[Oldcath-l] ACTUS FORMALIS DEFECTIONIS

[William Myers]

There has been a great interest among Sociologists of Religion as to how to 
interpret church membership. To my knowledge, attempts of churches like the 
PNCC (who continued to claim 250,000 members until a recent published number 
was a more manageable 25,000) as well as other ecclesiastical entities to 
claim persons who had not graced a church with their presence for years have 
met with disdain. The Roman Catholic Church is, unfortunately, statistically 
faulty at reporting actual church membership rather than just hordes of 
baptized.

This document, it seems, is another attempt to make it more difficult for an 
adherent to distance him/herself from the Roman Catholic Church. Thankfully, 
it is not as easy as it was in the early church to be thrust out of the 
Church! However, while acknowledging the necessity of pastoral obligation to 
even the most distant of faithful there needs to be a better defined 
standard in the RCC.

What does this mean for Old/Independent Catholics who were Roman Catholics? 
Well, for bishops consecrated without papal mandate canon 1382 stipulates 
that there is automatic excommunication which would supercede the canons 
mentioned below. O/IC Priests are covered by canon 1384, prohibiting the 
illegitimate performance of a priestly action. The cites to leaving the 
faith fall within the canons on marriage, meaning this document is clearly 
intended for the laity and the above two don't count. As stated above, it is 
more difficult for them to separate from the church. However, I would 
imagine the remedy would be for the RCC to claim that one does not fulfill a 
"Sunday obligation" by attending O/IC parishes thus ensuring that a person 
who does so is now de facto separated from the Eucharist by virtue of their 
being in mortal sin (CCC 2181).

Sorry for that long rant, but the post was too great for this law student to 
pass up! In the words of Hillel the Elder, "What is hateful to you do not do 
to another. That is the whole law, the rest is commentary."

William