Vatican confirms excommunications for US dissident group

Dec. 7, 2006 (CWNews.com) -- The Vatican has confirmed the 1996 decision of American Bishop Bruskewitz to excommunicate members of the dissident group Call to Action. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, wrote to Bruskewitz that Call to Action is “causing damage to the Church of Christ.” The dissident group had appealed Bruskewitz' decision to the Vatican, but Cardinal Re's letter of November 24, 2006, reports the Vatican’s finding that the disciplinary action was “properly taken.” The CWNews.com report stated:

The Vatican has determined that “the activities of ‘Call to Action’ in the course of these years are in contrast with the Catholic Faith due to views and positions held which are unacceptable from a doctrinal and disciplinary standpoint,” Cardinal Re writes. He concludes: “Thus to be a member of this Association or to support it, is irreconcilable with a coherent living of the Catholic Faith.”

The excommunication that Bishop Bruskewitz announced covered not only to Call to Action, but also to members of Catholics for a Free Choice, Planned Parenthood, the Hemlock Society, the Freemasons, and -- as some readers of this blog will find particularly interesting -- the Society of St. Pius X. Although the excommunication order is said to apply only within the Lincoln, Nebraska diocese, the Vatican’s judgment against Call to Action obviously raises questions about the status of the group’s members in other dioceses.

[Hat tip to M. Forrest]