Exorcisms
According to Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia, exorcism is defined as "the practice in which demons or evil spirits are expelled from persons or things" (Stravinkas. et al. 385). Nancie Caciola, a history scholar who works at the University of California-San Diego speaks on what she knows about exorcisms. She says, "dormant for centuries at a time, exorcism tends to awaken when the Church confronts significant crises...In general, exorcisms are associated with these turning-point moments when the Church [feels] challenged in some way and tries to centralize power and clarify the delegation of authority from God down through hierarchy" (qtd. in Burke). The Church has had many struggles to face within the past ten years which highlights those challenges that Caciola was mentioning. From sex scandals to priests abusing their authority "Exorcism is experiencing a renaissance in American Catholicism. There are more exorcists in the United States now than any other time in modern history, according to experts. More than 100 bishops and priests met in Baltimore [in November of 2010] to recruit dozens more" (Burke).
Evil certainly has found opportunity to creep it's way into our lives. Because of these scandals and the risks involved with exorcisms Canon Law states: "'No one can legitimately perform exorcisms over the possessed unless he has obtained special and expressed permission from local ordinary'. The exorcist must be a priest "endowed with piety, knowledge, prudence and integrity of life" (Stravinskas. et al. 385). In the online article "Casting out Demons: Pope Francis Declares Support for Exorcisms," it mentions a message that our current pope, Pope Francis, wrote to Father Francesco Bamonte, the president of the International Association of Exorcists. The message reads as followed, "priests who pursue the ministry of exorcism 'manifest the Church's love and acceptance of those who suffer because of the devil's work'" (qtd. in Lewis).
The official exorcist of the diocese of San Jose and one of the Church's most renowned exorcists, Father Gary Thomas (whom the movie The Rite was based off of) explains that exorcisms take "approximately thirty-five to forty minutes. But when you superimpose the presence of a person, what lengthens the ritual is the reaction and observation. You're looking for reactions to either the prayers in general or some of the words of the prayers to see whether or not those are having any kind of effect on the demon...I do them in a Church, because it's a sacred place, and I want the proximity to the Blessed Sacrament. Plus, we have more control in a church. We can lock the doors" (qtd. in Coffin). Now you may be wondering why Fr. Gary might want the precaution of having locked doors. The simplest answer I can leave you with is "it is a dangerous thing to try and exorcise a wicked spirit from a demon possessed person. Especially since there can be many demons in a person, all at the same time" (Bastien-Herrera).
A fun fact that you may not know about exorcisms, is that at one point in time anyone had permission to exorcize demons, not just priests and men. This of course is dangerous because if you are not trained in the practice how are you going to know what to do when facing evil in the face? No one can outsmart the devil. He is the master of all lies and manipulation. "Many of the new exorcists are theologically conservative priests chosen by like-minded bishops who share the late pontiff's [Benedict] belief that the Church is battling cosmic forces of evil" (Burke).
Exorcism isn't just a ritual that happens today. The practice dates back to even Jesus' ministry, casting out demons was one of the first things he did in the book of Mark "and it was the demons that first identified Jesus as the Messiah" (Marrapodi). In "They're Baaack! What's behind the return of the exorcist," you can find that "each of the synoptic gospels tells of exorcisms performed by Jesus, who directs his disciples to cast out demons in his name" (Burke).
Evil certainly has found opportunity to creep it's way into our lives. Because of these scandals and the risks involved with exorcisms Canon Law states: "'No one can legitimately perform exorcisms over the possessed unless he has obtained special and expressed permission from local ordinary'. The exorcist must be a priest "endowed with piety, knowledge, prudence and integrity of life" (Stravinskas. et al. 385). In the online article "Casting out Demons: Pope Francis Declares Support for Exorcisms," it mentions a message that our current pope, Pope Francis, wrote to Father Francesco Bamonte, the president of the International Association of Exorcists. The message reads as followed, "priests who pursue the ministry of exorcism 'manifest the Church's love and acceptance of those who suffer because of the devil's work'" (qtd. in Lewis).
The official exorcist of the diocese of San Jose and one of the Church's most renowned exorcists, Father Gary Thomas (whom the movie The Rite was based off of) explains that exorcisms take "approximately thirty-five to forty minutes. But when you superimpose the presence of a person, what lengthens the ritual is the reaction and observation. You're looking for reactions to either the prayers in general or some of the words of the prayers to see whether or not those are having any kind of effect on the demon...I do them in a Church, because it's a sacred place, and I want the proximity to the Blessed Sacrament. Plus, we have more control in a church. We can lock the doors" (qtd. in Coffin). Now you may be wondering why Fr. Gary might want the precaution of having locked doors. The simplest answer I can leave you with is "it is a dangerous thing to try and exorcise a wicked spirit from a demon possessed person. Especially since there can be many demons in a person, all at the same time" (Bastien-Herrera).
A fun fact that you may not know about exorcisms, is that at one point in time anyone had permission to exorcize demons, not just priests and men. This of course is dangerous because if you are not trained in the practice how are you going to know what to do when facing evil in the face? No one can outsmart the devil. He is the master of all lies and manipulation. "Many of the new exorcists are theologically conservative priests chosen by like-minded bishops who share the late pontiff's [Benedict] belief that the Church is battling cosmic forces of evil" (Burke).
Exorcism isn't just a ritual that happens today. The practice dates back to even Jesus' ministry, casting out demons was one of the first things he did in the book of Mark "and it was the demons that first identified Jesus as the Messiah" (Marrapodi). In "They're Baaack! What's behind the return of the exorcist," you can find that "each of the synoptic gospels tells of exorcisms performed by Jesus, who directs his disciples to cast out demons in his name" (Burke).