Yes, like the heretic, the fornicator is separated from the Church because being in Mortal Sin he has separated himself from God. Remember, Christ and the Church are one.
Separation from God, hence the Church, is one of the effects of mortal sin. The distinction you're not making is that the Church attaches a censure of excommunication to certain mortal sins, heresy is one of them. As I posted previous, in the traditional formula for absolution, the priest first lifts the censure then forgives the sin. The formula includes the lifting of censures for a reason, it's not in there by mistake.
A fornicator is
not outside the Church due to that sin. Pope Pius XII teaches that not every sin, however grave it may be, severs a man from the Body of the Church. Fornication, for instance, is a sin of the flesh. It is not a rejection of Church Dogma , a rejection of the unity of the Church, or an act of apostasy
Pope Pius XII teaches that heresy, schism, and apostasy OF THEIR OWN NATURE sever a man from Body of the Church. And if we look at the four criteria that Pope Pius XII gives for Church membership, we see that those three sins make up criteria #2 and #3.
2) Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who [...] profess the true faith...
3) Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who [...] have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body.
Heretics and apostates, and in practice basically all schismatics do not profess the true Faith. A fornicator can.
Heretics, apostates, and schismatics have separated themselves from the unity of the Body by the very nature of their sin. A fornicator doesn't
Pope Pius XII even uses the same wording for crying out loud!
"not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy"
3) "Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who [...] have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body"
A fornicator, again, is not denying a Church dogma, renouncing the faith, or rejecting the unity of the Church. Any one of the four criteria Pius XII laid out for Church membership is not lacking in him. He may have lost "
charity and divine grace through sin, thus becoming incapable of supernatural merit, and yet not be deprived of all life if they hold fast to faith and Christian hope"
that is why the the Church attaches a censure to those sins..because it makes it clear that lost membership is a result of the sin. And of course the lifting of the censure is there for a reason, it is what formally declares a former member of the Church to be a member once again
23. Nor must one imagine that the Body of the Church, just because it bears the name of Christ, is made up during the days of its earthly pilgrimage only of members conspicuous for their holiness, or that it consists only of those whom God has predestined to eternal happiness. it is owing to the Savior’s infinite mercy that place is allowed in His Mystical Body here below for those whom, of old, He did not exclude from the banquet.20 For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy. Men may lose charity and divine grace through sin, thus becoming incapable of supernatural merit, and yet not be deprived of all life if they hold fast to faith and Christian hope, and if, illumined from above, they are spurred on by the interior promptings of the Holy Spirit to salutary fear and are moved to prayer and penance for their sins.
24. Let every one then abhor sin, which defiles the mystical members of our Redeemer; but if anyone unhappily falls and his obstinacy has not made him unworthy of communion with the faithful, let him be received with great love, and let eager charity see in him a weak member of Jesus Christ. For, as the Bishop of Hippo remarks, it is better “to be cured within the Church’s community than to be cut off from its body as incurable members.” 21 “As long as a member still forms part of the body there is no reason to despair of its cure; once it has been cut off, it can be neither cured nor healed.” 22
Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis
From Trent, Session 14, Chapter 7:
"...But it is consonant to the divine authority, that this reservation of cases have effect, not merely in external polity, but also in God's sight. Nevertheless, for fear lest any may perish on this account, it has always been very piously observed in the said Church of God, that there be no reservation at the point of death, and that therefore all priests may absolve all penitents whatsoever from every kind of sins and censures whatever: and as, save at that point of death, priests have no power in reserved cases, let this alone be their endeavour, to persuade penitents to repair to superior and lawful judges for the benefit of absolution."
Penitents, Stubborn.
Penitents. An unconscious heretic who never gave indication of penitence is NOT a penitent. Are you serious?
Personally, I think anyone who preaches heresy makes it blatantly obvious that they are not members of the Church, most of the time they even boast that they want nothing whatsoever to do with the Catholic Church, that it is evil etc., but if the heretic was ever a Catholic and if he dies in that state, that guy will face God as a Catholic with, God forbid, the sin of losing the faith and the sin of heresy on his soul.
Okay, thank you. Heretics are not members of the Church. Yes, they will be judged with the indelible mark of Baptism on their soul
What do you make of those validly baptised as infants in heretical sects? They were made Catholic by their baptism, but adhere to their false sect when they reach the age of reason. Are they still Catholic?