Another Question on Automatic Excommunication

[aaa]

Another one of these questions. To preface, I request that you only respond if you have some background in canon law, or if you know what you’re talking about when it comes to this issue. I’m really confused when it comes to this topic, and TRUST ME, I don’t need any more of it.

Alright. So I’ve done a lot of searching for answers when it comes to this. I’ve looked up the canon law text and such, but even then, I’m confused when it comes to this topic. I know what sins carry this penalty and the conditions and all that, but here’s the thing: at what point is the penalty actually applied automatically?

Like with heresy, for example. Its definition includes the word “obstinate.” I know what that word means, but when used in the context of excommunication, does it mean when someone is personally corrected by a Church authority and then refuses to publicly recant their heretical position? Or can it be from someone reading or finding out through their own research that there position is wrong so they must now retract what they said? What’s the “time limit,” or the point at which the person becomes obstinate? Who/where, exactly, does the correction have to come from?

edit: thanks for the responses all, it’s helped a lot.

 

[TheLittleLady]

Let’s say you decide that when Christ said “I am the door”, that meant he was literally a door. That he was made of wood and held together with nails. You then proceed to set up a website and go around preaching missions to Catholics based on this teaching of “Portalism” where you encourage others to become “Portalists”. You refuse to recant this belief. You are now an obstinate heretic.

 

[adgloriam]

Thank you.

 

[PaulfromIowa]

This is really confusing for me, and is causing me a lot of anxiety.

This is very much NOT something that should be happening. Consult your pastor/confessor. They can speak authoritatively to you, something people on the internet cannot. If you are in a state of mortal sin, or even excommunication, they can fix it.

I am no canon lawyer, but do know that someone cannot be accidentally excommunicated. Did you deliberately intend to teach heresy contrary to the Catholic Church?

 

[aaa]

This was a while back, before I knew what sins carried with them the penalty of automatic excommunication. I also thought I was correct, until I read otherwise (since then, I’ve abandoned those erroneous beliefs I held). What happened was I went on this social media rant about how Protestants aren’t Christians, which is DUMB because most of the denominations that call themselves Protestant are Christian, just not Catholic Christian. I deleted the account on which I posted this, and afterwards I found out how wrong I was.

I shouldn’t be so anxious. I trust in the fact that I was honestly ignorant of what I was doing, and so I’m fine in the sense that I’m not excommunicated because of that ignorance. Thanks for the reminder.