Fr. Francois Laisney
The Society and Excommunication Attitude
Saturday, August 9, 2008 9:30 PM
“JOSEPH SARACENO” <parousa2009@yahoo.com> letter’s exchanged with Father Laisney on the papacy
issue, Father Krier’s response.
Flaisney@SSPX.com
On Sat, 8/9/08, Fr Courtney Edward Krier <In_His_Service@att.net> wrote:
In response to the following letter from the Reverend Laisney and other e-mails, I have added a commentary, especially because the tone of the e-mails speak of “excommunication”.
Father François Laisney
Apparently the Reverend feels that the person is more important than the office, since I do not see any indication that the couple had any qualms subjecting themselves to the Sovereign Pontiff. Therefore, there is no sign of schism. It is the more rash judgment on the Reverend’s side, who, even though he does not follow Benedict XVI in his actions, finds it very easy to say “Holy Father” with his mouth and censors those who cannot live with this contradiction. What both are expressing a question of the authority of Benedict XVI to command Roman Catholics to believe errors, but both come to different conclusions. The Reverend believes his contradictory conclusion is infallible; the couple are asking for answers to the seeming contradiction. The Reverend judges them proud and scandalous by not submitting to his contradiction without question. By defaming the couple, the Reverend expects to force others to accept his contradiction (to Church teaching) as the only answer, lest those who question also become infamous. It is these tactics that drive the intelligent person from the Church, because these tactics are so irrational and God is not irrational.
What are the answers to today’s apparent universal apostasy of the Catholic hierarchy? Is there no room for discussion? Has the answer been cast in stone? And, if so, where is it? Is it in the Society of Pius X? Can the Society infallibly promulgate the opinion it holds is absolute and any disagreement calls for anathema?
There is a scene in the movie about St. Thomas á Becket (Becket, with Peter O’Toole and Lance Burton) where the Archbishop Thomas á Becket excommunicates one of the nobles. The scene is very impressive and likely to be adopted by proud clerics as a means of imposing authority upon others, because with a swish of the hand and a few words the imagination conjures up the power to cast souls into hell just like God.
But, what really is the Law the Roman Catholic Church in regards to excommunication?
According to Canon 2257 §1, “Excommunication is a censure by which one is excluded from communion of the faithful…” and §2, “it is called anathema especially when it is inflicted with the formalities that are described in the Roman Pontifical.”
First, the only one who can excommunicate vitandus (banned from the Church) is the Apostolic See (CIC 2258), and the person must be publically excommunicated by name and declared that he must be avoided. Next, not just anyone can excommunicate, it must be from a competent authority possessing the right to exclude:
“Excommunication is an act of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the rules of which it follows. Hence the general principle: whoever has jurisdiction in the forum externum, properly so called, can excommunicate, but only his own subjects. Therefore, whether excommunications be a jure (by the law ) or ab homine (under form of sentence or precept), they may come from the pope alone or a general council for the entire Church ; from the provincial council for an ecclesiastical province ; from the bishop for his diocese ; from the prelate nullius for quasi-diocesan territories; and from regular prelates for religious orders. Moreover, anyone can excommunicate who, by virtue of his office, even when delegated, has contentious jurisdiction in the forum externum; for instance, papal legates, vicars capitular, and vicars-general. But a parish priest cannot inflict this penalty nor even declare that it is incurred, i.e. he cannot do so in an official and judicial manner. The subjects of these various authorities are those who come under their jurisdiction chiefly on account of domicile or quasi-domicile in their territory; then by reason of the offence committed while on such territory; and finally by reason of personal right, as in the case of regulars.” (Boudinhon, Auguste. “Excommunication.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 9 Aug. 2008 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05678a.htm>.)
It is this very concept of not being able to formally excommunicate the Modernists of the Conciliar Church that allows them to continue in their offices without public anathema. This does not mean they are not excommunicated in the internal forum, ipso facto, by their persistence in heresy. If, therefore, there is no competent juridical authority to declare the Conciliar hierarchy excommunicated, how can one excommunicate the laity? It is a lie that those who use such means hope the ignorance of the laity will not suspect, like parents telling their little children about Santa Claus. It is also this attitude that has shaken the authority of the priesthood on its merits of “alter Christus”, Christ Who is the “Way, the Truth, and the Life”.
The Society of Pius X as a whole sets itself as the only “Church” outside of which there is no salvation seen in their sectarian exclusiveness that only admits complete conformity to their unique doctrines and admits no universality (Catholicism). According to the Holy Roman Catholic Church, the Society can be nothing more than a loose association working for a common goal within the Church.
If any lessons are to be learned, it is: today clergy are passing themselves off as something they are not (due to the collapse of the hierarchical structure of the Church). This deception will not benefit the holiness and life of the Church or to its true reformation. Once a member of the clergy begins to declare himself something he is not, the laity should reject such an imposter before he leads them away from the Church and into a sect.
With God’s blessing and my prayers.
In His Service,
Father Courtney Edward Krier