Is this child excommunicated?

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Sorry if this is in the wrong subforum, but…
I recently discovered a video of this child, who is about 4 years old at the time of it being uploaded. youtube.com/watch?v=ZfuJ1h69OIY
According to the video description, the child watched daily mass on EWTN, and copied what he saw on the television.
According to Code of Canon Law 1378, no one other than a priest may celebrate the Eucharist, and it incurs a latae sententiae penalty of interdict.
Is this child excommunicated?
Since the child is only 4, what if another child like this, but was older, say 10 years old did the same thing? Are they excommunicated?
 
fan312 said:
Sorry if this is in the wrong subforum, but…
I recently discovered a video of this child, who is about 4 years old at the time of it being uploaded. youtube.com/watch?v=ZfuJ1h69OIY
According to the video description, the child watched daily mass on EWTN, and copied what he saw on the television.
According to Code of Canon Law 1378, no one other than a priest may celebrate the Eucharist, and it incurs a latae sententiae penalty of interdict.
Is this child excommunicated?
Since the child is only 4, what if another child like this, but was past the age of reason did the same thing? Are they excommunicated?
Click to expand...
One must be At least 16 to be excommunicated
 
fan312 said:
According to Code of Canon Law 1378, no one other than a priest may celebrate the Eucharist, and it incurs a latae sententiae penalty of interdict.
Is this child excommunicated?

Since the child is only 4, what if another child like this, but was older, say 10 years old did the same thing? Are they excommunicated?
Click to expand...
Did he “attempt to celebrate the Eucharist”? Or, rather, was he merely playing pretend?

No, of course he isn’t excommunicated…
 
From the wikipedia article on Bishop Dolan:

Dolan exhibited a strong interest in the Roman Catholic priesthood from an early age, once saying, “I can never remember a time I didn’t want to be a priest.”[8] **He would also pretend to celebrate Mass as a child.[9]
**

I think it is safe to say the Archbishop was never in danger of excommunication and neither is this child.

The best thing you can do is stay away from youtube.
 
When I was a kid we used to play Mass all the time. We used either squashed bread or Necco wafers for “communion”. It was play, we knew it was play, no one ever thought it was real. A 4 year old cannot be excommunicated, anyway.
 
When my son was 3, he walked around the kitchen table distributing potato chips (crisps) and saying, “The body of priest. The body of priest.” He was new to this whole Catholic mass thing and didn’t yet know the word Christ 😃

And of course he wasn’t excommunicated! :rotfl:
 
I think Thuan is too cute! He’s going to be an awesome Priest one day. Of course he wouldn’t be excommunicated at his age. He would need to know reason/sin. He is doing something he loves, from his heart. My guess is that Jesus is smiling down upon him. ❤️
 
CB_Catholic said:
When I was a kid we used to play Mass all the time. We used either squashed bread or Necco wafers for “communion”. It was play, we knew it was play, no one ever thought it was real. A 4 year old cannot be excommunicated, anyway.
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Yes! Necco wafers were perfect for playing Mass. 👍

Didn’t every little Cathlic kid play Mass? I remember my then about 2 year old walking around the house carrying a book high above his head. He said he was “the Father” since his best view of the priest was during the procession at Mass.

To the OP, acting out the Mass is not at all what that canon is referring to. No, the little boy isn’t excommunicated. Nor are actors who play priests in movies or on TV. Nor are all the seminarians who must practice every bit of the Mass before their ordinations.
 
You can’t be serious.
My daughters used to gather all the beanie babies and teddy bears, put up a music stand, open a Bible and say “Our response today is: The Lord is kind and merciful!”

Showed they were paying attention at Mass anyway.

I remember many a Nekko wafer Mass game on the playground at Catholic school.
 
On Holy Thursday a mother and her 4 or 5 year old child approached our new bishop and the child put out his hands in correct form to receive communion. The bishop blessed the child who then pointed to his mouth and said, (which was broadcast on EWTN) ‘‘Hey Sūs.’’ You could hear the people watching this on TV go, ‘‘Awwww.’’

If the child’s under 7, they don’t have the abstract thinking necessary to understand transubstantiation or what makes a priest a priest. They can understand that the priest is the leader and he’s special and he’s the one in the collar and the vestments, but they can’t comprehend yet that he is Christ on earth. They don’t understand that the cracker everyone wants is Jesus. They just imitate what they see.

So under 7, they can’t understand that something is bad or think in their head, what I’m doing is bad and hurts God’s feelings. What they do understand is if they hit the toddler, they will get the naughty chair and lose their toy.

God created children this way so of coarse it’s not a sin and the Church is not going to excommunicate children exploring their faith the only way they know how, through play.
 
fan312 said:
According to Code of Canon Law 1378, no one other than a priest may celebrate the Eucharist, and it incurs a latae sententiae penalty of interdict.
Click to expand...
This is actually an amusing example of why commentaries on canon law are essential, and why we shouldn’t get carried away attempting to personally interpret the Code of Canon Law.

From the following: books.google.com/books?id=JKgZEjvB5cEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false, pg. 1586.
Canon 1378, §2 mentions two violations of the rules of properly differentiating sacramental functions. Number one penalizes those who are not priests who violate canon 900, §1 on the valid celebrant of the Eucharist. Such persons would have to recite the eucharistic prayer deliberately including the words of institution so that others would conclude erroneously that the Eucharist was being celebrated.
Click to expand...
As a footnote further explains:
This sanction might apply to those involved in “feminist liturgies.”
Click to expand...
 
Of course this child is not excommunicated! Toy Mass kits are even available at Catholic stores for children. Children playing Mass are modeling the behavior of adults who they admire, just like they play school. I’ll bet that most Catholic children pretend to say Mass, I know that we did. Anyway as a previous poster pointed out, a person must be at least sixteen to be excommunicated, and must they have knowledge that their actions carry the penalty of excommunication.
 
They sure can be excommunicated!!! If a kid pretends to say Mass and another kid pretends to be a Canon Lawyer, the Canon Lawyer can excommunicate the priest.

Also, if a kid pretends to be a teacher, he can be expelled from school!!!

If a child pretends to be a mother, watch out. She will hit everybody. That would be her way of dishing out punishment. She could haul off and hit her friends, her brother, her mother, but she better not hit her father. He wouldn’t like that at all.

Some people pretend to be stupid, and actually you wonder if they are.

Sometimes kids pretend to drive the family car, and they do, especially if someone left the key in the ignition.
 
Canon 1378, §2 mentions two violations of the rules of properly differentiating sacramental functions. Number one penalizes those who are not priests who violate canon 900, §1 on the valid celebrant of the Eucharist. Such persons would have to recite the eucharistic prayer deliberately including the words of institution so that others would conclude erroneously that the Eucharist was being celebrated.
Click to expand...
A good rule of thumb is whether, if anybody happened to walk in off of the street, they would reasonably believe that the person was actually saying mass. If the “celebrant” was 10 years old (or even older) and presumably using something like animal cookies and juice (and not wearing vestments) then this is more than a bit unlikely! On the other had, if I happen to sneak into a church, get dressed up and start reading from the missal with bread and wine in front of me then I’d be in serious trouble!
 
I agree with the PPs. Imitative play is an important part of childhood. This is how children integrate what they have seen into their own understanding.

Playing Mass can also become a training ground for the priesthood.
 
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