Excommun's: New Orleans v. New York

There are a lot of people who toss 'historical precedent' around and don't actually know the history.

Ed Peters 'splains.

...As Dreher is not alone in drawing an unfavorable parallel between Dolan and Rummel, and as the parallel seems to be a plausible one with, moreover, a canon law aspect to it, I thought I would take a look at it notwithstanding its provenance.

Dreher provides only one link for background on the Rummel episode and I am away from several of my own canonical resources just now (an inconvenience for me because I try to back up my views with sources, not just rhetoric), but, looking at what Dreher provides and at some on-line discussions (e.g. here and here), what I see is Rummel indeed excommunicating three Catholics during the New Orleans desegregation struggle, but not for supporting racism (which all three undoubtedly did) but rather, for their interfering with Rummel’s authority to govern Catholic institutions as he saw fit and fomenting animosity against Rummel and his leadership. See National Catholic Almanac (1962) 61. Now if these were the grounds for Rummel’s action against those offenders (and not for their ‘being racists’), the archbishop was on very solid canonical ground for so acting. Let me suggest how, remembering that the Pio-Benedictine Code of 1917 was in force at the time.

Then: 1917 CIC 2331 § 2 authorized a censure (i.e., excommunication, interdict, or suspension) against those who provoked subjects to disobey a bishop’s lawful orders; 1917 CIC 2334 n. 2 explicitly authorized excommunication against those who impeded even indirectly the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction using lay powers; and 1917 CIC 2344 authorized a censure (including excommunication) against those who attacked prelates in the media or who stirred up animosity or odium against their governance decisions. Thus Rummel had at least three ways to impose excommunication in his case, none of which responded to racism....

There's plenty more at the link.  Peters mentions the 1917 Code because the new (1983) Code, written by JPII, does not allow for ex-comms as liberally as did the '17.

Too bad, eh?