The Public vs Private Sinner - The Question of Denial of Communion

I was recently asked by a friend on Facebook for my reaction to some articles:

Hey Aaron: I'd like to hear your reaction to
this:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j-epjBHqtK6FvYWhAwBzReQHZytAD94EBDS00

It seems much like this:

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/may/15/nation/na-bishop15

Because Wall-to-Wall discussions on Facebook limit space too much I'll answer it here for my friend.

There are some doctrinal nuances here that are important to keep in mind. We have three things to compare. The first is the denial of a politician of communion for pro-abortion stance. The second is this quote from Bishop Sheridon:

“Any Catholic politicians who advocate for abortion, for illicit stem cell research or any form of euthanasia ipso facto place themselves outside of full communion with the church and so jeopardize their salvation,” Sheridan wrote. “Any Catholics who vote for candidates that stand for abortion, illicit stem cell research or euthanasia suffer the same fateful consequences.”

And the last is what Father Newman said in South Carolina in the other article:

"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exits constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."

First lets discussion the denial of communion to a politician who is publically pro-abortion. The key here is "publically". One must understand first the difference between private and public sin and private and public penance or absolution. The politician is a public figure and in the case of Senator Kerry as in the article, he publically supported a pro-abortion position. His sin, therefore, was public. Because it was a sin to involve oneself in the instrinsic evil of abortion, he is denied communion. Because it was done publically, the priest or bishop may publically announce this denial. Now the private person who privately, in the voting booth, votes for a pro-abortion candidate (when there is a choice between a pro-abortion and a pro-life candidate) has also involved themselves in the intrisinc evil of abortion. Therefore communion is denied that person until they receive absolution. Now because it was a private act, that person could keep taking communion even without absolution because the priest cannot read people's hearts when they come up for communion during Mass. If that person consequently publically declared they voted for the pro-abortion candidate, than the priest could deny communion publically until absolution was granted.

In the LA Times article the columnist says:

His letter is likely to have little practical effect, since most people receiving communion aren’t quizzed about their political beliefs beforehand.

Which is incorrect. People are NEVER quizzed about their political beliefs beforehand, while this statement suggests that it does happen by saying "most people". The most egregious sinner could step up and receive communion, and will receive it if the priest is unaware of the state of their soul. None of the priests in these articles have stated that they will question people's vote or political beliefs. They have only said what the Church has said for 2,000 years. If your soul is in a state of sin, you jeapordize your salvation and place yourself out of full communion with Christ until you receive absolution and commitedly contrite. If we were talking about stealing or adultery or any number of other sins, they would say the same thing. What is really being talked about with the politicians and public/private sin is something called Canon 915, part of canon law. I won't get into the legal definition of it because well ... its a legal definition. But here is a good description of what we're talking about here with an example that someone posted on a canon juris forum:

"Conduct is never a sin. Sin requires conduct AND knowledge AND consent of the will. If knowledge and consent of the will are lacking, then the conduct may be sinful but there's no sin. You have to engage in conduct that is sinful, knowing it is sinful, and deciding to do it anyway.

Canon 915 deals primarily with scandal, so it addresses conduct which would be sinful if done deliberately and with full knowledge. Canon 915 also deals with conduct that appears sinful, but is not.

Example: Peter and Mary Jane live in a small community and are Catholic. They fall away from the faith and move in together. At this point, since everybody knows they're not married and cohabitating, the ministers may not give them Communion. Now imagine that through the pastor's heroic efforts Peter and Mary Jane understand the problem. They receive sacramental absolution, agree to live as brother and sister until their wedding night, and move into separate bedrooms. Well, now they are not in a state of sin. However they still can't receive Communion publicly because the public does not know that they've changed their heart, received absolution, and ceased sinning. You now have a situation where there's no sin, but canon 915 still applies."

So back to the South Carolina case which is the most recent. Here is what the priest said again:

"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exits constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."

He is saying that those people who voted for a pro-life candidate "should not receive Holy Communion". He is not saying, "I will question each communicant on how they voted and deny them Holy Communion accordingly." The burden of action here lies on the sinner, not the priest. They must realize what they did and willfully deny themselves communion until they receive absolution, just as they willfully sinned by acting in "material cooperation with intrinsic evil." This statement could have easily read "Driving the getaway car during a bank heist constitutes material cooperation with an intrinsic evil ... etc." Stealing is a sin.

Now reading the articles at face value one could read some sort of gestapo like questioning by the priests and bishops. But that is how the LA Times and AP have chosen to portray these statements. This type of reporting about the Catholic Church, where either through misunderstanding or willful distortion the Church is portrayed incorrectly is just something one needs to learn to parse through.

I apologize if this is all poorly explained. I am neither a canon lawyer nor a theologian. If anyone has further interests in Canon 915 or related matters please just let me know and I can point you in the right direction.