SECTS AND ECCLESIASTICAL LEGISLATION. – The term derives directly from the classical Latin *secta*, etymologically from *sequor* and originally signified a separation, a segregation in order to adhere to a set of particular principles and maxims, whether in the political sphere (party, faction) or in the philosophical sphere (school, sect). Classical authors never gave the word a pejorative sense. The Vulgate uses it to indicate a religious tendency; only somewhat later do the Epistle to the Galatians (5:10) and the Second Epistle of St Peter (2:1) attach a negative meaning to it, and it is precisely in this sense that it was employed in ordinary ecclesiastical language. The fundamental characteristic of a *sètta* is that it stands in opposition to the unity of the Catholic Church and constitutes a separate religious group, usually claiming moral superiority. The term has a broader and more generic scope than heresy and schism, since it can encompass either, inasmuch as it denies some truth of the Church of Christ or affirms others opposed to it, and inasmuch as it opposes the unity of the Church.
From the 18th century, and definitively with the *Codex Iuris Canonici*, the term has passed from the theological to the juridical sphere, albeit derived. Thus today, in canonistic language, the term *setta* refers to those sects that act against the Church or civil authority. Therefore, for there to be a *setta* in the moral and juridical sense, it is required: 1) that there be a true and proper *sètta*, regardless of its denomination, and whether or not it involves secrecy or an oath to maintain it; 2) that, either by its institution or in fact, in the application of its means (even for philanthropic ends), it engages in machination against the Church or legitimate civil authority. Machination is present when the activity is truly carried out in a rebellious or subversive manner against: a) the Church; that is, against its doctrine, authority, powers, constitution, rights, privileges, or against ecclesiastical persons insofar as such; b) against legitimate civil authority (if the authority were not legitimate, it would lack the right to command, and subjects would not be obliged to obey). Thus, when a *setta* has as its end, at least in fact, to undermine the principle of social authority in itself, even through merely cultural activity, it is against civil authority. When an attempt to change the institutional form is made in a legitimate manner, excluding violence and conspiracy against the established authority, there is no true machination.
The Church has expressly condemned Freemasonry (v.) and similar sects, the Carbonari (v.), the Fenian Brotherhood, an American and Irish sect (decree of the Holy Office, 12 January 1870); the three American labor sects: 1) Odd Fellows; 2) Sons of Temperance; 3) Knights of Pythias (decree of the Holy Office, 20 August 1894); the Independent Order of Good Templars or Guttempler-Orden (decree of the Holy Office, 19 August 1893); associations whose purpose is the cremation of corpses (decree of the Holy Office, 19 May 1886); the Theosophical Societies; the sects Y.M.C.A. = Young Men’s Christian Association and Y.W.C.A. = Young Women’s Christian Association (decree of the Holy Office, 5 November 1920: AAS, 12 [1920], p. 595); atheistic sects (encyclical *Divini Redemptoris*, AAS, 29 [1937], pp. 76 ff.). Nihilistic, anarchic, and pan-Christian societies are condemned by their very nature. A sect that has attracted much attention is that which developed from 1865 onwards in the northern United States and still exists today, Ku-Klux-Klan (v.). The Church has now expressly condemned communism (v. , 28–30 July 1949) and those factions of socialism that favor communism.
For the Rotary Club, see the relevant entry. For heretics and schismatics, see HERESY; SCHISM.
SOCIETÀ SALESIANA DI SAN GIOVANNI BOSCO
Aerial view of the complex of buildings of the Generalate before
1938. The surrounding buildings have been reduced in height
Turin.Against sects, canon 2335 provides that whoever joins Freemasonry or another sect that plots against the Church or against civil authority incurs ipso facto a censure of excommunication reserved simply to the Apostolic See.
Ancient law also imposed censure on those who favored sects or failed to denounce their leaders. The *Codex Iuris Canonici* no longer mentions these cases, which are therefore to be considered outside the scope of censures. One who in good faith has joined a censured sect does not incur excommunication unless, upon learning of the censure, he does not intend to withdraw; if, however, he cannot do so without serious inconvenience, he is excused from excommunication, provided he has the intention of doing so as soon as possible.
Membership in an acatholic sect (by this term are understood all heretical or schismatic churches or chapels and atheistic sects, militant atheist communists) constitutes, with regard to marriage, an impediment of mixed religion (cf. can. 1060 ff., *Codex Iuris Canonici*, *Comm. Interpr. Codic.*, 30 June 1934: AAS, 26 [1934], pp. 494 ff. and see MIXED RELIGION).
Adherents of heretical, schismatic, Masonic sects, or of prohibited societies of the same kind are excluded from ecclesiastical burial (can. 1240 § 1, n. 1), cannot be admitted to novitiates (can. 542, n. 1) or to pious associations (can. 693 § 1), lose the right to transmit a personal patronage favor (can. 1453 § 1), and in the case of real patronage this remains suspended (can. 1453 § 3); they are ipso facto infamous (can. 2314 § 1, n. 3) and excommunicated with a special censure reserved, if it concerns an acatholic sect (can. 2314 § 1 and 2), reserved simply to the Apostolic See, if it concerns a Masonic or similar sect (can. 2335). Clerics, moreover, by adhering to an acatholic sect, ipso facto lose their office (can. 188, n. 4 and 2314 § 1, n. 3) and, after admonition, must be degraded; if they adhere to Masonic or similar sects, they must be reported to the Holy Office and moreover must be suspended and deprived of benefices, offices, dignities, pensions, or ecclesiastical positions they may hold; if religious, they must be deprived of active and passive voice and subjected to other constitutional penalties (can. 2336).