The Catholic Church: Losing Parishioners One Soul at a Time

Today I am reading that yesterday Detroit Catholic Archbishop Allen Vingeron told his parishioners that if they supported same-sex marriage, that they had in effect, committed self-excommunication. This is sort of like Mitt Romney’s self-deportation – not something one normally wants to do but circumstances warrant the act.
 

How does one excommunicate oneself? What rite do you perform? Or do you do as countless millions of recovering Catholics do and simply stop attending mass?

Archbishop Vingeron, you know was repeating the words found in a blog posting last month by a theology professor. The professor, as expected, was very technical in his assertions:

“Catholics who promote ‘same-sex marriage’ act contrary to Canon 209 Section 1 and should not approach for Holy Communion per Canon 916.”

And you know, it is my guess, that Britain’s former sovereign, King Henry VIII got the same sort of message from Pope Clement VII. If he wanted to disobey the Catholic Canon on marriage and marry Anne Boleyn, well maybe Clement went all 209/916.

Resulting, of course, in an independent Church of England – a new addition to the Protestant Movement.

So all you same-sexer Catholics out there do have a refuge from the fires of H-E-double-hockey-sticks. Just do what Henry VIII did and found your own Protestant church.

Or better yet, if that is an inconvenience, just take your tithes to the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. I hear they are more tolerant of beliefs that go against the Canons. They also perform same-sex marriage.

Win – win.