I agree that excommunication is a redundant punishment for schism (FYI it is canon 1364); I guess the point is to reiterate the grave fact of the natural consequence. Schism is defined as refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or communion with those subject to him. EOs, whether culpable or not, refuse submission to the Roman Pontiff as a matter of principle.
As for the “two lungs,” it refers to the Eastern and Western traditions within the Catholic Church. It is important for the Church to be able to do this, if she is to hope to reconcile the separated Churches. Speaking of the Eastern Catholic Churches working together with the Western where they are found together, St. John Paul II said:
The universal Church needs a synergy between the particular Churches of East and West so that she may breathe with her two lungs, in the hope of one day doing so in perfect communion between the Catholic Church and the separated Eastern Churches.
Ecclesia in America (January 22, 1999) | John Paul II
Next, there’s a difference between being born and raised in an EO Church and leaving the Catholic Church for it. As the Catechism states, quoting the Vatican II decree on ecumenism, “one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ” (CCC 818). See my citation to the First Vatican Council for the teaching on those who are charged with the sin of separation (obviously those born EO, who come to know or should know they should join the Catholic Church would of course by definition be culpable as well). As for your comment of them “abandoning God,” as the text says, the point is that He provides the grace to keep them in the Catholic faith and He does not withdraw that grace without fault on the individual’s part–it necessarily requires a decision against God’s love and grace.
As for the validity of the sacrament of penance, there is no doubt as to the validity of the other sacraments. The Council of Trent, however, defines the need for jurisdiction for the valid exercise of this sacrament by priests (Session 14, canon 7). The question is whether bishops separated from hierarchical communion can make such a grant. Again, Lumen Gentium specifically says such powers “cannot be exercised,” but as to whether this is a matter of validity or liceity, it says “[t]hese questions are left to theologians to discuss—specifically the question of the power exercised de facto among the separated Eastern Churches, about which there are various explanations.”
I am happy to be corrected if the Church has subsequently made a ruling on this question. You say many Popes have–could you point to that?
The rest of your post deals with the identity of the Church, which I will address in the next post.
But as a greater concern to your point, I recall JP2 and his “Two Lungs” theory and the oceans of dialogue between the two Churches of the last half century. As such, you can’t even conclusively argue that they’ve even left “The Church”.
