RE: Church excommunicates a girl for aborting her twins but lets her rapist go free
May 28, 2012 at 1:48 pm
(May 28, 2012 at 12:18 pm)Morganna Wrote: I have to take some issue with your interpretations, Aiza. The first is a quibble: the little girl wasn't excommunicated. The news sources I've read all indicate that the Vatican doesn't excommunicate minors. It was her mother and the doctors who were excommunicated.You are right, no automatic excommunication is incurred when you are under 16, I missed this child's age and the OP line says as such.
It's also worth noting as another "quibble", that Excommunication does not automatically send you to Hell any more than any other mortal sin does.
Quote:But in order for repentance to work, the sinner (to use the vocabulary of the Catholic Church) has to be truly sorry. It's not enough to go to confession and say your Hail Marys. You have to mean it. Again, that sounds reasonable. We wouldn't want to tell a serial killer, "You're forgiven, the slate is wiped clean!" only for him/her to take that as a license to go out and kill some more people.There is such a thing as an imperfect contrition, actually. If you willfully do not want to sin, even if its out of fear of Hell or want of Heaven, then you can still make a confession and have your slate "wiped clean" as it were. (Though the temporal affects of sin are still there, to be wiped clean through Purgatory, earthly penance or perfect contrition).
Quote:The Catholic Church is asking a mother to be truly sorry for saving the life of her child.They aren't asking the doctors to be "truly sorry" for preserving any life or saving any life--they are asking for them to be "sorry" about killing (or assisting in the killing of) another. Abortion itself is considered a grave evil in Catholicism, and there isn't any circumstances where you can make it "good". The ends don't justify the means, is what I am trying to say.
Even in the case of self-defense, your intention should not be to kill the person. If you use an excess of force it is still a sin. And since there is no known medical condition which absolutely requires the direct killing of a fetus, it is also still a sin. (Indirect killing of a fetus can still occur, as in the removal of a diseased uterus--but that cannot be an intended effect, and of course the child should also be baptized upon removal; "I am going to remove this diseased uterus to save the mother" vs. "I am going to kill this fetus to save the mother").
So yeah--no, she doesn't need to be "genuinely sorry" for saving her child's life. Just a resolution and will to sin no more regardless of reason. (and lets be straight here--the sin is assisting in the killing of a human being),
Mary Immaculate, star of the morning
Chosen before the creation began
Chosen to bring for your bridal adorning
Woe to the serpent and rescue to man.
Sinners, we honor your sinless perfection;
Fallen and weak, for your pity we plead;
Grand us the shield of your sovereign protection,
Measure your aid by the depth of our need.
Bend from your throne at the voice of our crying,
Bend to this earth which your footsteps have trod;
Stretch out your arms to us, living and dying,
Mary Immaculate, Mother of God.
Chosen before the creation began
Chosen to bring for your bridal adorning
Woe to the serpent and rescue to man.
Sinners, we honor your sinless perfection;
Fallen and weak, for your pity we plead;
Grand us the shield of your sovereign protection,
Measure your aid by the depth of our need.
Bend from your throne at the voice of our crying,
Bend to this earth which your footsteps have trod;
Stretch out your arms to us, living and dying,
Mary Immaculate, Mother of God.
