Excommunication and the Catholic Church

A note from Matthew Pinto, President of Ascension Press, informs me that my Question & Answer book, Excommunication and the Catholic Church, will be out by mid-October. They are accepting orders now.

The book is conversational in tone, about 65 pages in length, and features a Foreword by respected canon and civil lawyer Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, Thomas J. Paprocki. Among his other comments, Bp. Paprocki writes "In this book, Excommunication and the Catholic Church, Dr. Edward Peters sets the record straight and answers a variety of questions about the ecclesiastical sanction known as excommunication. This type of analysis is very needed and timely."

Today, excommunication is more in the news than ever. I hope my discussion of the topic will not only prevent some needless misunderstandings, but will help us all to appreciate better what the Catholic Church is, and is not, trying accomplish through this important and controversial procedure.

Update, November 8: I was just interviewed on excomunication by Carl Olson over at Ignatius InsightScoop. The last part of the interview also looks at why I went into canon law twenty years ago. You can go directly to the interview by clicking http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2006/11/excommunication.html