Maine diocese orders activist to keep away from bishop or face interdict

December 30, 2008

Father Andrew Dubois, vicar general of the Diocese of Portland (Maine), has ordered Paul Kendrick, co-founder of the local Voice of the Faithful chapter, to stay 500 feet away from Bishop Richard Malone or risk the penalty of interdict, by which Kendrick would lose the ability “to participate fully in the sacramental life of the Church.” Kendrick, who has also received a criminal trespass order, has harassed the bishop for five years, according to a diocesan spokeswoman.

According to Canon 1373, “A person who publicly incites among subjects animosities or hatred against the Apostolic See or an ordinary because of some act of power or ecclesiastical ministry or provokes subjects to disobey them is to be punished by an interdict or other just penalties.” Like a suspension, which affects only clerics, an interdict is a canonical penalty less serious than an excommunication.

 

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Further information:

• Maine bishop threatens to punish vocal activist (AP)
• Code of Canon Law
• Pete Vere, JCL: Strong Medicine: Canon Law and Excommunication (This Rock)