not really, they are ephebophiles. these situations are are with homosexual ephebophiles…hardly the model for the good priests these few individuals should be liaised and excommunicated. you’ve also got to realize that the media is blowing these cases WAAAAAAAY out of proportion. they are regrettable and disgusting, but you cannot act like its all or even most priests… its probably not even 1/4 of 1% of priests that do this stuff.
There are two words that must be understood here. I believe that the laity does not fully understand what they mean.
Laicization: the act of laicization for a priest, friar or monk does not make him a lay man again. That is impossible, even for the Church. The word is not used in the Latin translation of the code of canon law. But there is no equivalent in English, so that word was chosen. The term that is written in the code is that the individual is dismissed from the state in which he lives: clerical or religious. This means that he may not function as such, but he remains a deacon, priest, bishop, monk or friar until death. If he is a deacon, priest or bishop, he may celebrate the sacraments in any emergency. It does not have to be a lfie and death situation. It can be a case of someone being sick and there is no priest available. The laicized priest or bishop can hear that confession, absolve and do the Annointing of the Sick. The laicized deacon can baptize a non bapatized person who is in danger of death and there is no other deacon to do the baptism. In neither of these cases does death have to be immanent. It is simply danger of death.
If you’re going for sugery and there is no priest who can absolve you and annoint you, you can call your nextdoor neighbor who is a laicized priest and he can do it and the Church supplies the faculties. The sacraments are valid and legal.
To laicize means to pretend to be a layman. You live as if you were a lay person. But you are never a lay person again. When you were ordained or when you made solemn vows your soul was changed forever by an act of the Holy Spirit, just as your soul was changed at the time of Baptism. The Church does not have the power or authority to undo what the Holy Spirit has done in the soul.
Excommunication: You can only be excommunicated for breaking a law of the Church, not for sinning. Sexual abuse of any kind is a very grave sin. However, it is not found in the code of law as an excommunicable sin, as is abortion. Therefore, the Church does not have the authority to excommunicate someone for this sin. To do so that pope would have to proclaim that this has been revealed by the Holy Spirit, as he did with abortion, and then he can add it to the canons (laws) of the Church. Since this has not been revealed by the Holy Spirit as a sin that automatically places you outside of the physical Church, the Church cannot impose an excommunication. There has to be a revelation from the Holy Spirit that this is so serioius that you no only sever your ties wtih grace, but you sever your ties with the pysical Church.
To excommunicate is to say that someone is no longer a member of the Catholic Churfch. If you excommunicate these men, you are denying them the right to receive the sacraments. This is not allowed.
You can only deny this right to someone who has commmitted a crime against the sacraments, agains tthe faith, against the pope, against the unborn, against a religious or cleric and even then, you can only deny it until such time as the person asks for forgiveness.
Once the person asks for forgiveness, you must forgive and you must lift the excommunication. In reality, the excommunication only lasts as long as the sinner allows it to last. Once the sinner says “I’m sorry,” it’s over. The excommunication must be lifted by the proper authority.
Another situation is that the Church must do everything in her power to make sure that she provides an opportunity for the sinner to be absolved. Therefore, she cannot hold an excommunication over someone’s head if they want to be absolved.
Our mission, as Catholics is to save souls, not to get even with those who have sinned. These men have souls and have the same right to forgiveness and grace as anyone else. Even Paul, who was a murderer was given the gift of grace and became an Apostle. We can’t interfere in the wrorking of grace.
To close:
Laicization just means that the person lives pretending to be lay man, he is always an ordained man or a religious in solemn vows.
Excommunication can only be imposed for those reasons that the Holy Spirit has revealed to the Church. It cannot be imposed because we wish it.
The sinner has a right to be forgiven and received into the Church and a right to go to heaven if he remains in a state of sanctifying grace. We cannot deny someone this opportunity. This was established by Christ himself when he received Peter again, after his denial and when he knocked Paul off of his horse. Peter and Paul commited greater sins than the abusers in these cases. They denied Christ.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
