A Sin and a Crime
I am a faithful reader of This Rock, which I consider a very powerful ally in the apostolate of good doctrine. Before anything else, please accept my sincerest good wishes and gratitude for your work. It is for this reason that I am writing this letter.
One of the “Quick Questions” of your magazine’s November [1995] issue dealt with the ecclesiastical penalty of excommunication for those who procure an abortion. The answer may have been formulated a bit too hastily as well, since it concluded with the following: “Since the promulgation of the new Code of Canon Law in 1983, the penalty for abortion is no longer reserved to the bishop, and any priest able to hear confession can absolve a penitent from the grave sin of abortion. Previously only the bishop could absolve one from such a sin.”
The statement is equivocal. In the interest of doctrinal accuracy, since this is what This Rock stands for,but most of all to preclude the possibility of illicit confessions, I would like to request you to print the following clarification.
First, we have to distinguish between the sin and the crime. A sin belongs to the internal forum (the forum of conscience) and refers to the relationship between a man and God, which is undermined by the sinful act, a deliberate violation of the law of God, which means the person’s turning away from God and turning to creatures. A sin is forgiven by God, either immediately (provided there is contrition) or mediately (through sacramental absolution), the latter being the only ordinary way for the forgiveness of mortal sins.
On the other hand, a crime belongs to the external forum (the forum of canon law) and refers to the relationship between a faithful and the ecclesial society, which is perturbed by the criminal act, a deliberate violation of an ecclesiastical penal law. A crime is punishable with the due penalty, which ceases either by its fulfillment or by its dispensation by the competent ecclesiastical authority, the pope for the universal Church or the bishop for his diocese.
Thus, all crimes are sins, but not all sins are crimes. To become a crime, a wrongdoing must be considered by the ecclesiastical legislator to be specially detrimental to the ecclesial common good that it typifies it as a crime; it is described in a penal law which states the corresponding penalty.
Sins are absolved in the sacramental forum (confession); penalties for crimes cease either when they are fulfilled (served) or dispensed by the competent ecclesiastical authority.
Second, abortion is such a heinous deed that the Church has typified it as a crime in canon 1398 of the Code of Canon Law: “A person who procures a completed abortion incurs an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication.” This means that such a person does not only commit a mortal sin (the killing of an innocent human life, aggravated by the relationship of filiation and the absolute defenselessness of the victim), but is at the same time excluded from the communion of the Church.
This is indeed grave, because once a person is excommunicated, he is cut off from the sacraments, including the sacrament of reconciliation. So even were he to repent of the crime, he could not even in principle approach the sacrament of penance, unless the excommunication is first lifted.
Third, indeed any priest can absolve any sin, including that of infanticide-abortion is infanticide-but not all priests can lift the censure of excommunication, which is automatically incurred by one who successfully procures abortion. That power lies ex officio in the diocesan bishop and the diocesan penitentiary and only by delegation (by the bishop) also to specific priests with faculty to hear confession.
In many parts of the world where abortion is not common, this delegation is done sparingly, and the reason for such delegation is expediency: to enable certain priests, who may be exposed to many cases of repentant abortionists seeking reconciliation with God and with the ecclesial community, to lift the ecclesiastical censure and at the same time absolve the mortal sin all in one act in the sacramental forum of confession.
Finally, a consoling thought for those who only a posteriori may come to realize that abortion is penalized by canon law with automatic excommunication. In the law of the state the principle is that “ignorance of the law does not exclude one from it,” because the promulgation of the law is meant to have made it accessible to all.
In canon law, which looks more to the good of souls, such ignorance does exempt one from committing the crime. Thus, ignorance of the existence of the penalty of automatic excommunication due to a successfully procured abortion saves one from incurring it. But the guilt of mortal sin and the consequent need for sacramental absolution and due penance are a different matter altogether.
Father Jaime B. Achacoso, J.C.D.
Theological Centrum Manila
Manila, Philippines
Greatest Moment
I electro-corresponded with you in January and asked you to recommend a Seattle-area parish to me. You recommended St. Monica’s on Mercer Island. I was confirmed there last Saturday night at the Easter Vigil. Greatest moment of my life. Thanks for your help.
Michael Brooks
via the Internet
Like Mother . . .
My son, Greg Villaescusa, is a seminarian for the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. He is a third-year seminarian at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He called me and told me how proud and supportive the seminarians are of Bishop [Fabian] Bruskewitz. The February issue of This Rock is being proudly displayed in classes at Borromeo. These young men are the legitimate vanguard being called by the Holy Spirit for the third millennium, and they are absolutely loyal to the deposit of faith which is being protected by the Holy Father.
Three cheers for Bishop Bruskewitz and three cheers for This Rock.
Patricia Villaescusa
via the Internet
. . . Like Son
The reason for my writing this letter is to thank you for your exceptional article on the Diocese of Lincoln (“Up Front,” February 1996).
Your statements about Msgr. [Leonard I.] Kalin’s Masses are true. I still cannot figure out his success in youth and vocations. I only know it works. I have seen kids who come perhaps once a week become daily communicants in no time, and they are now becoming seminarians. He has placed so many young women in the convent and has brought together so many youth to the vocation of matrimony that I cannot count them all. I had never seen students at a secular college go to holy hours and pray the Liturgy of the Hours together, until I came to Lincoln.
I now see why rags like NCR [National Catholic Reporter] would attack the diocese of Lincoln, simply because it is Catholic. They thought they had killed this “Catholicism” with their “New Theology,” inspired by their spirit, and not the true spirit and letter of Vatican II. In Lincoln you can see the entire clergy attempting to enact the long-neglected reforms of Vatican II, as opposed to what I have seen in other places.
The bishop is the most wonderful man I have ever met. He has an incredible mind, well ordered, good at synthesizing information, and an incredible retention to go with it. To have one-sixteenth the holiness of this man would get one very far.
I only wish you could see the things that I have seen in Lincoln. Sheep, well fed and prospering, protected, not like the emaciated ones in other places where they fall prey to cults, sects, or the New Age. I am not saying Lincoln is perfect, but it is much further along.
Strong bishops are hard to find in this day and age, but I can say for sure we have a strong one in Lincoln-one who is so moved by love for his sheep, that he warns them of the dangers of severing relationships to the Church, one who is willing to suffer taunts and scorn of those of the world in order to protect his sheep from the world. How many people will tell a person who is in mortal sin to go to confession? No; usually they take the “pastoral” way- this means weakness. They are so cruel as to let a person run the risks of hell in order to satisfy their personal desire for attention and love.
This Rock does very well here at St. Charles. I see lay people who take religious studies classes at night reading it before class and even photocopying articles to give to Protestant friends. Other people may see those articles and subscribe.
Your apostolate has my deepest admiration and prayerful support. Again I thank you for your articles on the diocese of Lincoln and pray for your continued success and growth.
Gregory Villaescusa
via the Internet
Excedrin Headache #153
I just received my first issue of This Rock, and I got so excited I didn’t know where to begin, so I ended up giving myself a headache as I tried to real all of it at once! It is a fine publication, and I will recommend it to more of my Catholic friends and a few of my not-so-Catholic friends!
As a college student I am grateful to have groups like yours readily available to meet a twofold need, the need for catechism and the need for apologetics. Indeed, they go hand in hand. I found that I learned more about the Catholic faith through reading The Faith of Our Fathers by Cardinal Gibbons and Catholicism and Fundamentalismthan I did in thirteen years of Catholic education, where we celebrated “polka Masses” and “dance Masses” while lamenting how the Pope should “get with it” on women’s ordination and “step into the 90s”!
When converts from Catholicism speak about how they “didn’t learn nothin’ in Catholic school,” it is often only a slight exaggeration!
The only complaint that I have is the cost of the resources. I know that you aren’t out for profit and that you are probably looking for ways to increase your ministry while keeping steady or (God willing!) decreasing your expenses. But I prayerfully wish for you to continue to investigate ways to make your work more accessible to us Catholics who are of modest means -especially students.
As a college student, I do the best I can to combat the growth of anti-Catholic sentiment (whether religious or secular) on college campuses. Whether it’s Campus Crusade for Christ, Hare Krishnas, unadulterated secularism, or renegade priests with anti-papal leanings, the orthodox college Catholic (the 30 percent of us that believe in the Real Presence) have a tough row to hoe and a very small hoe to do it with.
The Web has made “tracts and facts” more accessible, and for this we are all very thankful. What I would really like to see is software like what you have produced on the Bible with articles and questions from your books and This Rock, as well as other sources like papal documents. It would be nice not only to be able to pull up Bible info, but also the work of other apologists to see how the masters have covered these subjects themselves. (You could include multiple tracts on similar topics because Fr. X’s argument style might not be as clear to one apologist as Mr. Y’s argument or Sr. Z’s or even as a papal document or a patristic writing.
As I am certain you are keenly aware, it is the college students and the rest of the youth that need catechism and apologetics the most, yet have the least available to them. Once you get them (if you get them) past the group hug of Fundamentalism, the familiarity of (mainstream) Protestantism, the lure of Eastern religions, and the anger of renegade priests with hit-and-run theology like the SSPV [Society of St. Pius V, a Lefebvrite breakaway group] or the angry “progressive” priests who know better than that “tired old man in Rome,” there aren’t a lot of things for us.
I am going to engage in a rosary novena for the work of your staff because I am so grateful for the work you have done so far. I hope that you will continue to develop low-cost opportunities for evangelization and apologetics for students.
Joseph Nixon
Toledo, Ohio
Editor’s reply: Thanks for your kind remarks. You may be pleased to know that we’re working on a CD-ROM containing hundreds of questions and answers, all accessible through a sophisticated “answer wizard.” We’ll let you know how this projects progresses.
Virgin Crosses
Protestants who argue against the use of crucifixes have a problem: They don’t practice what they preach. They may not have crucifixes in their churches, but what about other things that remind one of the past? What about such things as music, pictures, and plays, which are often found in Protestant churches and which frequently mention or depict biblical times, events, and characters? If Protestants were to ban such reminders of the past from their churches, what about their personal lives? Do they possess any photos or other mementos of deceased family members? Wouldn’t such possession imply an irrational belief that such persons are still alive? It should-if crucifixes mean that Christ never came down from the cross.
There is a more serious problem, though, and that is the cross itself, especially as exhibited in Protestant churches. Protestants say Catholics who use crucifixes must believe that the crucifixion never ended. But by this logic, Protestants who use crosses must believe that the crucifixion never happened because all Protestant crosses are virgin crosses. Not once have I ever seen one on which could be found nail holes, blood stains, or other signs of actual use. Protestants who think Catholics won’t let Christ descend from the cross might do well to wonder why they themselves won’t let him ascend it.
Then, perhaps, their eyes and ears might be opened to receive the fullness of the truth. It is in Catholic Masses, after all, that this acclamation is heard: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” Of course, Protestants who can get no further than the door of a Catholic church miss this. It’s a pity, because they are also missing so much more.
Franklin Pierce Johnston
San Diego, California
Untangled Web
I enjoy the Catholic Answers web page. I have used it often. To help me with JW visitors, who I recently gave some Catholic literature, and with Seventh-Day Adventists.
Brian Hall
via the Internet