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Revision as of 17:54, 4 November 2003 by IKWOWE (talk | contribs) (Information on Jehovah's Witnesses)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Excommunication is religious censure intended to deprive one of membership of a religious community.
Catholic Christianity
Excommunication is considered automatic for some sins within the Catholic church, but can also be a formal affair, generally reserved for renegade clerygymen and such.
The word literally means "out of communion"; the outward sign of this loss of community involves barring the person from participating in Communion, i.e., receiving the Eucharist, and as a consequence losing their status as members of the church. Certain other rights and privileges normally resulting from membership of the church are revoked. In Eastern Orthodoxy, a person may also be barred from receiving the Eucharist. In this context however, this merely changes the member's classification in the parish from 'faithful' to 'penitent'. Excommunication is often intended to be only temporary, a "medicinal" procedure intended to provoke repentance. In the Roman Catholic church excommunication is usually terminated by repentance and absolution. For minor excommunications the absolution may be pronounced by an confessor (a Priest). More serious offences must be absolved by a more senior official.
Automatic excommunication
There are seven sins for which Catholics are automatically excommunicated:
- Apostasy, Heresy, or Schism
- Desecration of the Eucharist
- Physical force against the Pontiff
- One who actually procures an abortion and all accomplices
- Priest who absolves a partner in adultery
- Priest who directly violates the sacramental seal of confession
- Both parties to the consecration of a bishop without a pontifical mandate
In Mormon theology
Excommunication is also practiced in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as the "Mormons"). It is reserved only for serious sins such as adultery. It need not be a permanent state; excommunicated members may become bona fide members again once they have worked through a sincere repentance.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses resort to disfellowshipping in cases where a person has seriously violated the group's moral standards, based on their understanding of the Bible. Disfellowshipping is not automatic, in most cases follows repeated violations. If a judicial committee established by the congregation is convinced that the person has not repented of the sin committed, disfellowshipping will result. If the person believes that an error in judgment has been made, he or she has the right to appeal and have the case investigated by a committee of more experienced elders from another congregation. Disfellowshipped persons may be reintegrated into the congregation if they cease the activities that led to their disfellowshipping and give evidence of having repented; they will not, however, be considered eligible for special privileges, such as being a congregation elder, for a number of years after their reinstatement. For more information, see Practices of Jehovah's Witnesses and Shunning.
In Judaism
Cherem is the highest ecclesiastical censure in the Jewish community. 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 which they lived in. A fuller discussion of this subject is available in the cherem article.