Can anyone say religion-of-the-law? I don't dispute the gravity of the sins mentioned but a special tribunal required for forgiveness? The again do most Christians take discipline seriously? Surely if someone desecrated the Sacraments we would exercise discipline. But there is a key difference here, at least in the Telegraph's report. They focused on excommunication. Our discipline, if exercised at all, focuses on repentance. In my experience, excommunication isn't considered an option.
We discussed in class yesterday those who refuse to attend church or received Holy Communion. Should they remain on the roles of the congregation or should excommunication be exercised? The impression I received was that it would be better to continue admonishing the individual ad nauseum. Excommunication is sidelined as inappropriate in everything but the most radical cases.
I expect ungirding this perception is that excommunication is a Romanist practice. They think: evangelical Christians do not place people outside the church. Again, I think this is a fundamental misconception. Excommunication in the Lutheran understanding does not force people out of the church. It is merely the declaration of what the individual has already done. By refusing the Lord's gifts, he has refused the fellowship of the church. Nothing really happening in excommunication but declaring what the sinner has already done.
I'm not sure a tribunal is required. Maybe a voter's assembly? (I say this tongue-in-cheek!)
Vatican reveals secrets of worst sins - Telegraph
The Apostolic Penitentiary, or "tribunal of conscience", has been shrouded in secrecy ever since it was established by Pope Alexander III in 1179 and until now has never provided details of the cases it scrutinises.
They are considered so heinous by the Catholic Church that only the Pope can grant absolution to those who perpetrate them.
But in an effort to present a more transparent image and to encourage more people to make confessions, the tribunal held a two-day conference in Rome in which it discussed its purpose and inner workings.
"Even though it's the oldest department of the Holy See, it's very little known - specifically because by its nature it deals with secret things," said Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, the tribunal's second most senior official.
While priests and bishops can deal with confessions of sins as grave as murder or even genocide, the tribunal is reserved for crimes which are viewed by the Church as even more serious.
They include attempting to assassinate the Pope, a priest abusing the confidentiality of the confessional by revealing the nature of the sin and the person who admitted to it, or a priest who has sex with someone and then offers forgiveness for the act.
A third type of case that comes before the tribunal involves a man who directly participates in an abortion - even by paying for it - who then seeks to become a priest or deacon.
"That is an irregularity and it means he should not receive the ordination without a dispensation from the Pope," said Cardinal James Francis Stafford, the American who heads the Apostolic Penitentiary.
Defiling the Eucharist, which Catholics believe is the body and blood of Christ, is also considered a sin of extreme gravity and one which is on the increase, the high-ranking members of the tribunal said.
Cardinal Stafford said there had been a rise in incidents in which people would receive Communion and then spit it out or otherwise desecrate it, sometimes in Satanic rituals.
 photo credit: roblisameehan
