Excommunication: please help! :(

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jjje1995

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Well, I’m a young university student and a devout Catholic.

I’ve said and done some very stupid things in my life like deciding I was a Protestant when I was 18 (I think I changed my mind the next day), got into Islam at one point (never converted, but I did try Muslim praying), told my family I was going to convert to Eastern Orthodoxy (which I never followed through on) and on two occasions (I believe I was sad/depressed) I rejected belief in God I’m front of my family (but I really don’t believe I meant it).

Anyway, I think I confessed all these sins and I thought all this was behind me but now I find that by committing these acts of heresy, schism and apostasy, I may have excommunicated myself latæ sententiæ.

Now I am incredibly upset because I don’t even know where I stand anymore.

I went to confession on Saturday and I’d been happy thinking I am in a state of grace but now I’m terrified that not only ALL my many long, agonisingly painful confessions are invalid but that I am excommunicated on top of that.

Please, can someone help me. I feel really upset now! 😦
 
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Why would you ask this of amateurs on an anonymous website?
Just go to confession and chat about it with your priest.

May I personally observe you exhibit some OCD tendancies and significant misplaced anxiety.
That indicates scrupulosity.

Again the best way for treating such is a regular confessor who knows you.
Its time you got yourself a spiritual director who knows you rather than doing the one night stand confessional thing typical of the scrupulous.

Good luck and God bless.
 
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None of those things carry an excommunication reserved to the Holy See. And most (possibly all) American bishops give all confessors the power to absolve excommunications. So when you were sacramentally absolved your excommunication was also absolved.
 
You’re good.

Very few things result in actual excommunication (abortion, attacking the Pope… erm… those are actually the only two I can think of off-hand). All the things you’ve described sound like serious sins, but one that can easily be dispensed with through the joyous gift of confession.

Since you say you’ve been to confession, and I’m assuming you confessed everything you could think of, you’re good. As soon as the priest says “I absolve you of your sin in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” you’re good to go, wiped clean and made new again.

Go forth and love God, you’re fine!
 
Welcome to the forums jjje,I pray you are reassured and have peace of mind with the answers given .
God bless 🙂
 
Thanks to Blackfriar for introducing me to a marvelous new word ‘scrupulosity’.

As for jjje1995’s flirting with various religious traditions and the anxiety that this apparently causes, I can offer no help.
It is worth noting, though, that from my perch it appears that believing you’re the object of a celestial watchman who may bestow or withhold everlasting bliss (or torment) does not guarantee peace of mind, or psychological health.

Port
 
@Arkansan and @(name removed by moderator) have answered your question.
 
Thank you for your charitable reply. I’m English though. Do you know if British priests also have this power (don’t worry if you don’t)?
 
Very few things result in actual excommunication (abortion, attacking the Pope… erm… those are actually the only two I can think of off-hand).

To complete the list of the reasons of exomunication latae sententiae :
(wikipedia)
a person who throws away the consecrated Eucharistic species or takes and retains them for a sacrilegious purpose;[7]
a person who uses physical force against the Pope;[8]
a priest who absolves his accomplice in a sin against the commandment against adultery;[9]
a bishop who ordains someone a bishop without a papal mandate, and the person who receives the ordination from him;[10]
a confessor who directly violates the sacramental seal of confession;[11]
a person who procures a completed abortion;[12]
accomplices without whose assistance a violation of a law prescribing latae sententiae excommunication would not have been committed.[13]
 
I have yet to come across a skilled Canon Lawyer equally skilled in pastoral discernment 😉.

He needs to chat with a priest not come here and get unpastoral advice from unknown amateurs who don’t really know his situation.
 
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Which also means you shouldn’t tell him he has scruples…
[/quote]

It doesn’t change any of my observations.
My advice was to see a priest and give him/her something further to reflect on with him.

Please reread, nor did I say he/she had scruples - I identified tendencies.
 
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To the OP–do as you have already ben advised. Talk with your priest. May the living God bless and keep you…
 
jjje1995 said:
now I’m terrified that not only ALL my many long, agonisingly painful confessions are invalid but that I am excommunicated on top of that.
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You did not apostacize, nor commit heresy or schism.

You also confessed these (possible) sins already. You were absolved. Trust your priest. He knows what he’s doing. If there were anything more to do, he would have instructed you.

Be at peace. But talk to your pastor about what, I agree with BlackFriar, does sound like a high level of anxiety over youthful silliness (not actual serious sin).
 
Because grave sin must be done with knowledge and consent, and excommunication is the discipline for very grave sins, you cannot be excommunicated “accidentally” or without knowledge.

What you did was rebellious, it was dumb, but it sounds as if you were in ignorance of the gravity.

Now that you have the knowledge, don’t do that anymore!

As a young university student, you might find some of the work by the counter-atheism Youtube/podcast “Red Pill Religion” to be of benefit.
 
BlackFriar said:
May I observe you are exhibiting some OCD tendancies and significant misplaced anxiety. That indicates scrupulosity.
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Are you a psychiatrist? There should be a rule in this forum against playing doctor and giving a diagnosis based on another member’s post.
 
Are you suggesting that those who suffer from scrupulosity do not have “honest questions”?!
Ron_Conte said:
Are you a psychiatrist? There should be a rule in this forum against playing doctor and giving a diagnosis based on another member’s post.
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No one gave any diagnosis! Identifying “signs” that could indicate a possible problem about which one should TALK TO THE PRIEST is not “playing doctor”!!!
 
Next time you get a chance, go to confession and discuss it with your priest. I went to confession this morning because I was uncertain on certain sins. My priest talked through it with me and let me know that most of them were not sins. By the end of it, I only had one thing that needed to be confessed. Sometimes the anxiety of possible sins is harder on us then our actual sins. I encourage you to have a conversion type confession to get feed back.

God Bless and I’m off to fulfill my penance now
 
I have clearly advised the op to see a priest…and not to put weight on personal opinions on CAF…that clearly includes myself.
 
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Definitely ask a priest. Chances are someone like him is alot more educated on the matter than random people on the internet
 
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