Catholics: How do you view the practice of ex-communication? How do you treat those who are?

I view ex-communication as it should be viewed and as the Church intends - not as a punishment, but more like a wake-up call. People ex-communicate themselves and it's rare that the Church would publicly recognize that someone ex-communicated themselves and then it's done as a way to make it care that the person is outside of church teachings and hopefully they will make the necessary changes and return to the church.

People who excommunicate themselves are still encouraged to attend Mass - although they should not receive Communion. I would treat them like I would any other person.

This means that a person cannot partake of Communion until they have willfully reconciled whatever grave sin it was that got them kicked out in the first place. There is no reason that I should treat them any differently, though. I am not a priest, so I don't have Communion to bar them from. The point of it all is to get them to turn from their sin and rejoin the Church. If I knew someone who was ex-communicated, I would urge them to do that.

When the Pope or local church gives this practicing Catholic this punishment it is always because they are practicing the word in a way that is not sound. when they stop this practice, Then they will be allowed in the Catholic body again.

The way things are going with the new pope, I don't think there will be ex-communications much longer. He is much more inclusive and tolerant of others.

They have no power, it means nothing unless you're sending your kid to one of those silly private catholic schools. Not even the bully group run by Bill Donohue can do anything as witnessed in 2008 when some kid was desecrating communion wafers.

I don't know anyone who has been. We don't do it often.

When are they going to ex-communicate Nancy Pelosi and all her left wing communist friends in the house??

We love them

You've got to be hard-core nasty to be excommunicated from the catholic church. HITLER....was never excommunicated from the catholic church. But that little girl who was raped and had no choice but to have an abortion was. Her, her mother, and her doctor...but not her rapist - he repented.