How many excommunicated Catholics do you personally know?

by poppers 22 Replies latest jw friends

  • JeffT
    JeffT

    No I don't know one excommunicated catholic. After leaving the JW's my wife and I attended an evangelical Christian church with two thousand or so members, and two or three times that number who came to services. We were regulars there for 18 years. Never heard of one person being publicly disciplined in any way.

  • FreudianSlip
    FreudianSlip

    BTS & Poppers-

    She says she was exed for divorce. Thing is, her husdand was a wife and child beater, so she felt she had no choice. I know no other details. From what I know of Catholicism, this seems to be extreme, so I'm guessing there are elements to it that I don't know.

  • blondie
    blondie
  • dgp
    dgp

    I certainly can give opinions here.

    I grew up in a very Catholic family, and in a very Catholic community. I never met any excommunicated person. I did know of a few who were, but no one I ever met. I did know about some actions that result in excommunication "ipso facto", like, for example, beating a bishop. But I can say that excommunication isn't nowhere near JW's disfellowshipment. There used to be the vitandus excommunication, which required Catholics to stay away from the excommunicated in practically the same terms JW's require for the disfellowshipped, but that sort of excommunication doesn't exist anymore (or so I understand) and it was used only rarely.

    Catholics used to be very strict and meddlesome with behaviors. I read that some guy in Peru was tried by the Inquisition because he worked too hard, which was a reason to suspect he was a Jew. Let's remember that Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain because they were, er, Jews. But the Catholic Church can't enforce much anymore. Just think of how many Catholics actually pay attention and don't use condoms. Many a churchgoing lady has only one or two children, which is clear evidence that the lady broke the commandments of the Holy Mother and used contraception, but priests don't do anything against them. I have the impression that, if priests were like elders, NOT having children would be real proof that you're breaking the rules, and that would earn you some reproof, right?

    I can't actually conceive that anyone would treat an excommunicated person as JW's treat the disfellowshipped, save, perhaps for the most fanatic.

    Something to bear in mind is that excommunication, at least in our day, is more a spiritual punishment than an earthly one. It doesn't mean that people won't speak to you, for example. And, though the Catholic church isn't very tolerant, there is a clear dissent among its ranks, to an extent that you wouldn't imagine among JW's, and that doesn't entail excommunication.

  • blondie
    blondie

    What I realized with my friends and the articles I posted, Catholics are excommunicated when they defy the church's authority. The priests that molested children, I know of only 2 that were excommunicated. These Catholics are concerned about their eternal status based on their excommunication and while we as ex-jws may see it as a lesser event, not so these Catholics I know.

  • Judge Dread
    Judge Dread

    I was also a Catholic.

    I knew of MANY who should have been.

    So anyone who thinks the WTS is only after the $$$, have never been thru an organization who REALLY is after the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

    Judge Dread

  • Quillsky
    Quillsky

    This is a very interesting question, thanks for raising it Poppers.

    When I have raised the issue of (totally unscriptural, inhumane, and harshly applied) disfellowshipping with JW's, almost always the inane response has been along the lines of "but Catholics do it too".

    (Funny how what Catholics do is hauled out to support a cult policy but everything else Catholics do is "Babylon the Great".)

    I have never met or heard of an excommunicated Catholic. I have experienced one incident of Catholic shunning, only a once-off occasion. A relative of mine married a Catholic who was divorced, so one extremely devout Catholic couple refused to attend the wedding.

    Very interesting this...... Catholic excommunication is spiritual, theoretical, about ones long-term destiny. Jehovah's Witness disfellowshipping is tangible, practical, monitored, and all about your day-to-day (non-)interaction with family members and friends.

    Spot the cult.

  • nugget
    nugget

    I personally know of no Catholics who have been excommunicated. I know many ex Catholics and non practicing Catholics the difference between them and JWs is that a bad Catholic can still be a good son or daughter.If a lapsed Catholic decides to attend church then it is seen as a positive thing. DF'd JWs are constantly reminded of how unworthy they are by where they can sit and who they can speak to every time they visit the hall.

  • ThomasCovenant
    ThomasCovenant

    I don't know any excommunicated Catholics. But then again I don't know any practising Catholics.

    I don't want to either. How any decent, principled person with a sense of right and wrong could be part of that religion I don't know.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases

    It is the same problem with JW's. The religion, nearly every religion probably, supercedes what a person knows to be right.

    Off topic I know, sorry.

  • poppers
    poppers

    She says she was exed for divorce.

    I'm wondering how long ago that was, FS.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit