Apostasy in Catholicism

[octavian1]

What is the punishment of Apostasy in the catholic church ? I have heard it is excommunication, is this true ?

 

[Rhubarb]

Doesn’t apostasy mean voluntarily leaving the faith? Wouldn’t excommunication be redundant at that point?

 

[AlNg]

How would that work if a Catholic joins the Greek Orthodox Church? I thought that Pope Paul VI had lifted any excommunications that existed between the two churches?

 

[Vico]

How would that work if a Catholic joins the Greek Orthodox Church? I thought that Pope Paul VI had lifted any excommunications that existed between the two churches?

Not any excommunications in general, but the specific excommunications of 1054:

“B. They likewise regret and remove both from memory and from the midst of the Church the sentences of excommunication which followed these events, the memory of which has influenced actions up to our day and has hindered closer relations in charity; and they commit these excommunications to oblivion.”

https://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-.../hf_p-vi_spe_19651207_common-declaration.html

 

[thistle]

How would that work if a Catholic joins the Greek Orthodox Church? I thought that Pope Paul VI had lifted any excommunications that existed between the two churches?

Apostasy does not mean leaving one Christian Church and joining another Christian Church.
It means rejecting Christianity completely.

 

[Vico]

What is the punishment of Apostasy in the catholic church ? I have heard it is excommunication, is this true ?

Catechism

2089…apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; …

Latin Canon Law CIC

Can. 1364. 1. With due regard for can. 194, part 1, n. 2, an apostate from the faith, a heretic or a schismatic incurs automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication and if a cleric, he can also be punished by the penalties mentioned in can. 1336, part 1, nn. 1, 2, and 3.

https://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/heresy_schism_apostasy.htm

 

[AlNg]

Apostasy does not mean leaving one Christian Church and joining another Christian Church.

It means rejecting Christianity completely.

Right. So if a Catholic were to join the Jehovah’s Witnesses he would not be committing apostasy? What if the Catholic were to become a member of the Reformed Jewish community? Would that be apostasy or simply conversion to another religion?

 

[1ke]

Right. So if a Catholic were to join the Jehovah’s Witnesses he would not be committing apostasy? What if the Catholic were to become a member of the Reformed Jewish community? Would that be apostasy or simply conversion to another religion?

Apostacy is the rejection of the Christian faith by a Christian. So, both of your examples are apostacy.

 

[Genesis315]

That would be schism and maybe heresy, depending on what is required of the convert, both of which are also punished with excommunication (yes, it’s also redundant, since schism itself is a “sin of separation.”)

Can. 751 Heresy is the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of baptism of some truth which is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P2H.HTM

Can. 1364 §1. Without prejudice to the prescript of ⇒ can. 194, §1, n. 2, an apostate from the faith, a heretic, or a schismatic incurs a latae sententiae excommunication; in addition, a cleric can be punished with the penalties mentioned in ⇒ can. 1336, §1, nn. 1, 2, and 3.
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P52.HTM

 

[TheLittleLady]

JWs are not Christians, so, that would be apostasy.

 

[commenter]

AlNg:

Right. So if a Catholic were to join the Jehovah’s Witnesses he would not be committing apostasy? What if the Catholic were to become a member of the Reformed Jewish community? Would that be apostasy or simply conversion to another religion?

Apostacy is the rejection of the Christian faith by a Christian. So, both of your examples are apostacy.

Apostasy refers more to one’s personal faith, or lack of it, denial of it. I agree that joining another organization may coincide with apostasy, it is not the same thing.

A baptized Catholic, Rosemary Reuther, very publicly rejected just about everything she could find in the Catholic Faith - even monotheism. She was asked why she did not leave it. Her answer is a classic, “Because the Church has the Xerox machine”.

In other words she could promote her secular humanist agenda far better while remaining technically within the Church, giving her access to the Church’s resources and pulling on the Church’s credibility.

 

[porthos11]

thistle:

Apostasy does not mean leaving one Christian Church and joining another Christian Church.

It means rejecting Christianity completely.

Right. So if a Catholic were to join the Jehovah’s Witnesses he would not be committing apostasy? What if the Catholic were to become a member of the Reformed Jewish community? Would that be apostasy or simply conversion to another religion?

This is apostasy. Ditto Mormons.

If he becomes Orthodox, that’s schism, not not heresy or apostasy.

If he becomes Protestant, then that’s schism and heresy, but not apostasy.