Scrupulosity: A Little Bit of Hell

Do you never feel forgiven no matter how many times you confess your sins?
Do you obsess over blasphemous thoughts that invade your mind against your will?
Do you agonize about whether or not something you\’ve done is sinful, even when other faithful Catholics and even your priest assure you that it\’s not?
Is your conscience so hyper-sensitive that you cannot find peace with God?
If so, you might want to start reading up on a condition called scrupulosity. It is one of the most painful psychological states there is — it can feel like hell to the sufferer.
I was surprised to learn that Fr. Paul Marx, the late, great pro-life hero, suffered from scrupulosity as a young seminarian. He recounted in his autobiography that the agony of that condition was worse than any other pain he had suffered in his life (and he suffered an incredible amount of physical and psychological pain in his worldwide, decades-long mission to end abortion).
I know from personal experience how devastating scrupulosity can be. A family member of mine suffered from it, and when things became torturous for her, intervention was needed. There is an understanding now that scrupulosity is one type of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD); recognition of that fact is how my relative was able to get her scrupulosity/obsessive thoughts under control. The relief is beyond description.
Scrupulosity is incredibly harmful and can lead souls right out of the Church. Martin Luther suffered terribly with feelings of total depravity — he could not feel \”clean\” no matter how many times he received absolution. His scrupulosity led to the formation of his doctrine of sola fide (salvation by faith alone) and the idea of \”eternal security,\” i.e., that sin, even grave sin, cannot jeopardize a Christian\’s salvation. It\’s not a stretch to say that scrupulosity was a catalyst for the Protestant Reformation, which tore the Body of Christ asunder.
I had a dear friend, now deceased, who grew up Catholic in the 1950s. She suffered from torturous scrupulosity as a girl, causing her ultimately to leave the Catholic Church. I asked her about her experiences, and she told me the following:

I\’m not sure how or exactly when it started. I know I was still in grade school. I went to a Catholic school for 9 years. Sometimes we would go to Mass before school and I would take Communion like most of the other kids. In school we learned about sin — venial, mortal, and the worst of all, mortal sin of sacrilege. I remember trying to grasp the concept of eternity in hell. Fire, forever, without end. This is what would happen to a person who died with mortal sin on their soul. I found the idea too frightening.

We went through the Ten Commandments and the sins against them — some of which I was too young and innocent to comprehend. Then one day on my way up to Communion, it occurred to me that maybe I had a mortal sin on my soul, but I continued to receive Communion. That\’s when it all started. I felt ill and had my mom pick me up from school. I spent the rest of the day with a knot in my stomach, worried that I had committed the dreaded mortal sin of sacrilege. Eventually I was able to dismiss the fact that I had done such a thing. But I decided that I wasn\’t going to repeat that episode. I know now that what I thought was sin at that time wasn\’t. But I was ignorant and unsure so just to be on the safe side I avoided Communion.
We were expected to receive Communion every first Friday of the month so during the week we had Confession during school hours. I found myself confessing to numerous sins (just in case) because a bad confession was considered a sin of sacrilege. After Confession my mind would be bombarded with all kinds of things which I tried to fight but eventually I would decide that at some point I had a sinful thought, could not go to Communion, at which point the torture would stop. Then all I would have to do was be sick that Friday. Eventually it got to the point where I was \”sick\” all that week.
I was embarrassed and ashamed because all my friends were receiving Communion on a regular basis. The struggle within me was pure torture and in that I felt totally alone.
I told no one. I was too ashamed because it all seemed so crazy. I had no hope that anyone could possibly understand. Looking back, I wonder how in the world the priests who heard my confession didn\’t have a clue about my scrupulosity.
It wasn\’t until high school that I heard anything about a scrupulous conscience. I went to public high school (freedom) but attended religious class once a week. The nun who conducted the class once referred to a boy who had to continue to go to confession because he suffered with a scrupulous conscience. It was then that I realized my problem.

My friend never did come back to the Catholic Church, living out her life as an evangelical Protestant, resigned to live \”on My Father\’s front porch\” as she put it, never quite able to come back inside the home she missed and longed for.
Scrupulosity is not a condition unique to Catholicism by any means, however, as Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and those of other faiths are affected as well.
If you think you are scrupulous, there is help! First, understand that you likely have a form of OCD and it can be treated. Second, please read the monthly Scrupulous Anonymous newsletters and the \”Ten Commandments for the Scrupulous\” (along with the \”revised\” Commandments). Third, read the book, Understanding Scrupulosity: Questions, Helps, and Encouragements, by Thomas M. Santa. And fourth, find a spiritual director or confessor who has experience dealing with scrupulosity.
It might be hard to believe, but with the help of others and God\’s grace, you can and will find peace.

http://www.catholicstand.com/scrupulosity-a-little-bit-of-hell/

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“There is no basis for that which some respond to this: that these Fathers based themselves on ancient law, while nowadays, by decree of the Council of Constance, they alone lose their jurisdiction who are excommunicated by name or who assault clerics. This argument, I say, has no value at all, for those Fathers, in affirming that heretics lose jurisdiction, did not cite any human law, which furthermore perhaps did not exist in relation to the matter, but argued on the basis of the very nature of heresy. The Council of Constance only deals with the excommunicated, that is, those who have lost jurisdiction by sentence of the Church, while heretics already before being excommunicated are outside the Church and deprived of all jurisdiction. For they have already been condemned by their own sentence, as the Apostle teaches (Tit. 3:10-11), that is, they have been cut off from the body of the Church without excommunication, as St. Jerome affirms… All the ancient Fathers…teach that manifest heretics immediately lose all jurisdiction, and outstandingly that of St. Cyprian (lib. 4, epist. 2) who speaks as follows of Novatian, who was Pope [i.e. antipope] in the schism which occurred during the pontificate of St. Cornelius: “He would not be able to retain the episcopate [i.e. of Rome], and, if he was made bishop before, he separated himself from the body of those who were, like him, bishops, and from the unity of the Church.’” — St. Robert Bellarmine, An Extract from St. Robert Bellarmine, De Romano Pontifice, lib. II, cap. 30, (http://www.cmri.org/02-bellarmine-roman-pontiff.html .This link is placed merely for purposes of attribution; no endorsement of this site is hereby intended.)

http://betrayedcatholics.com/wpcms/articles/a-catholics-course-of-study/traditionalist-heresies-and-errors/true-status-of-schismatic-priests-and-bishops-ignored/ad-evitanda-scandala-the-jurisdiction-dilemma-and-can-2261-§2/

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Excommunicated persons are forbidden to receive the Sacraments. After a declaratory or condemnatory sentence they may not be buried from the church, if they should die before obtaining absolution (Canon 2260).

An excommunicated priest is forbidden to celebrate Holy Mass or to administer the sacraments and sacramentals. The faithful, however, may for any good reason ask the sacraments and sacramentals of an excommunicated priest, especially when there is no one else to minister to the applicant, and in cases where the excom municated priest is requested he is allowed to administer the sacraments and is not obliged to inquire why he is requested to do so. The faithful, however, are not allowed to ask the sacraments from a priest who is an excommunicatus vitandus or a priest excommunicated by a sentence in the ecclesiastical court, except in case of danger of death (Canon 2261).

Every excommunicated person is deprived of the indulgences and of his share in the public prayers of the Church. The faithful, however, may privately pray for the excommunicated and a priest may privately apply Holy Mass for their intentions, provided that no scandal is given (Canon 2262). As Protestants fall under the class of the excommunicati tolerati, the Code allows Holy Mass to be applied for their intentions; but privately only.

The exercise of jurisdiction both in the internal and the external forum on the part of an excommunicated person is unlawful; and if the excommunication was imposed by sentence in the ecclesiastical court all acts requiring jurisdiction become invalid, except in danger of death, when any priest can validly absolve a person in such extremity (Canon 2264).

The New Canon Law in Its Practical Aspects: Papers Reprinted from "the ...

 (공)저: Andrew Brennan Meehan,Stanislaus Woywod,Michael A. Gearin

http://books.google.com/books?id=SnUrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA84&vq=in+danger+of+death&dq=canon+law+1917&hl=ko&output=html_text&source=gbs_search_r&cad=1

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(c) If they have become formally affiliated with a non-Catholic sect or publicly adhered to it, they incur ipso facto the note of infamy; clerics lose all ecclesiastical offices they might hold (can. 188, 4°), and after a fruitless warning they should be deposed.

http://books.google.com/books?id=aPUoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA193&focus=viewport&vq=heretic&dq=Those+who+contract+marriage+before+a+non-Catholic+minister+without+permission+(2319+§+1+n.+1)%3B&hl=ko&output=html_text

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Sacrae ordinationis minister ordinarius est Episcopus consecratus; extraordinarius, qui, licet charactere episcopali careat, a iure vel a Sede Apostolica per peculiare indultum potestatem acceperit aliquos ordines conferendi.

The ordinary minister of sacred ordination is every (validly) consecratedbishop, even though he be a schismatic or heretic.

This was defined in the Decree for the Armenians and again by the Council of Trent.1 However, it must be added that although every validly consecrated bishop may ordain validly, yet he must make use of the proper form in the act of ordination, and have the intention of conferring the power attached to the Sacrament; or rather, let us say, the ordinans must not positively exclude the intention of the Church. From this point of view the Anglican Orders were declared invalid by Leo XIII, in his "Apostolicae curae," of Sept. 13, 1896.2

A commentary on the new Code of the canon law

 (공)저: Charles Augustine (Rev. P., O.S.B.),Charles Augustine Bachofen

http://books.google.com/books?id=0yxZAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA412&vq=heretic&dq=Those+who+contract+marriage+before+a+non-Catholic+minister+without+permission+(2319+§+1+n.+1)%3B&hl=ko&output=html_text&source=gbs_search_r&cad=1

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III. VARIOUS KINDS OF DELINQUENCIES

6. 1°. Occult, Public, Notorious. (Can. 2197.) Delinquencies are always external acts, but they may be unknown or known in various degrees; hence the division into occult, public and notorious.

(a) They are occult, in the full and strictest sense, when they are known to no one but the agent. They are also considered as practically unknown and occult when they are known to only two or three prudent and discreet persons who are not likely to divulge them. They are occult materially, when the fact itself is unknown; formally, when the fact being known, its disorderly character is not.

(6) Delinquencies are public when they already are or, in all probability, will soon be divulged. To how many persons they should be known to be considered as divulged, is not defined by law nor can it easily be, as so much depends on circumstances and the character of the witnesses. St. Alphonsus holds that a crime may still remain occult although it be known to five or six persons, or even seven or eight in a large city. In another place he goes farther and demands for a crime to become truly public, that it be known to the greater part of the town, the neighborhood or the community. (Lib. vii, n. 76.) This is not, however, the ordinary sense of public as distinct from notorious. (D'Annibale, i, n. 242, note 49; Gasparri, Tractatus Canonicus de Matrimonio, n. 252, Paris, 1891; Tractatus Canonicus de Sacra Ordinatione, n. 222.)

(c) Delinquencies may be notorious by notoriety of law or by notoriety of fact. They are legally notorious after a valid judicial sentence which has become final, that is, from which there is no appeal; and after a confession made in court, in presence of the judge, with all the formalities required to give it a judicial character.

They are notorious in fact on two conditions: that they be publicly known, that is, known to the whole community, morally speaking, or to a large portion of it; and that they have been committed under such circumstances that they cannot be concealed by any subterfuge, nor excused by any interpretation of the law. They are generally known both materially and formally. (Wernz, n. 17, v; II Monitore Ecclesiastico, Ap., 1918, p. 123.) Homicide committed in presence of a crowd would be a notorious fact, but if it had some appearance of being in self-defence, it would not be anotorious crime; or it would be notorious materially, not formally.

http://books.google.com/books?id=aPUoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA30&vq=notorious&dq=Those+who+contract+marriage+before+a+non-Catholic+minister+without+permission+(2319+§+1+n.+1)%3B&hl=ko&output=html_text&source=gbs_search_r&cad=1

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A latae sententiae penalty is one that followsipso facto or automatically, by force of the law itself, when a law is contravened; a penalty that binds a guilty party only after it has been imposed on the person is known as a ferendae sententiae (meaning "sentence to be passed") penalty.^[1]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latae_sententiae

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Notoriety dispenses from declaratory sentence in a case of penalty lataesententiae, but not from admonitions before inflicting a censure ferendaesententiae. (Ballerini, I.e. n. 109.)

http://books.google.com/books?id=aPUoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA73&vq=notorious&dq=Those+who+contract+marriage+before+a+non-Catholic+minister+without+permission+(2319+§+1+n.+1)%3B&hl=ko&output=html_text&source=gbs_search_r&cad=1

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will give warning to the party concerned to judge. The suspicion has no canonical effect until the warning has been given.

205. 2°. If a person who is suspected of heresy does not, after being duly warned, remove the cause of the suspicion, supposing that it is morally possible to do so, he should be debarred from the legitimate acts. A cleric should receive a second warning, and if this too remained fruitless he should be suspended a divinis. After inflicting these punishments, six months more may be allowed, and if at the end of this time the party suspected of heresy has shown no signs of amendment, he is to be considered as a heretic and punished accordingly.

III. COOPERATION IN HERESY

Can. 2316. Qui quoquo modo haeresis propagationem sponte et scienter iuvat, aut qui communicat in divinis cum haereticis contra praescriptum can. 1258, suspectus de haeresi est.

Two main forms of cooperation with heretics are specified in this canon as creating ipso facto the suspicion of heresy: assisting in the propagation of heresy and communicating in divinis with heretics under certain conditions.

206. 1°. Under the former legislation, those who helped the spread of heresy were among the fautores haereticorum, who incurred the same excommunication as the heretics themselves. The penalty now is suspicion of heresy and the law more explicitly defines the circumstances under which it is incurred.

(a) The assistance must be given, not simply to heretics personally, but to the heresy so as to contribute to its propagation.

(b) It must be given knowingly and spontaneously; ignorance would excuse from any fault, and fear or any want of complete freedom, although not necessarily taking away all responsibility, would excuse from the punishment.

(c) The assistance may take any form: it may be negative or positive, consists in neglecting to prevent the progress of heresy when one is bound by his office to do so; or in positive help, moral or physical, praising and commending heretics and their work, orally or in writing; becoming even merely a nominal member of their societies, etc.

207. 2°. The communication in divinis with heretics dealt with here is the one explicitly condemned in canon 1258. (a) The faithful are forbidden to take any active part in non-Catholic rites, for example to act as godfather at a baptism administered by a non-Catholic minister, to join in the singing or the prayers at a Protestant service. (Lehmkuhl, i, n. 050, (358.)

(6) A merely passive or material presence at the marriages of non-Catholics, at their funerals and other similar solemnities, may be tolerated when it is nothing more than an act of courtesy, a mark of civil respect, the fulfilling of a social duty, and a grave reason justifies it. In case of doubt the Bishop should be consulted.

IV. TEACHING CONDEMNED DOCTRINES

Can. 2317. Pertinaci- C. A. S.— Excommuni

ter docentes vel defen- cationem latae sententiae

dentes sive publice sive S. Pontifici simpliciter

privatim doctrinam, quae reservatam incurrunt:

ab Apostolica Sede vel a Docentes vel defen

Concilio Generali dam- dentes sive publice, sive

Data quidem fuit, sed non privatim, propositiones uti formaliter haeretica, arceantur a ministerio praedicandi verbum Dei audiendive sacramentales confessiones et a a quolibet docendi munere, salvis aliis poenis quas sententia damnationis forte statuerit, vel quas Ordinarius, post monitionem, necessarias ad reparandum scandalum duxerit.

ab Apostolica Sede damnatas sub excommunicatioms poena latae sententiae: item docentes vel defendentes tanquam licitam praxim inquirendi a poenitente nomen complicis, prouti damnata est a Benedicto XIV. in Const. Suprema, 7 Julii, 1745, Ubi primum, 2 Junii, 1746, Ad eradicandum, 28 Septembris, 1746.

208. 1°. By the Constitution Apostolicae Sedis the teaching or defending of condemned doctrines was punished with excommunication latae sententiaereserved to the Holy See; at present the punishment is ferendae sententiae. It will consist in excluding the offender from the ministry of preaching the word of God, hearing confessions, and teaching in any capacity. Other penalties may be added in the sentence of condemnation, and the Ordinary may, after giving due warning, demand whatever he deems necessary to repair the scandal.

2°. The excommunication was incurred by teaching or defending propositions which the Apostolic See had condemned under pain of excommunication latae sententiae or by maintaining the theory, proscribed by Benedict XIV, that it is lawful in confession to ask for the name of the accomplice.

The present canon (a) does not mention this last point.

(b) It supposes obstinacy in the teacher or defender of false doctrines, which implies disregard of warnings received.

I

(c) The false doctrine must, as formerly, be taught or defended. It is not necessary that it be held; the Church condemns the external act, whatever be the intimate convictions of the party. Nor is it sufficient that it be held or simply discussed or stated.

(d) It does not need being formulated into concise and scientific propositions as long as it has been condemned by the Holy See or a General Council; Holy See includes the Roman Congregations. (Can. 7.)

(e) It may have been condemned as false, dangerous, or rash, or without any qualification and sanction. If it had been condemned as formally heretical, teaching or defending it would imply heresy and be punished as such.

Penal Legislation in the New Code of Canon Law (liber V)

 (공)저: Henry Amans Ayrinhac

http://books.google.com/books?id=aPUoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA198&vq=heretic&dq=Those+who+contract+marriage+before+a+non-Catholic+minister+without+permission+(2319+§+1+n.+1)%3B&hl=ko&output=html_text&source=gbs_search_r&cad=1

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205. 2°. If a person who is suspected of heresy does not, after being duly warned, remove the cause of the suspicion, supposing that it is morally possible to do so, he should be debarred from the legitimate acts. A cleric should receive a second warning, and if this too remained fruitless he should be suspended a divinis. After inflicting these punishments, six months more may be allowed, and if at the end of this time the party suspected of heresy has shown no signs of amendment, he is to be considered as a heretic and punished accordingly.

http://books.google.com/books?id=aPUoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA198&vq=heretic&dq=Those+who+contract+marriage+before+a+non-Catholic+minister+without+permission+(2319+§+1+n.+1)%3B&hl=ko&output=html_text&source=gbs_search_r&cad=1

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341. The general prohibition to have intercourse in spiritual things with persons under censure applies particularly to receiving from them the sacraments (can. 2261, 2275, 2284), and in a very special manner to receiving from them Holy Orders. This was forbidden under the former discipline and remains forbidden now under pain of suspension.

(b) It is incurred for receiving Orders from one who has been excommunicated, interdicted or suspended; or one who is an apostate, aheretic or a schismatic. But the censure must have been pronounced in the ecclesiastical court by condemnatory or declaratory sentence; and the apostasy, heresy or schism must be notorious, legally, or in fact.

Penal Legislation in the New Code of Canon Law (liber V)

 (공)저: Henry Amans Ayrinhac

http://books.google.com/books?id=aPUoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA332&vq=heretic&dq=Those+who+contract+marriage+before+a+non-Catholic+minister+without+permission+(2319+§+1+n.+1)%3B&hl=ko&output=html_text&source=gbs_search_r&cad=1

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183 페이지 
(6) Heresy is the partial rejection of the revealed truth by a baptized person. 
Heresy means choice. The heretic chooses among the teachings of revelation 
those which commend themselves to his approval and to them alone he gives his
 ...

http://books.google.com/books?hl=ko&output=html_text&id=aPUoAAAAYAAJ&dq=Those+who+contract+marriage+before+a+non-Catholic+minister+without+permission+%282319+§+1+n.+1%29%3B&q=heretic

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IV. Excommunications Reserved To The

Ordinary

They are incurred by the following persons: 1°. Catholics who marry before a non-Catholic minister. (Can. 2319.)

http://books.google.com/books?id=aPUoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA382&lpg=PA382&dq=Those+who+contract+marriage+before+a+non-Catholic+minister+without+permission+(2319+§+1+n.+1);&source=bl&ots=Y1PV91sDF2&sig=I96JBM0ENJHmuxCp4hwBztI543A&hl=ko&sa=X&ei=oPaQUsjiDeih2QW13oGgCw&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAw

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Excommunicated Catholics are still Catholics and remain bound by obligations such as attending Mass, even though they are barred from receiving the Eucharist and from taking an active part in the liturgy (reading, bringing the offerings, etc.).^[2]

Excommunicated Catholics are still Catholics and remain bound by obligations such as attending Mass, even though they are barred from receiving the Eucharist and from taking an active part in the liturgy (reading, bringing the offerings, etc.).^[2]

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In Romans 16:17, Paul writes to "mark those who cause divisions contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them." Also, in 2 John 1:10-11, the writer advises believers that "whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not intoyour house [οἰκίαν, residence or abode, or "inmates of the house" (family)], neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds."

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excommunication

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Eastern Orthodox churches

In the Eastern Orthodox churches, excommunication is the exclusion of a member from the Eucharist. It is not expulsion from the churches. This can happen for such reasons as not having confessed within that year; excommunication can also be imposed as part of a penitential period. It is generally done with the goal of restoring the member to full communion. The Orthodox churches do have a means of expulsion, by pronouncing anathema, but this is reserved only for acts of serious and unrepentant heresy. The Moscow Patriarchate declared Sergius Bulgakov a heretic in this fashion because of his pronouncements on Sancta Sofia being something like a fourth dimension to theTrinity.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excommunication

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The Church's legislation on heresy and heretics is often reproached with cruelty and intolerance. Intolerant it is: in fact its raison d'être is intolerance of doctrines subversive of the faith.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07256b.htm

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Additional penalties to be decreed by judicial sentences:Apostates and heretics are irregular, that is, debarred from receiving clerical orders or exercising lawfully the dutiesand rights annexed to them; they are infamous, that is, publicly noted as guilty and dishonoured. This note ofinfamy clings to the children and grandchildren of unrepented heretics. Heretical clerics and all who receive, defend, or favour them are ipso facto deprived of theirbenefices, offices, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The popehimself, if notoriously guilty of heresy, would cease to bepope because he would cease to be a member of theChurch. Baptism received without necessity by an adult at the hands of a declared heretic renders the recipientirregular.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07256b.htm

heresy is a grave sin

Heresy is a sin because of its nature it is destructive of thevirtue of Christian faith. Its malice is to be measured therefore by the excellence of the good gift of which it deprives the soul. Now faith is the most precious possession of man, the root of his supernatural life, the pledge of his eternal salvation. Privation of faith is therefore the greatest evil, and deliberate rejection of faith is the greatest sin. St. Thomas (II-II, Q. x, a. 3) arrives at the same conclusion thus: "All sin is an aversion from God. Asin, therefore, is the greater the more it separates manfrom God. But infidelity does this more than any other sin, for the infidel (unbeliever) is without the true knowledge ofGod: his false knowledge does not bring him help, for what he opines is not God: manifestly, then, the sin of unbelief (infidelitas) is the greatest sin in the whole range of perversity." And he adds: "Although the Gentiles err in more things than the Jews, and although the Jews are farther removed from true faith than heretics, yet the unbelief of the Jews is a more grievous sin than that of theGentiles, because they corrupt the Gospel itself after having adopted and professed the same. . . . It is a more serious sin not to perform what one has promised than not to perform what one has not promised." It cannot be pleaded in attenuation of the guilt of heresy that heretics do not deny the faith which to them appears necessary tosalvation, but only such articles as they consider not to belong to the original deposit. In answer it suffices to remark that two of the most evident truths of thedepositum fidei are the unity of the Church and the institution of a teaching authority to maintain that unity. That unity exists in the Catholic Church, and is preserved by the function of her teaching body: these are two facts which anyone can verify for himself. In the constitution of the Church there is no room for private judgment sortingessentials from non-essentials: any such selection disturbs the unity, and challenges the Divine authority, of theChurch; it strikes at the very source of faith. The guilt ofheresy is measured not so much by its subject-matter as by its formal principle, which is the same in all heresies: revolt against a Divinely constituted authority.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07256b.htm

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If a penitent finds it burdensome to remain in grave sin for the duration of the time necessary for obtaining remission by the competent authority from an undeclared latae sententiae excommunication or interdict that excludes the penitent from the sacraments, the confessor may immediately remit the censure in the internal sacramental forum, while requiring the penitent to have recourse within one month to the competent authority.^[33]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latae_sententiae