and free enough in his or her action to incur the full weight of such a penalty.
 
 
 
Unless the local ordinary or an ecclesiastical court [[fact (law)|finds]] that the offense in question occurred, the obligation to observe an automatic excommunication lies solely on the excommunicated (Can. 1331 §1).  Thus, even though an automatic excommunicant is forbidden to exercise any ecclesiastical offices, the excommunicant still retains the offices and all such acts are still valid acts under the law unless there has been a trial and finding of fact.  Once this occurs, all subsequent acts become void and all offices lost (Can. 1331 §2).
 
 
 
The removal of the excommunication incurred by offenses 4 through 8 is reserved to the [[Diocese of Rome|Apostolic See]], either personally by the Pope or through the [[Apostolic Penitentiary]]. Those who have incurred such a penalty normally go to a priest to confess, and the priest communicates anonymously and confidentially with the Penitentiary to receive delegation to lift the excommunication.
 
 
 
Additionally, local bishops and other ordinaries of the Catholic Church have limited authority to create other grounds for automatic excommunication.  For example, from 1884 to 1977 in the United States, an automatic excommunication applied to divorced Catholics who remarried outside the Church without obtaining an annulment.  (See [[Plenary Councils of Baltimore#Excommunications of the Third Council]] for details.)  As another example, since 1996 in the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Lincoln|diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska]], an automatic interdict (and, under certain conditions, automatic excommunication) applies to members of certain organizations, including [[Call to Action]], the [[Society of St. Pius X]], and [[DeMolay International]].<ref>http://www.ewtn.com/library/BISHOPS/BRUSKWTZ.HTM</ref>  As with ''latae sententiae'' penalties specified in church-wide law, penalties imposed by the local ordinary are invalidated by certain mitigating circumstances.  For example, no one under the age of 16 can receive a penalty under canon law, including excommunication, so most members of DeMolay would be exempt from this sanction.
 
 
 
Some ecclesiastical offenses incur an automatic [[Interdict (Roman Catholic Church)|interdict]], which for a lay person is virtually equivalent to excommunication.
 
 
 
=== Eastern Orthodox Communion ===
 
In the [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Orthodox Church]], excommunication is the exclusion of a member from the [[Eucharist]].  It is not expulsion from the Church. This can happen for such reasons as not having confessed within that year; excommunication can also be imposed as part of a penitential period. It is generally done with the goal of restoring the member to full communion. The Orthodox Church does have a means of expulsion, by pronouncing [[anathema]], but this is reserved only for acts of serious and unrepentant heresy. Even in that case, the individual is not "damned" by the Church but is instead left to his own devices.
 
 
 
=== Lutheranism ===
 
 
 
Although Lutheranism technically has an excommunication process, some denominations and congregations do not use it.
 
 
 
The Lutheran definition, in its earliest and most technical form, would be found in [[Martin Luther]]'s [[Luther's Small Catechism|Small Catechism]], defined beginning at Questions No. 277-283, in "The Office of Keys." Luther endeavored to follow the process that Jesus laid out in the 18th chapter of the [[Gospel of Matthew]]. According to Luther, excommunication requires:
 
  
 
::1. The confrontation between the subject and the individual against whom he has sinned.
 
::1. The confrontation between the subject and the individual against whom he has sinned.
Line 72: Line 48:
 
::4. A confrontation between the pastor and the subject.
 
::4. A confrontation between the pastor and the subject.
  
Beyond this, there is little agreement. Many Lutheran denominations operate under the premise that the entire congregation (as opposed to the pastor alone) must take appropriate steps for excommunication, and there are not always precise rules, to the point where individual congregations often set out rules for excommunicating laymen (as opposed to clergy). For example, churches may sometimes require that a [[vote]] must be taken at Sunday services; some congregations require that this vote be unanimous [http://www.lutheransonline.com/servlet/lo_ProcServ/dbpage=page&mode=display&gid=20051505062631281101111555&pg=20051578012321128501111555].
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Many Lutheran denominations operate under the premise that the entire congregation (as opposed to the pastor alone) must take appropriate steps for excommunication, and there are not always precise rules, to the point where individual congregations often set out rules for excommunicating laymen (as opposed to clergy). For example, churches may sometimes require that a [[vote]] must be taken at Sunday services; some congregations require that this vote be unanimous.
 
 
The Lutheran process, though rarely used, has created unusual situations in recent years due to its somewhat [[democratic]] excommunication process. One example was an effort to get [[serial killer]] [[Dennis Rader]] excommunicated from his denomination (the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]]) by individuals who tried to "lobby" Rader's fellow church members into voting for his excommunication.[http://www.dakotavoice.com/200508/20050816_5.asp]
 
  
 
=== Anglican Communion ===
 
=== Anglican Communion ===
==== Church of England ====
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The [[Church of England]] has no specific canons regarding how or why a member can be excommunicated, though there are canons regarding how those who have been excommunicated are to be treated by the church. Excommunication is seen as an extreme measure and rarely used. For example, a clergyman was excommunicated in 1909 for having murdered four parishioners.
The [[Church of England]] does not have any specific canons regarding how or why a member can be excommunicated, though there are canons regarding how those who have been excommunicated are to be treated by the church. Excommunication is seen as an extreme measure and very rarely used. For example, a clergyman was excommunicated in 1909 for having murdered four parishioners.
 
  
==== Episcopal Church of the USA ====
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The [[Episcopal Church in the USA]] is in the [[Anglican Communion]], and shares many canons with the Church of England which would determine its policy on excommunication. No central records are kept regarding excommunications, since they happen rarely. In May 2000, a man was excommunicated for "continued efforts to attack this parish and its members" after he published critical remarks about the church and some of its members in a local newspaper, many of them about the pro-[[homosexuality|homosexual]] stance the church had taken.
The [[ECUSA]] is in the [[Anglican Communion]], and shares many canons with the Church of England which would determine its policy on excommunication. No central records are kept regarding excommunications, since they happen so rarely. In May 2000, a man was excommunicated for "continued efforts to attack this parish and its members" who had been publishing highly critical remarks about the church and some of its members in a small local paper, many of them about the pro-homosexual stance the church had taken.
 
  
=== Calvin's view on excommunication ===
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=== Calvinism ===
 
In his ''Institutes of The Christian Religion'', [[John Calvin]] wrote (4.12.10):
 
In his ''Institutes of The Christian Religion'', [[John Calvin]] wrote (4.12.10):
:For when our Saviour promises that what his servants bound on earth should be bound in heaven, ([[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 18: 18), he confines the power of binding to the censure of the Church, which does not consign those who are excommunicated to perpetual ruin and [[Damnation#Religious|damnation]], but assures them, when they hear their life and manners condemned, that perpetual damnation will follow if they do not repent. [Excommunication] rebukes and [[animadvert]]s upon his manners; and although it ... punishes, it is to bring him to [[Salvation#Roman Catholicism|salvation]], by forewarning him of his future doom. If it succeeds, reconciliation and restoration to communion are ready to be given. ... Hence, though [[Ecclesiology|ecclesiastical discipline]] does not allow us to be on familiar and intimate terms with excommunicated persons, still we ought to strive by all possible means to bring them to a better mind, and recover them to the fellowship and unity of the Church: as the [[Apostle Paul|apostle]] also says, "Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother" ([[2 Thessalonians]] 3: 15). If this humanity be not observed in private as well as public, the danger is, that our discipline shall degenerate into destruction.
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<blockquote>[Excommunication] rebukes and [[animadvert]]s upon his manners; and although it... punishes, it is to bring him to [[Salvation#Roman Catholicism|salvation]], by forewarning him of his future doom. If it succeeds, reconciliation and restoration to communion are ready to be given... Hence, though [[Ecclesiology|ecclesiastical discipline]] does not allow us to be on familiar and intimate terms with excommunicated persons, still we ought to strive by all possible means to bring them to a better mind, and recover them to the fellowship and unity of the Church: as the [[Apostle Paul|apostle]] also says, "Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother" ([[2 Thessalonians]] 3: 15). If this humanity be not observed in private as well as public, the danger is, that our discipline shall degenerate into destruction.
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</blockquote>
  
 
===Anabaptist tradition===
 
===Anabaptist tradition===
When believers were baptized and taken into membership of the church by [[Anabaptist]]s, it was not only done as symbol of cleansing of sin but was also done as a public commitment to identify with Jesus Christ and to conform one's life to the teaching and example of Jesus as understood by the church.  Practically, that meant membership in the church entailed a commitment to try to live according to norms of Christian behavior widely held by the Anabaptist tradition.
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In the ideal, discipline in the [[Anabaptist]] tradition requires the church to confront a notoriously erring and unrepentant church member, first directly in a very small circle and, if no resolution is forthcoming, expanding the circle in steps eventually to include the entire church congregation. If the errant member persists without repentance and rejects even the admonition of the congregation, that person is excommunicated or excluded from church membership. Exclusion from the church is recognition by the congregation that this person has separated himself or herself from the church by way of his or her visible and unrepentant sin. This is done ostensibly as a final resort to protect the integrity of the church. When this occurs, the church is expected to continue to pray for the excluded member and to seek to restore him or her to its fellowship. There was originally no ''inherent'' expectation to [[shunning|shun]] (completely sever all ties  with) an excluded member, however differences regarding this very issue led to early schisms between different Anabaptist leaders and those who followed them.
 
 
In the ideal, discipline in the Anabaptist tradition requires the church to confront a notoriously erring and unrepentant church member, first directly in a very small circle and, if no resolution is forthcoming, expanding the circle in steps eventually to include the entire church congregation. If the errant member persists without repentance and rejects even the admonition of the congregation, that person is excommunicated or excluded from church membership. Exclusion from the church is recognition by the congregation that this person has separated himself or herself from the church by way of his or her visible and unrepentant sin. This is done ostensibly as a final resort to protect the integrity of the church. When this occurs, the church is expected to continue to pray for the excluded member and to seek to restore him or her to its fellowship. There was originally no ''inherent'' expectation to [[shunning|shun]] (completely sever all ties  with) an excluded member, however differences regarding this very issue led to early schisms between different Anabaptist leaders and those who followed them.
 
 
 
====Amish====
 
Jakob Ammann, founder of the [[Amish]] sect, believed that the shunning of those under the ban should be systematically practiced among the Swiss Anabaptists as it was in the north and as was outlined in the Dordrecht Confession.  Ammann's uncompromising zeal regarding this practice was one of the main disputes that led to the schism between the Anabaptist groups that became the Amish and those that eventually would be called Mennonite.  Recently more moderate Amish groups have become less strict in their application of excommunication as a discipline. This has led to splits in several communities, an example of which is the Swartzedruber Amish who split from the main body of Old Order Amish because of the latter's practice of lifting the ban from members who later join other churches. In general, the Amish will excommunicate baptized members for failure to abide by their Ordnung as it is interpreted by the local Bishop if certain repeat violations of the Ordnung occur.
 
 
 
Excommunication among the Old Order Amish results in shunning or ''the Meidung'', the severity of which depends on many factors, such as the family, the local community as well as the type of Amish. Some Amish communities cease shunning after one year if the person joins another church later on, especially if it is another Mennonite church.  At the most severe,  other members of the congregation are prohibited almost all contact with an excommunicated member including social and business ties between the excommunicant and the congregation, sometimes even marital contact between the excommunicant and spouse remaining in the congregation or family contact between adult children and parents.
 
 
 
====Mennonites====
 
In the [[Mennonite Church]] excommunication is rare and is carried out only after many attempts at reconciliation and on someone who is flagrantly and repeatedly violating standards of behavior that the church expects.  Occasionally excommunication is also carried against those who repeatedly question the church's behavior and/or who genuinely differ with the church's theology as well, although in almost all cases the dissenter will leave the church before any discipline need be invoked. In either case, the church will attempt reconciliation with the member in private, first one on one and then with a few church leaders. Only if the church's reconciliation attempts are unsuccessful, the congregation formally revokes church membership.  Members of the church generally pray for the excluded member.
 
 
 
Some regional conferences (the Mennonite counterpart to [[dioceses]] of other denominations) of the Mennonite Church have acted to expel member congregations that have openly welcomed non-celibate homosexuals as members.  This internal [[Mennonite#Sexual, marriage, and family mores|conflict regarding homosexuality]] has also been an issue for other moderate denominations, such as the [[American Baptist Churches USA|American Baptists]] and [[United Methodist Church|Methodists]].
 
 
 
The practice among [[Old Order Mennonite]] congregations is more along the lines of Amish, but perhaps less severe typically.  An Old Order member who disobeys the Ordnung (church regulations) must meet with the leaders of the church. If a church regulation is broken a second time there is a confession in the church. Those who refuse to confess are excommunicated. However upon later confession, the church member will be reinstated. An excommunicated member is placed under [[shunning|the ban]]. This person is not banned from eating with their own family.  Excommunicated persons can still have business dealings with church members and can maintain marital relations with a marriage partner, who remains a church member.
 
 
 
====Hutterites====
 
The separatist, communal, and self-contained [[Hutterites]] also use excommunication and shunning as form of church discipline.  Since Hutterites have communal ownership of goods, the effects of excommunication could impose a hardship upon the excluded member and family leaving them without employment income and material assets such as a home.  However, often arrangements are made to provide  material benefits to the family leaving the colony such as an automobile and some transition funds for rent, etc.  One Hutterite colony in Manitoba, Canada had a protracted dispute when leaders attempted to force the departure of a group that had been excommunicated but would not leave.  About a dozen lawsuits in both Canada and the United States were filed between the various Hutterite factions and colonies concerning excommunication, shunning, the legitimacy of leadership, communal property rights, and fair division of communal property when factions have separated.
 
 
 
== The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ==<!-- This section is linked from [[Shunning]] —>
 
{{Main|Disciplinary council}}
 
 
 
[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] ("LDS Church"; see also [[Mormon]]) practices excommunication (as well as the lesser sanctions of private counsel and caution, informal probation, formal probation, and disfellowshipment) as penalties for those who commit serious [[sin]]s.
 
 
 
According to the ''[[Church Handbook of Instructions]]'', The purposes of Church discipline are (1) to save the souls of transgressors, (2) to protect the innocent, and (3) to safeguard the purity, integrity, and good name of the Church. Excommunication is generally reserved for what are seen as the most serious [[sin]]s, including committing serious [[crime]]s; committing [[adultery]], [[polygamy]], or [[homosexuality|homosexual]] conduct; [[apostasy]], teaching false doctrines, or openly criticizing LDS leaders. In most cases, excommunication is a last resort, used only after repeated warnings. A recent (2006) revision to the Church Handbook of Instructions states that joining another church is also an excommunicable offense, however merely attending another church does not constitute "apostasy."
 
 
 
As a lesser penalty, Latter-day Saints may be disfellowshipped, which does not include a loss of church membership. Once disfellowshipped, persons may not take the sacrament or enter LDS temples, nor may they participate actively in (as opposed to merely attending and listening to) other church meetings, though disfellowshipped persons may attend most LDS functions and are permitted to wear temple garments. For lesser sins, or in cases where the sinner appears truly repentant, individuals may be put on probation for a time, which means that further sin will result in disfellowshipment or excommunication.
 
 
 
The decision to excommunicate a [[Melchizedek Priesthood]] holder is generally the province of the leadership of a [[Stake (Mormonism)|Stake]], which consists of several local [[Ward (Mormonism)|wards]]. Excommunications occur only after a formal "church disciplinary council" (what was once called a "church court;" the change was apparently meant to avoid talking about guilt and instead focus on repentance).
 
 
 
The procedure followed by a church disciplinary council is described in church handbooks and the [[Doctrine and Covenants]] {{sourcetext|source=The Doctrine and Covenants|book= 102|verse=9|range=-18}}.  For a regular member, the bishop (leader of the ward) determines whether excommunication is needed.  He does this in consultation with his two counselors, but there is no vote:  the bishop makes the determination in a spirit of prayer.  That decision is appealable to the stake leadership.
 
 
 
A Melchizedek Priesthood holder, however, starts at the stake level.  There, the stake presidency and [[Stake (Mormonism)|Stake]] [[High council (Mormonism)|High Council]] handle matters.  Six of the twelve members of the high council are assigned to represent the member in question to "prevent insult or injustice."  The member is invited to attend, but the council can go forward without him.  Again, the members of the high council consult with the stake president, but the decision about which discipline is necessary is the stake president's alone.  Officially, it is possible to appeal this decision to the Church's world leaders.
 
 
 
Considerations used in what form of discipline to use follows the following factors, listed in order from those that suggest a stern dicispline, to those that suggest a more lenient discipline:
 
 
 
: 1. Violation of Covenants: Covenants are made in conjunction with specific ordinances in the LDS Church.  Covenants that might be broken, are usually those surrounding marriage covenants, temple covenants, priesthood covenants, etc.
 
: 2. Position of Trust or Authority: Area of responsibility factor into discipline.  Leaders in the church have important responsibilities, and the same action committed by a member of the congregation may not result in as severe a discipline as a leader might receive.
 
: 3. Repetition: Repetition of a sin is more severe than a single instance.
 
: 4. Magnitude: How often, how many individuals were impacted, and who knows all play a part.
 
: 5. Age, Maturity, and Experience: Those who are young in age, or immature in their understanding are afforded leniency.
 
: 6. Interests of the Innocent: How the discipline will impact family members may be considered.
 
: 7. Time between Transgression and Confession: If the sin was committed in distant past, and there has not been repetition, leniency may considered.
 
: 8. Voluntary Confession: Did the person voluntarily come forward, or were they caught in the act.
 
: 9. Evidence of Repentance: Sorrow for sin, and demonstrated commitment to repentance, as well as faith in Christ all play a role in determining the severity of discipline.
 
 
 
Those who are excommunicated lose their church membership and the right to partake of the [[Sacrament (Mormonism)|sacrament]]. Notices of excommunication may be made public—especially in cases of apostasy, where members could be misled—but the specific reasons for individual excommunications are typically kept confidential and are seldom made public.
 
 
 
Persons who have been excommunicated are welcome and encouraged to attend church meetings, but cannot participate in the meetings:  offer prayers for the congregation, give talks, etc., cannot enter LDS [[Temple (Mormonism)|temples]], or wear [[temple garment]]s. Excommunicated members may be re-baptized after a waiting period and sincere [[repentance]], as judged by a series of interviews with church leaders.
 
 
 
Some critics have charged that LDS leaders have used the threat of excommunication to silence or punish LDS researchers who disagree with established policy and doctrine, or who study or discuss [[Controversies regarding The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|controversial subjects]]. A notable case is the so-called [[September Six]].
 
 
 
However, LDS policy dictates that local leaders are responsible for excommunication, without influence from General Church leadership, arguing this policy is evidence against systematic persecution of scholars. In contrast, some claim that LDS leadership keeps watch on certain [[apostate]] groups such as [[Sunstone]] and the message boards at exmormon.org and report on speakers (and topics) to their local leaders. [[Apologist]]s further suggest that some alleged excommunications never take place, or are used as a [[publicity stunt]]. They cite the case of [[Thomas W. Murphy]], who they say only claimed he was threatened with excommunication or other disciplinary action because of his research of how [[DNA]] research challenges LDS teachings. (''see'' [[Archaeology and the Book of Mormon]]). Recent evidence, such as witnesses at the meeting with the stake president and the letter requesting Murphy's attendance at the court, refute this claim that the disciplinary action was simply a publicity stunt.
 
 
 
== Jehovah's Witnesses ==
 
{{See also|Beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses#Disfellowshipping}}
 
  
[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] actively practice something similar to excommunication—using the term "disfellowshipping"—in cases where a member violates requirements as understood by Jehovah's Witnesses.
+
[[Image:DSCN4624 holmescountyamishbuggy e.jpg|thumb|250px|Amish couple in their buggy]]
  
When a member confesses or is accused of a disfellowshipping offence a "judicial committee" of at least three local lay clergy called "Elders" is formed. This committee will investigate the case and determine guilt, and if the person is deemed guilty, the committee will determine if the person is repentant. Repentance is completely based upon evidence of repentance, which includes the attitude of being sorry and ‘works befitting repentance,’ as referred to in Acts 26:20 and 2 Corinthians 7:11, such as trying to correct the wrong, making apologies to any offended individuals, compliance with earlier counsel, principles, and laws based on the Bible.
+
Jakob Ammann, founder of the [[Amish]] sect, believed that the shunning of those under the ban should be systematically practiced among the Swiss Anabaptists as it was in the north and as was outlined in the Dordrecht Confession. Ammann's uncompromising zeal regarding this practice was one of the main disputes that led to the [[schism]] between the Anabaptist groups that became the Amish and those that eventually would be called Mennonite. Recently more moderate Amish groups have become less strict in their application of excommunication as a discipline.
  
If the person is judged guilty and is deemed unrepentant, he or she will be disfellowshipped. If within 7 days no appeal is made, the disfellowshipping is made formal by an announcement at the next congregation Service meeting.  Appeals are granted to determine if procedural errors are felt to have occurred that may have affected the outcome.
+
In the [[Mennonite Church]], excommunication is rare and is carried out only after many attempts at reconciliation and on someone who is flagrantly and repeatedly violating standards of behavior that the church expects. The practice among [[Old Order Mennonite]] congregations is more along the lines of Amish.  
  
Disfellowshipping is a severing of friendly relationships between all members of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the one disfellowshipped by reasoning on 1 Corinthians 5:11, which says: "What I meant was that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a Christian yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Don't even eat with such people." Even family interaction is restricted to the barest of minimums such as presence at the reading of wills and providing essential elder care. The exception is if the disfellowshipped one is a minor and living at home, wherein such cases the parents are allowed to continue to attempt to convince the child of the value of the religion's ways and share in family activities.  
+
The [[Hutterites]] also use excommunication and shunning as a form of church discipline. Since Hutterites have communal ownership of goods, the effects of excommunication can impose a hardship upon the excluded member and family leaving them without employment income and material assets such as a home.
  
In other cases a member may be deemed to have abandoned the faith through attendance of religious services of other faiths, the expression of disbelief in the approved doctrine, the acceptance of forbidden medical use of blood, or the acceptance of biological evolution. The resulting action called "disassociation" is said to be the wishes of the person who may or may not have been consulted.  Disassociation has the same consequences as disfellowshipping.
+
===Latter-day Saints===
 +
[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] practices excommunication  as the final penalty for those who commit serious [[sin]]s. According to the ''[[Church Handbook of Instructions]]'', The purposes of Church discipline are (1) to save the souls of transgressors, (2) to protect the innocent, and (3) to safeguard the purity, integrity, and good name of the Church. Excommunication is generally reserved for what are seen as the most serious sins, including committing serious [[crime]]s; committing [[adultery]], [[polygamy]], or [[homosexuality|homosexual]] conduct; [[apostasy]], teaching false doctrines, or openly criticizing LDS leaders. In most cases, excommunication is a last resort, used only after repeated warnings. A recent (2006) revision states that joining another church is also an excommunicable offense, however merely attending another church does not constitute "apostasy."
  
After a period of time, a disfellowshipped person may apply to be reinstated into the congregation. The original judicial committee will meet with him to determine repentance, and if this is established, the person will be reinstated into the congregation. He may now participate with the congregation in the public ministry, (house to house preaching)<ref> “Our Kingdom Ministry” -  December 1974, | “Question Box” | © Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania </ref> but is prohibited from commenting at meetings or holding any privileges for a period set by the judicial committee. (Or, if the applicant is in a different area, the person will meet with a local judicial committee that will communicate with either the original judicial committee if available or a new one in the original congregation.)
+
As a lesser penalty, Latter-day Saints may be disfellowshipped, which does not include a loss of church membership. Once disfellowshipped, persons may not take the sacrament or enter LDS temples, nor may they participate actively in other church meetings, though disfellowshipped persons may attend most LDS functions and are permitted to wear temple garments. For lesser sins, or in cases where the sinner appears truly repentant, individuals may be put on probation for a time, which means that further sin will result in disfellowshipment or excommunication.
  
==== Controversy ====
+
===Jehovah's Witnesses===
 +
[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] actively practice "disfellowshipping" in cases where a member violates requirements. When a member confesses or is accused of a disfellowshipping offence, a "judicial committee" of at least three local lay-clergy, called "Elders," is formed. This committee will investigate the case and determine guilt, and if the person is deemed guilty, the committee will determine if the person is repentant. If the person is judged guilty and is deemed unrepentant, he or she will be disfellowshipped. If within seven days no appeal is made, the disfellowshipping is made formal by an announcement at the next congregation Service meeting. Appeals are granted to determine if procedural errors are felt to have occurred that may have affected the outcome.
  
Recently there has been some controversy with their disfellowshipping practices in regards to recent sex abuse scandals.  Claims of disfellowshipping being used as a punishment to silence outspoken members of the religious group have become numerous{{Fact|date=February 2007}}; many appear to be without merit.  Although there may have been cases where the directives from the organization were not followed properly, the official position of Jehovah's Witnesses is not to try to silence anyone who has been a recipient or knows of child abuse. They are informed that they have every right, without congregational ramifications, to inform authorities of the child abuse.  In many cases, the law itself requires the elders who are aware of the incident to report the case to the local authorities. In states where this is not required, it is left to the offended parties to do so without any congregational sanctions of any kind against them.  Those who are found guilty of child/sexual abuse are themselves subject to mandatory consideration for disfellowshipping by a judicial committee, and are not ever again allowed to teach in or hold a position of authority in any congregation, due to their having shown themselves to have a weakness that led to endangering or harming the most vulnerable members of society (or the congregation).
+
Disfellowshipping is a severing of friendly relationships between all members of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the one disfellowshipped by reasoning on 1 Corinthians 5:11. Even family interaction is restricted to the barest of minimums such as presence at the reading of wills and providing essential elder care. An exception is if the disfellowshipped one is a minor and living at home, wherein such cases the parents are allowed to continue to attempt to convince the child of the value of the religion's ways and share in family activities.  
  
== Islam ==
+
After a period of time, a disfellowshipped person may apply to be reinstated into the congregation.
{{main|Takfir}}
 
  
In [[Islam]], '''takfir''' is a declaration deeming an individual or group [[kafir]], meaning non-believers. "Takfir" has been practiced usually through courts. More recently several cases have taken place where individuals have been considered Kafirs. These decisions followed law suits against these individuals mainly in response to their writings which some viewed as anti-Islamic. The most famous cases are of [[Salman Rushdie]], Nasser Hamed Abu Zaid and Nawal Saadawi. The implications of such cases have included divorcing these people of their spouses, since under Islamic law, Muslim women are not permitted to marry non-Muslim men.
+
==Non-Christian traditions==
However, Takfir remains a very debatable issue in Islam primarily since Islam is not an institutionalised religion at the moment because of the absence of the [[Caliphate]], and therefore there should not be a body with the authority to make such judgements. [[Muhammad]] reportedly equated the act of declaring someone a kafir itself to blasphemy if the person concerned maintained that he was a Muslim.
+
===Islam===
 +
In [[Islam]], ''[[takfir]]'' is a declaration deeming an individual or group [[kafir]], meaning non-believers. Takfir has been practiced usually through Islamic courts. More recently, several cases have taken place where individuals have been considered kafirs. These decisions followed lawsuits against these individuals mainly in response to their writings which some viewed as anti-Islamic. The most famous cases are of [[Salman Rushdie]], Nasser Hamed Abu Zaid, and Nawal Saadawi. The implications of such cases have included [[divorce|divorcing]] these people of their spouses, since under Islamic law, Muslim women are not permitted to marry non-Muslim men. In some instances, these kafirs are killed in retribution for loss of faith by ardent followers.
  
== Judaism ==
+
However, takfir remains a very debatable issue in Islam since Islam is not an institutionalized religion and in most nations lacks a body with the authority to make such judgments.
{{mainarticle|Cherem}}
 
  
[[Cherem]] is the highest ecclesiastical censure in [[Judaism]]. It is the total exclusion of a person from the [[Jew]]ish community. Except in rare cases in the Ultra-Orthodox community, cherem stopped existing after [[The Enlightenment]], when local Jewish communities lost their political autonomy, and Jews were integrated into the greater gentile nations in which they lived.
+
===Judaism===
 +
[[Image:Spinoza.jpg|thumb|150px|Spinoza]]
 +
[[Cherem]] (or [[herem]]) is the highest official censure in [[Judaism]]. Theoretically, it is the total exclusion of a person from the [[Jew]]ish community. Except in rare cases in the ultra-Orthodox community, cherem stopped existing after [[The Enlightenment]], when local Jewish communities lost their political [[autonomy]], and Jews were integrated into the greater gentile nations in which they lived. A famous case of was that of the Jewish philosopher [[Baruch Spinoza]], on whom the cherem was imposed for his skeptical attitude toward scripture and rabbinical tradition. When it is imposed today, it affects only the narrow circle of people who pay attention to the rabbis who imposed it.
  
== Hinduism ==
+
===Hinduism and Buddhism===
[[Hinduism]] has been too diverse to be seen as a monolithic religion, and with a conspicuous absence of any listed dogma or ecclesia (organised church), has no concept of excommunication and hence no Hindu may be ousted from the Hindu religion. However, some of the modern organized sects within Hinduism (this might be true for a few of the modern Buddhist sects, too) may practice something equivalent to excommunication today, by ousting a person from their own sect.
+
[[Hinduism]] has been too diverse to be seen as a [[monolithism|monolithic]] religion, and with a conspicuous absence of any listed dogma or organized church religious institution, has no concept of excommunication, and hence no Hindu may be ousted from the Hindu religion. However, some of the modern organized sects within Hinduism practice something equivalent to excommunication today, by ousting a person from the group. A similar situation exists within [[Buddhism]] and the [[Neo-Buddhism|neo-Buddhist]] sects.
  
==South Asia==
+
==Famous excommunicated Catholics==
In medieval and early-modern times (and sometimes even now) in South Asia, excommunication from one's ''[[caste]]'' (''jati'' or ''varna'') used to be practiced (by the caste-councils) and was often with serious consequences, such as abasement of the person's caste status and even throwing him into the sphere of the [[Dalit (outcaste)|untouchables]] or [[bhangi]]. After excommunication, it would depend upon the caste-council whether they would accept any form of repentance (ritual or otherwise) or not.
+
* Sister Mary Theresa Dionne and five other nuns of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge in Hot Springs, [[Arkansas]] for professing that the founder of the [[Army of Mary]], Marie Paule Giguere, is the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary through whom God speaks directly
 +
* [[Edwin González Concepción]] of [[Puerto Rico]] and his followers, for preaching that he was the [[reincarnation]] of [[Pope John Paul II]]
 +
[[Image:Fidel Castro5 cropped.JPG|thumb|150px|Fidel Castro was excommunicated in 1962 but later attended mass with Pope John Paul II.]]
 +
* [[Genevieve Beney]] of [[France]], for claiming to be an ordained priest, though married and female
 +
* [[Gert Petrus]] of [[Namibia]], for practicing "witchcraft"
 +
* [[Mark Ridlen]], a priest who attempted to instigate a renaissance of the [[Symbionese Liberation Army]] and mesh its ideology with that of the [[Catholic Church]]
 +
* [[Emmanuel Milingo]], for [[marriage|marrying]] in a ceremony conducted by the Reverend [[Sun Myung Moon]] and later ordained married priests as bishops
 +
* [[Sinéad O'Connor]], for being ordained by a [[schism (religion)|schismatic]] church, the [[Palmarian Catholic Church]]
 +
* Archbishop [[Marcel Lefebvre]] and his followers
 +
* [[Fidel Castro]], in 1962, for supporting a [[communist]] regime. He has since attended mass with John Paul II
 +
* [[Joe DiMaggio]], for [[Polygamy|bigamy]]. Reversed in 1962.
 +
*[[Bishop Leonard Fenney]]<ref>Of the handful of priests expelled from the Roman Catholic Church in modern times for doctrinal error, none was more celebrated than Boston Jesuit Leonard Feeney. Technically, the Vatican excommunicated him in 1953 for refusing to meet with the Pope, but his beliefs caused his earlier 1949 suspension by Archbishop Richard Gushing. Feeney's undoing was his hard-line reading of the formula, first proposed by Church Fathers Origen and Cyprian in the 3rd century, that "outside the church there is no salvation."</ref><ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,908875,00.html Feeney Forgiven], Time Magazine. Retrieved April 21, 2008.</ref>
 +
*[[Joaquín Sáenz y Arriaga]], S.J., for stating in his books ''The New Montinian Church'' (1971) and ''Sede Vacante'' (1973) that [[Paul VI]] had forfeited his papal authority
 +
*[[Juan Perón]], in 1955, after he signed a decree ordering the expulsion of Argentine bishops Manuel Tato and Ramón Novoa
 +
* [[Irish republicanism|Irish republicans]] involved in "[[arson]], [[murder]] or kidnapping" during the [[Irish War of Independence]], in December 1920
 +
* Father [[William Murphy (priest)|William Murphy]] of [[Seward, Nebraska]], in 1901, for political sympathies with Protestant [[Ireland]]
 +
* All Catholics who participated in the creation of an [[Philippine Independent Church|independent church]] in the [[Philippines]], in 1902
 +
* [[Miguel Hidalgo]], chief instigator of [[Mexican War of Independence|Mexico's war of independence]] against [[Spain]]
 +
* [[Mary MacKillop]]. Later rescinded
 +
* [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]
 +
* [[Miguel de Cervantes]]. Later rescinded
 +
* [[Henry of Navarre]]
 +
* [[Henry VIII of England]], in 1533
 +
* [[Martin Luther]], in 1521
 +
* [[Elizabeth I of England]], in 1570
 +
*[[Jakub Uchański]] primate of Poland, in 1558
 +
* [[Charles d'Amboise]], in 1510
 +
* Every citizen of the Republic of [[Venice]], in 1509
 +
* [[Girolamo Savonarola]], in 1497
 +
* [[Jan Hus]], in 1411
 +
* [[William of Ockham]], in 1328
 +
* [[Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor]], in 1324
 +
* [[Robert the Bruce]]( along with his supporters and the rest of Scotland) in 1306, later lifted by the Pope following the [[Declaration of Arbroath]]
 +
* [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor]], in 1227. Rescinded in 1231, excommunicated again in 1239
 +
* [[Afonso II of Portugal]], in 1212
 +
* [[John I of England]], in 1209. Later rescinded
 +
* Noblemen who protected the [[cathars]]
 +
* [[Sverre I of Norway|Sverre Sigurdsson]], [[King of Norway]], in 1194
 +
* [[Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor]], in 1119
 +
* [[Henry II of England]], for assassination of [[Thomas Beckett]]. Made penance afterwards
 +
* [[Philip I of France]], in 1094
 +
* [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor]], in 1076
 +
* Orthodox Saint [[Photius]], in 863
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
<div class="references-small"><references /></div>
+
<references/>
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
 +
* Cramer, Steven A. ''Worth of a Soul: A Personal Account of Excommunication''. Randall Books, 2011 (original 1983). ISBN 1555171710
 +
* Hyland, Francis E. ''Excommunication: Its Nature, Historical Development, and Effects''. The Catholic University of America, 1928. {{ASIN|B000TGWJ1S}}
 +
* Logan, F. Donald. ''Excommunication and the Secular Arm in Medieval England''. Pontifical Institute of the Medieval, 1968. ISBN 978-0888440150
 +
* Peters, Edward and Thomas J. Paprocki. ''Excommunication and the Catholic Church''. Ascension Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1932645453
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
* [http://www.defide.com De Fide], a non-profit association, uses Canon Law to defend the Roman Catholic Church from Heresy by filing lawsuits in Ecclesiastical Court, seeking the excommunication of impenitent offenders.
+
All links retrieved August 9, 2017.
* [http://66.51.173.18/cgi/listings.cgi?id=20041209abc02 Elizabeth Vargas Reports on Sexual Abuse Inside The Amish Community on ABC's "20/20," Friday, Dec 10, 2004]
+
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05678a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia on excommunication] – ''www.newadvent.org''.  
* [http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/E948.html ''Excommunication, the Ban, Church Discipline and Avoidance'' (from Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online)]
 
*[http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~ls_nassehi/ls1/religion_0405_statements/Lee_meaninglessness_of_religion_.pdf ''Ritual and the Social Meaning and Meaninglessness of Religion'' (Social science study of Old Order Mennonite methods of baptism, discipline, etc.)]
 
* [http://www.bepress.com/context/gruterclassics/article/1035/viewcontent/ Ostracism on Trial: The Limits of Individual Rights (Amish)]
 
* [http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/artcls/all_noth.htm ''ALL OR NOTHING STATEMENTS (From Those Who Have 'The Truth')''] (from cult exiter source)
 
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05678a.htm Catholic Encyclopaedia on excommunication]
 
* [http://www.spirithome.com/excommunication.html The two sides of excommunication]
 
* [http://www.beliefnet.com/story/28/story_2819_1.html Episcopal Church of America excommunication]
 
* [http://listserv.episcopalian.org/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0008a&L=virtuosity&H=1&P=1386 ECUSA excommunication and Church of England]
 
 
 
  
  
 
[[Category:philosophy and religion]]
 
[[Category:philosophy and religion]]
 
{{Credit|153919809}}
 
{{Credit|153919809}}

Revision as of 21:15, 31 May 2022


Jan Hus (right) at the Council of Constance, where he was excommunicated and declared a heretic.

Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. The word literally means out of communion, or no longer in communion. In some churches, excommunication includes the spiritual condemnation of the member or group. Other censures and sanctions sometimes follow excommunication; these include banishment, shunning, and shaming, depending on the group's religion or religious community.

Excommunication is the most grave of all ecclesiastical censures. Where religious and social communities are nearly identical, excommunication is often attended by social ostracism and civil punishment, sometime including death if the associate crime is serious enough. In Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church especially retains the practices of excommunication, as do several other denominations. The church maintains that the spiritual separation of the offender from the body of the faithful takes place by the nature of the act when the offense is committed, and the decree of excommunication is both a warning and formal proclamation of exclusion from Christian society. In Catholic tradition, those who die excommunicated are not publicly prayed for; but excommunication is not equivalent to damnation. Excommunications vary in gravity, and in grave cases readmission may be possible only by action of the Holy See. Excommunicates are always free to return to the church on repentance.

Protestant churches have generally abandoned excommunication, with some exceptions. In Islam, the Koranic law of takfir can deem an individual, or group, kafir, meaning non-believers. In Judaism an individual may be excluded from Jewish religious society through the herem, a solemn ritual equivalent to excommunication. Hinduism and Buddhism generally have no concept of excommunication, although some sects do exclude members for various violations.

Christianity

Biblical origins

The Biblical basis of excommunication is anathema, often translated as "accursed." The references are found in Galatians 1:8—“But even if we, or an angel from Heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be anathema!" Likewise, 1 Corinthians 16:22 sates: "If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be anathema."

Jesus, in Matthew 18:17, reportedly taught that those who repeatedly offend others should be treated as "Gentiles or tax collectors," who were excluded from Jewish fellowship. [1]In Romans 16:17, Paul writes to "mark those who cause divisions, and avoid them." Also, in 2 John 10, "the elder" instructs that one should "not receive into your house [assembly] those who bring not the doctrine of Christ."

Paul takes a particularly hard line toward those Christians who practice sexual immorality. 1 Corinthians 5:11 states: "You must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat."

Roman Catholic Church

Excommunication is the most serious ecclesiastical penalty levied against a member of the Roman Catholic Church. The Church has an extensive history of the uses of excommunication, especially during the Middle Ages. Popes and archbishops used excommunication as a weapon against high ranking officials and kings who fell out of favor with the Catholic Church. With the rise of the idea of separation of church and state, excommunication no longer has any civil effect. An analogous penalty, interdict, arose as a form of excommunication of a whole area, barring celebration of the sacraments in a town or region.

Excommunication bars a person from receiving the Eucharist, among other penalties.

Prior to the 1983 Code of Canon Law, there were two degrees of excommunication: vitandus (shunned, literally "to be avoided," where the person had to be avoided by other Catholics), and toleratus (tolerated, which permitted Catholics to continue to have business and social relationships with the excommunicant). This distinction no longer applies today, and excommunicated Catholics are still under obligation to attend Mass, even though they are barred from receiving the Eucharist or even taking an active part in the liturgy (reading, bringing the offerings, etc.).

Today, excommunication is a seldom-used punishment to discipline unrelenting defiance or other serious violations of church rules, especially by those who are accused of "spreading division and confusion among the faithful"—meaning, in practice, that the option of excommunication is more likely to be enforced when the disobedient Catholic is a visible and presumably influential public figure (such as a politician), but only rarely in the cases of non-public figures. Excommunication is characterized as not merely a "vindictive penalty" (designed solely to punish), but it is always a "medicinal penalty" intended to pressure the person into changing their behavior or statements, repent, and return to full communion. Divorce is not grounds for excommunication; however, divorce and remarriage may be.

Excommunicated persons are barred from participating in the liturgy in a ministerial capacity (for instance, as a reader if a lay person, or as a deacon or priest if a clergyman) and from receiving the eucharist or the other sacraments, but is normally not barred from attending these (for instance, an excommunicated person may not receive Communion, but would not be barred from attending Mass). Certain other rights and privileges are revoked, such as holding ecclesiastical office. The excommunicant person is still considered a Catholic, as the character imparted by baptism is held to be indelible.

In the Middle Ages, formal acts of public excommunication were accompanied by a ceremony wherein a bell was tolled (as for the dead), the Book of the Gospels was closed, and a candle snuffed out—hence the term "to condemn with bell, book and candle." Such public ceremonies are not held today. Only in cases where a person's excommunicable offense is very public and likely to confuse people—as in an apostate bishop ordaining new bishops in public defiance of the Church—is a person's excommunicated status even announced, and that usually is done by a simple statement from a church official.

Excommunication is usually terminated by a statement of repentance, profession of the Creed (if the offense involved heresy), or a renewal of obedience (if that was a relevant part of the offending act) by the person who has been excommunicated.

Offenses that incur excommunication must be absolved by a priest or bishop empowered to lift the penalty. This is usually the local ordinary (bishop or vicar general) or priests whom the local ordinary designates (in many dioceses, most priests are empowered to lift most excommunications otherwise reserved to the bishop, notably that involved with abortion).

Eastern Orthodox Communion

In the Orthodox Church, excommunication is the exclusion of a member from the Eucharist. It is not expulsion from the Church. This can happen for such reasons as not having confessed within that year; excommunication can also be imposed as part of a penitential period. It is generally done with the goal of restoring the member to full communion.

The Orthodox Church does have a means of expulsion, by pronouncing anathema, but this is reserved only for acts of serious and unrepentant heresy, not disobedience or sins that do not involve heresy. Even in the case of anathema, the individual is not "damned" by the Church, but is instead left to his own devices, outside the grace of the Church. The implication, however, is that the individual will indeed face damnation as a result.

Lutheranism

Martin Luther was himself excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church.

Lutheranism also has an excommunication process, but some denominations and congregations no longer use it.

The Lutheran definition, in its earliest and most technical form, is found in Martin Luther's Small Catechism, beginning at Questions No. 277-283, in "The Office of Keys." Luther endeavored to follow the process that Jesus laid out in the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. According to Luther, excommunication requires:

1. The confrontation between the subject and the individual against whom he has sinned.
2. If this fails, the confrontation between the subject, the harmed individual, and two or three witnesses to such acts of sin.
3. The informing of the pastor of the subject's congregation.
4. A confrontation between the pastor and the subject.

Many Lutheran denominations operate under the premise that the entire congregation (as opposed to the pastor alone) must take appropriate steps for excommunication, and there are not always precise rules, to the point where individual congregations often set out rules for excommunicating laymen (as opposed to clergy). For example, churches may sometimes require that a vote must be taken at Sunday services; some congregations require that this vote be unanimous.

Anglican Communion

The Church of England has no specific canons regarding how or why a member can be excommunicated, though there are canons regarding how those who have been excommunicated are to be treated by the church. Excommunication is seen as an extreme measure and rarely used. For example, a clergyman was excommunicated in 1909 for having murdered four parishioners.

The Episcopal Church in the USA is in the Anglican Communion, and shares many canons with the Church of England which would determine its policy on excommunication. No central records are kept regarding excommunications, since they happen rarely. In May 2000, a man was excommunicated for "continued efforts to attack this parish and its members" after he published critical remarks about the church and some of its members in a local newspaper, many of them about the pro-homosexual stance the church had taken.

Calvinism

In his Institutes of The Christian Religion, John Calvin wrote (4.12.10):

[Excommunication] rebukes and animadverts upon his manners; and although it... punishes, it is to bring him to salvation, by forewarning him of his future doom. If it succeeds, reconciliation and restoration to communion are ready to be given... Hence, though ecclesiastical discipline does not allow us to be on familiar and intimate terms with excommunicated persons, still we ought to strive by all possible means to bring them to a better mind, and recover them to the fellowship and unity of the Church: as the apostle also says, "Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother" (2 Thessalonians 3: 15). If this humanity be not observed in private as well as public, the danger is, that our discipline shall degenerate into destruction.

Anabaptist tradition

In the ideal, discipline in the Anabaptist tradition requires the church to confront a notoriously erring and unrepentant church member, first directly in a very small circle and, if no resolution is forthcoming, expanding the circle in steps eventually to include the entire church congregation. If the errant member persists without repentance and rejects even the admonition of the congregation, that person is excommunicated or excluded from church membership. Exclusion from the church is recognition by the congregation that this person has separated himself or herself from the church by way of his or her visible and unrepentant sin. This is done ostensibly as a final resort to protect the integrity of the church. When this occurs, the church is expected to continue to pray for the excluded member and to seek to restore him or her to its fellowship. There was originally no inherent expectation to shun (completely sever all ties with) an excluded member, however differences regarding this very issue led to early schisms between different Anabaptist leaders and those who followed them.

Amish couple in their buggy

Jakob Ammann, founder of the Amish sect, believed that the shunning of those under the ban should be systematically practiced among the Swiss Anabaptists as it was in the north and as was outlined in the Dordrecht Confession. Ammann's uncompromising zeal regarding this practice was one of the main disputes that led to the schism between the Anabaptist groups that became the Amish and those that eventually would be called Mennonite. Recently more moderate Amish groups have become less strict in their application of excommunication as a discipline.

In the Mennonite Church, excommunication is rare and is carried out only after many attempts at reconciliation and on someone who is flagrantly and repeatedly violating standards of behavior that the church expects. The practice among Old Order Mennonite congregations is more along the lines of Amish.

The Hutterites also use excommunication and shunning as a form of church discipline. Since Hutterites have communal ownership of goods, the effects of excommunication can impose a hardship upon the excluded member and family leaving them without employment income and material assets such as a home.

Latter-day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practices excommunication as the final penalty for those who commit serious sins. According to the Church Handbook of Instructions, The purposes of Church discipline are (1) to save the souls of transgressors, (2) to protect the innocent, and (3) to safeguard the purity, integrity, and good name of the Church. Excommunication is generally reserved for what are seen as the most serious sins, including committing serious crimes; committing adultery, polygamy, or homosexual conduct; apostasy, teaching false doctrines, or openly criticizing LDS leaders. In most cases, excommunication is a last resort, used only after repeated warnings. A recent (2006) revision states that joining another church is also an excommunicable offense, however merely attending another church does not constitute "apostasy."

As a lesser penalty, Latter-day Saints may be disfellowshipped, which does not include a loss of church membership. Once disfellowshipped, persons may not take the sacrament or enter LDS temples, nor may they participate actively in other church meetings, though disfellowshipped persons may attend most LDS functions and are permitted to wear temple garments. For lesser sins, or in cases where the sinner appears truly repentant, individuals may be put on probation for a time, which means that further sin will result in disfellowshipment or excommunication.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses actively practice "disfellowshipping" in cases where a member violates requirements. When a member confesses or is accused of a disfellowshipping offence, a "judicial committee" of at least three local lay-clergy, called "Elders," is formed. This committee will investigate the case and determine guilt, and if the person is deemed guilty, the committee will determine if the person is repentant. If the person is judged guilty and is deemed unrepentant, he or she will be disfellowshipped. If within seven days no appeal is made, the disfellowshipping is made formal by an announcement at the next congregation Service meeting. Appeals are granted to determine if procedural errors are felt to have occurred that may have affected the outcome.

Disfellowshipping is a severing of friendly relationships between all members of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the one disfellowshipped by reasoning on 1 Corinthians 5:11. Even family interaction is restricted to the barest of minimums such as presence at the reading of wills and providing essential elder care. An exception is if the disfellowshipped one is a minor and living at home, wherein such cases the parents are allowed to continue to attempt to convince the child of the value of the religion's ways and share in family activities.

After a period of time, a disfellowshipped person may apply to be reinstated into the congregation.

Non-Christian traditions

Islam

In Islam, takfir is a declaration deeming an individual or group kafir, meaning non-believers. Takfir has been practiced usually through Islamic courts. More recently, several cases have taken place where individuals have been considered kafirs. These decisions followed lawsuits against these individuals mainly in response to their writings which some viewed as anti-Islamic. The most famous cases are of Salman Rushdie, Nasser Hamed Abu Zaid, and Nawal Saadawi. The implications of such cases have included divorcing these people of their spouses, since under Islamic law, Muslim women are not permitted to marry non-Muslim men. In some instances, these kafirs are killed in retribution for loss of faith by ardent followers.

However, takfir remains a very debatable issue in Islam since Islam is not an institutionalized religion and in most nations lacks a body with the authority to make such judgments.

Judaism

Spinoza

Cherem (or herem) is the highest official censure in Judaism. Theoretically, it is the total exclusion of a person from the Jewish community. Except in rare cases in the ultra-Orthodox community, cherem stopped existing after The Enlightenment, when local Jewish communities lost their political autonomy, and Jews were integrated into the greater gentile nations in which they lived. A famous case of was that of the Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza, on whom the cherem was imposed for his skeptical attitude toward scripture and rabbinical tradition. When it is imposed today, it affects only the narrow circle of people who pay attention to the rabbis who imposed it.

Hinduism and Buddhism

Hinduism has been too diverse to be seen as a monolithic religion, and with a conspicuous absence of any listed dogma or organized church religious institution, has no concept of excommunication, and hence no Hindu may be ousted from the Hindu religion. However, some of the modern organized sects within Hinduism practice something equivalent to excommunication today, by ousting a person from the group. A similar situation exists within Buddhism and the neo-Buddhist sects.

Famous excommunicated Catholics

  • Sister Mary Theresa Dionne and five other nuns of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge in Hot Springs, Arkansas for professing that the founder of the Army of Mary, Marie Paule Giguere, is the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary through whom God speaks directly
  • Edwin González Concepción of Puerto Rico and his followers, for preaching that he was the reincarnation of Pope John Paul II
Fidel Castro was excommunicated in 1962 but later attended mass with Pope John Paul II.
  • Genevieve Beney of France, for claiming to be an ordained priest, though married and female
  • Gert Petrus of Namibia, for practicing "witchcraft"
  • Mark Ridlen, a priest who attempted to instigate a renaissance of the Symbionese Liberation Army and mesh its ideology with that of the Catholic Church
  • Emmanuel Milingo, for marrying in a ceremony conducted by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon and later ordained married priests as bishops
  • Sinéad O'Connor, for being ordained by a schismatic church, the Palmarian Catholic Church
  • Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and his followers
  • Fidel Castro, in 1962, for supporting a communist regime. He has since attended mass with John Paul II
  • Joe DiMaggio, for bigamy. Reversed in 1962.
  • Bishop Leonard Fenney[2][3]
  • Joaquín Sáenz y Arriaga, S.J., for stating in his books The New Montinian Church (1971) and Sede Vacante (1973) that Paul VI had forfeited his papal authority
  • Juan Perón, in 1955, after he signed a decree ordering the expulsion of Argentine bishops Manuel Tato and Ramón Novoa
  • Irish republicans involved in "arson, murder or kidnapping" during the Irish War of Independence, in December 1920
  • Father William Murphy of Seward, Nebraska, in 1901, for political sympathies with Protestant Ireland
  • All Catholics who participated in the creation of an independent church in the Philippines, in 1902
  • Miguel Hidalgo, chief instigator of Mexico's war of independence against Spain
  • Mary MacKillop. Later rescinded
  • Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Miguel de Cervantes. Later rescinded
  • Henry of Navarre
  • Henry VIII of England, in 1533
  • Martin Luther, in 1521
  • Elizabeth I of England, in 1570
  • Jakub Uchański primate of Poland, in 1558
  • Charles d'Amboise, in 1510
  • Every citizen of the Republic of Venice, in 1509
  • Girolamo Savonarola, in 1497
  • Jan Hus, in 1411
  • William of Ockham, in 1328
  • Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1324
  • Robert the Bruce( along with his supporters and the rest of Scotland) in 1306, later lifted by the Pope following the Declaration of Arbroath
  • Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1227. Rescinded in 1231, excommunicated again in 1239
  • Afonso II of Portugal, in 1212
  • John I of England, in 1209. Later rescinded
  • Noblemen who protected the cathars
  • Sverre Sigurdsson, King of Norway, in 1194
  • Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1119
  • Henry II of England, for assassination of Thomas Beckett. Made penance afterwards
  • Philip I of France, in 1094
  • Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1076
  • Orthodox Saint Photius, in 863

Notes

  1. The issue of fellowship with Jewish tax collectors was contentious in ancient Judaism, with the followers of Shammai taking a hard line against all Roman collaborators, but the followers of Hillel welcoming fellowship with sinners as well as the righteous. The two Pharisaic schools were also divided in their attitude toward Gentiles, with the House of Hillel taking a more liberal line than that of Shammai.
  2. Of the handful of priests expelled from the Roman Catholic Church in modern times for doctrinal error, none was more celebrated than Boston Jesuit Leonard Feeney. Technically, the Vatican excommunicated him in 1953 for refusing to meet with the Pope, but his beliefs caused his earlier 1949 suspension by Archbishop Richard Gushing. Feeney's undoing was his hard-line reading of the formula, first proposed by Church Fathers Origen and Cyprian in the 3rd century, that "outside the church there is no salvation."
  3. Feeney Forgiven, Time Magazine. Retrieved April 21, 2008.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Cramer, Steven A. Worth of a Soul: A Personal Account of Excommunication. Randall Books, 2011 (original 1983). ISBN 1555171710
  • Hyland, Francis E. Excommunication: Its Nature, Historical Development, and Effects. The Catholic University of America, 1928. ASIN B000TGWJ1S
  • Logan, F. Donald. Excommunication and the Secular Arm in Medieval England. Pontifical Institute of the Medieval, 1968. ISBN 978-0888440150
  • Peters, Edward and Thomas J. Paprocki. Excommunication and the Catholic Church. Ascension Press, 2006. ISBN 978-1932645453

External links

All links retrieved August 9, 2017.

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