I share this only as a perspective piece - one priest's interpretation of excommunication.
	
		
	
	
		
			
		
		
	
				
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^I know i can smell the stench of "burning martyr" all the way across the pond.......No, he couldn't. Trust me.
I've seen that crazed look in the eyes before. He couldn't stop to save his life.
Here is the clip of the episode that the priest cited as his proof:
[video]http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/423715/february-11-2013/garry-wills?xrs=share_copy[/video]
It becomes quite evident in viewing the clip that in fact Mr. Wills is no longer a Roman Catholic: he appears to have discovered the Protestant Reformation.
But to Father Carpenter's point about individuals excommunicating themselves, it is a bit of a disingenuous position to argue that the rebel has beheaded himself in the Tower and that the State has only provided an axe. The Church has been more than willing to write the excommunication orders.
But more to Carpenter's point, the heretic in this case knows he is espousing heresy, so any formal action which would follow would indeed be pro forma.
It is a bit telling and ironic that Carpenter interprets Colbert's assumed onscreen character to be Colbert's belief. The priest's own zealotry is showing. He also goes on to make the error that claimed Mainline Christian denominations (not a Catholic term) agree on the content of the New Testament -- that is not so.
In fairness to the priest, if a Catholic denies such a fundamental tenet of Catholicism, there is little left to claim.
… valid.
Invalid to the Pope or invalid to you?
… the ancient fathers…
Yeah. I wish Big Brother and like ilk would be replaced with some sort of survival show with religious opposites being chained together for three months: Hindu and Muslim, Jesuit and Baptist, Atheist and Charismatic, Canadian and Texan.
Not that reality shows are reality, but it would at least be a more interesting script that the sex-based co-ed whorehouse party bit.
