The Independent - UK February 24, 2011
The Devil’s own work: Why do priests still perform exorcisms?
Exorcism is a Hollywood favourite, the latest being 'The Rite'. The Catholic Church continues with the ritual, but will only talk about it behind closed doors. What are they afraid of, asks Peter Stanford
Of the approximately 70,000 exorcisms he has carried out, Father Gabriele Amorth estimates that fewer than 100 have been cases of genuine demonic possession.
The chief exorcist of the diocese of Rome quotes this second figure as if to comfort me, but to a modern Catholic, convinced that the Devil is just a face the church has traditionally put to the otherwise intangible presence of evil in the world, 100 sounds like an awful lot of encounters with someone I don't believe exists.
I am momentarily struck dumb as we sit on either side of a table in Father Gabriele's bare-walled office, situated in an anonymous church building on the outskirts of Rome. A large crucifix lies between us, resting on a purple cushion. I want to ask if he is absolutely sure he wasn't mistaken in those 100 cases, but everything about the manner of this burly, pugnacious priest, in his mid-80s and with a deeply-lined bulldog face, makes plain he means every single word.
"It is vital," he continues, "to distinguish two causes [for apparent demonic possession]: for most people it is an illness of the psyche that can be cured by psychiatry." We are getting back onto more familiar, shared ground. Instead of splashing those who come here to seek his help with holy water and reading the rite of exorcism, as was the standard practice of the medieval church, he appears to be accepting the need for referral to a suitably qualified doctor, much more in keeping with modern, mainstream Christianity.
"But," says Father Gabriele, "there are the others, the small number of real possessions. Often they were outwardly normal people, going about their lives in a normal way." And when he exorcises them, what exactly happens? "I have had people vomit up nails during an exorcism," he replies matter-of-factly, "others pieces of glass, others pieces of radio equipment."
Radio equipment? It sounds almost comical, but he is not smiling. At no point during our 30 minutes together does he come anywhere near a smile. And neither, do I. "The Devil works through the media," he explains, looking me straight in the eye, knowing full well I am a journalist.
This chilling encounter with Father Gabriele came back vividly as I watched The Rite, Hollywood's latest follow-up to The Exorcist, the iconic 1973 horror film that remains fixed in the memory of anyone brave enough to watch it all the way through. The Rite explores similar territory as it follows a young, thoroughly modern American priest, Father Michael Kovak, (Colin O'Donoghue) who is sent to Rome by his bishop, against his wishes, to attend a training course for exorcists being run in the headquarters of Catholicism.
Deeply sceptical about what he sees as the outdated mumbo-jumbo that is demonology, Father Michael proves so disruptive on the course that he is referred by his tutor (Ciarán Hinds) to the eminence noire of Rome exorcists, Father Lucas Trevant (Anthony Hopkins). "Do you believe in sin?" Father Lucas barks at his visitor. It instantly put me in mind of Father Gabriele. "I do, but I don't believe the Devil makes us do it," Father Michael replies with the sort of courage I lacked in my brush with an old-style exorcist in Rome.
The younger cleric initially sticks to his sane, rational, 21st century guns over the nonexistence of the Devil. "She doesn't need a priest," he tells Father Lucas of one of his tortured charges, her belly swelling, her eyes rolling and her fiendish screams intensifying, "she needs a shrink". Yet by the end of this horror-thriller, Father Michael is as ready to brandish his crucifix as a weapon against Satan as Father Lucas.
Despite its primary vocation to terrify cinema-goers, The Rite cannot lightly be dismissed as a piece of shameless exaggeration and sensationalism because it does manage to get much of the incidental detail right. Such as being set in Rome. It was the only place – when I was researching a book on the Devil – where church exorcists are open about their work. According to recently reiterated papal rules, every single one of the 3,000 dioceses of the Catholic Church around the world must have, among the ranks of its priests, a trained exorcist, but their identity is cloaked in secrecy. When I asked to interview one anywhere in Britain, I was told I would have to demonstrate prima facie evidence of possession first. Which, however thorough my research, would have been stretching it a bit. That is when I discovered that in Rome, the rules are rather different and ended up face-to-face with Father Gabriele.
The Rite is based on the experiences of Father Gary Thomas from Saratoga, California, a parish priest in suburban Silicon Valley who was dispatched to Rome in 2005 by his bishop for training so he could fill the vacancy for a diocesan exorcist. He arrived deeply distrustful of talk of the Devil, and like Father Michael in the film, was sent off to meet an old hand. In interviews, he hasn't named the senior exorcist in question, and any passing similarity with Father Gabriele has to be tempered by the Hopkins character being portrayed as having his own doubts about the reality of the Devil, not a position my interviewee had ever adopted. Indeed last year he made headlines when he produced a memoir claiming that Satan was at work even in the corridors of the Vatican itself.
The publication of that book caused a few blushes among the papal entourage. In the modern church, you see, it is just not the done thing to mention the Devil. The figure who looms so large in the gospels, whose horned, scaly, terrifying face adorned the walls of many a medieval church in scenes of the harrowing of hell, and who has inspired artists from Dante and Bosch through Milton and Byron and on to Bulgakov and CS Lewis, is now rarely mentioned from the pulpit.
The last Pope to speak at any length on the Devil was Paul VI in 1972. In an address (which Father Gabriele quotes from at length during our meeting), he personified evil in the figure of the Devil as "an effective agent, a living spiritual being, perverted and perverting". By contrast, Pope John Paul II, in the 27 years of his reign, made only two glancing references to Satan, both times in larger contexts. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the comprehensive rulebook that John Paul published in 1993, the Devil figures in only a handful of the 3,000 entries, and then simply as a "seductive voice" luring humankind astray.
The logic behind this vow of silence is plain. Church leaders don't like mentioning the Devil in case it makes them sound medieval, superstitious or out of touch. There is also a smattering of remorse in there for the crimes that the Church has committed down the centuries by invoking the real presence of the Devil. When the Inquisition was torturing and murdering those who dared to disagree with the papal line, its victims (Jews, women, pagans alike) were usually presented as being in league with Satan.
Yet even in 2011, the Devil is not wholly disowned by the church that did so much more than any other institution to make him seem frighteningly flesh and blood. He remains part of Catholicism but is now treated like the disreputable relative with a dark past who the family prefers to keep shut away. Hence the silence that surrounds the work of exorcists. It is hard to downplay talk of the Devil in public when you are simultaneously maintaining a network of diocesan exorcists around the world.
This is an ambiguity the Church has long lived with. John Paul II, for all his public reticence about Satan, nevertheless managed in 1982 to carry out an exorcism himself on a disturbed young woman, an episode recalled in My Six Popes, the autobiography published in 1993 by the retired head of his household, French Cardinal Jacques Martin.
And it is not just church leaders who are in two minds about the Devil. However much I could rationally trace the development of the character of the Devil as a theological, historical, artist and church-political construct, a shorthand explanation for what many regard as the evil abroad in the world, in that moment when I was sitting opposite Father Gabriele in his office in Rome, and he started talking about the Devil possessing the media, I felt myself shifting in my chair. Was he about to attempt an exorcism on me? And if he did, what was there to worry about because I didn't share his belief a physical incarnation of evil? His words would have no effect. But frightened I was, and I beat a hasty retreat from what I later heard described as the "delivery room", and gasped with relief when I got outside the building.
There is a part of us that remains irrationally susceptible to the idea of the Devil. Perhaps it is just those who, like me, had a traditional Catholic upbringing. My Christian Brother teachers were big on the real and imminent danger of Hell. But the enduring appeal of Satan spreads beyond my generation and my particular denomination. Politicians and public alike, when faced by a monstrous crime, are still quick to characterise its perpetrator as the Devil incarnate. Think of the descriptions routinely used of the Moors Murderess, Myra Hindley. "May She Rot in Hell," ran one headline on the day she died. Indeed, if there was ever a modern image of the Devil it was that Medusa-like picture of her taken in 1966, all blond hair, defiance, and cold, cold eyes.
Confronted with something unthinkably cruel and inhumane, we reach not for the language of psychiatry but for medieval demonology and scapegoating. As does the Church. Benedict XVI, generally as reluctant as his predecessor to mention the Devil in public, did nevertheless last June talk about the orchestrating role of "the enemy" in the paedophile priest scandal that has so damaged the Church's moral standing.
The Devil can still be a convenient get-out clause, whether it be from culpability for unspeakable crimes against children, or more mundane problems. I remember once attending a prayer group where young Evangelical Anglicans had gathered to share the trials and tribulations of their week, and how Jesus would shape their lives if they let him. "I've had a terrible few days," one twentysomething confided, "the Devil has made me spend all my money." She said it without a hint of irony or self-knowledge. She was taking no responsibility herself.
That same reaction can be glimpsed in remarks made by Father Gary Thomas, in interviews he has given to mark the release of The Rite in the United States. Since he successfully completed his training as an exorcist in Rome, he has dealt with five cases he describes as genuine possession by the Devil. His work with those individuals, he confides, has left him vulnerable himself to Satan. "My celibacy gets attacked a lot," he remarks. Rather than locate any problems he may have with the Catholic rule that priests must be celibate within, either himself or the church, Father Gary evidently prefers to externalise them and project them onto the Devil.
The connection between sex and Devil is almost as old as Christianity. Familiar figures in the medieval church iconography were incubus and succubus, copulating demons who would seduce both women and men and impregnate females with children of the Devil.
So is Satan in the 21st century being relegated to the extreme fringes of Christianity that still prefer a literal interpretation of the Bible? Apparently not. He's still right there in the mainstream churches. Indeed, in the opening titles for The Rite, the film-makers draw attention to a New York Times report on a conference of US Catholic bishops that took place in November 2010 to debate growing demand from their congregations for exorcism, and the absence of sufficient suitably-qualified priests to service them. [see article link below]
Unlike Father Gabriele, most of this secret army of priest-exorcists prefer to operate away from the spotlight, but for all that there is no question that the Devil is real. If they ever break cover and are confronted about their work, they have a standard response, best summed up by the 19th century French poet, Baudelaire – "the Devil's deepest wile is to persuade us that he does exist".
It is a pretty circular argument. When you counter, as Father Michael does in the early sections of The Rite, that the absence of proof of the Devil cannot be taken as proof itself, they just smile knowingly. While Father Gabriele didn't even manage a smile when I met him, I am sure the same justification was going through his head.
Peter Stanford's "Biography of the Devil" is published in paperback and e-book by Arrow
This article was found at:
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I'm a non-believer but the mind has a role in health, so much so that clinical studies take this into account. We know, for instance, that stress leads to hypertension.
ReplyDeleteThat being said - if a person believes himself possessed then a priest and not a doctor is needed. A psychiatrist is not going to "cure" the patient of his belief in the supernatural.
STOBART REPORT STILL LEAVES CHILDREN IN DANGER FROM CHURCH EXORCISMS.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.saff.ukhq.co.uk/stobart.htm
Ritual to ‘exorcise girl’s demons’
ReplyDeleteby Neil Oelofse - Cape Times, South Africa November 21 2011
A Humansdorp priest and five of the African Gospel Church congregation have been accused of murdering a seven-year-old girl during a bizarre exorcism ritual, believing that her epilepsy was caused by demons.
Pastor Lonwabo Thando, 30, and Mhlabelesi Nodaka, 22, Unathi Norushu, 22, Nteboheng Thukani, 21, and Busisiwe Thukani, 24, appeared in the Humansdorp Magistrate’s Court last week charged with murdering Mihlali Mazantsi.
They will stay in jail till they apply for bail today, along with a 32-year-old man who was also part of the “prayer group” which apparently tried to do the exorcism.
Police spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Priscilla Naidu said the last suspect was arrested at the weekend. She said police would oppose bail for all the accused.
They are also charged with the attempted murder of a 25-year-old woman who was allegedly locked in a house in KwaNomzamo township for four weeks and repeatedly assaulted.
Mihlali was apparently sent from her home in Keiskammahoek to the church by her mother, Nomaxabiso Mazantsi, to be cured of epilepsy with a “healing miracle”.
Mazantsi told the Cape Times yesterday that her daughter started having epileptic fits in May.
“The fits stopped but started up again in September. We took her to the doctor and the traditional healer, but nothing helped.”
The church in Humansdorp was recommended by friends.
“We were told that other people were healed there. I put my faith in God. I wanted them to heal Mihlali.” Mazantsi said her father took Mihlali to Humansdorp and left her in the care of the church.
“They told us the fits were caused by demons which had to be removed through prayer.”
She travelled to Humansdorp a few days later to find her child vomiting and suffering from diarrhoea. She slept overnight in the same house as her child, but was initially not allowed close to her.
“They told me she was getting better. The pastor said she was vomiting because the demons were leaving Mihlali.”
Mazantsi said she was encouraged to attend a church service in a marquee tent set up by the church near the house where her daughter was being kept, and was later allowed to go to her bedside.
“Her face was swollen and her left eye was closed. There was a bruise over her eye. I tried to lift her up to me to hug her, but she said her body was sore. Then she coughed and started to vomit again.”
Mazantsi said Pastor Thando shook her daughter by the shoulders while calling out her name. “Then pastor took her to hospital in his BMW. I followed in our car.”
A doctor who examined the girl told the mother it was “too late”.
“The doctor was angry. He wanted to know who had done this. He said he was calling the police,” said Mazantsi.
She said a post-mortem examination had revealed liver damage and a number of external and internal injuries.
Naidu said the woman who filed the charge of attempted murder did not want to be named.
“She is a member of the community and fears for her life.” She was given a medical examination and found to have injuries and bruises all over her body.
According to reports, Kwanomzamo residents celebrated the arrest of the priest and the congregants.
They said church members often ran through the township after midnight making a noise and accused people who did not attend church of practising witchcraft.
http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/ritual-to-exorcise-girl-s-demons-1.1182768
Australia 'Exorcism' Killing Trial: 4 Convicted In Death Of Sarah Bara
ReplyDeleteAP, Huffington Post December 23, 2011
DARWIN, Australia -- Four people convicted in the beating death of a woman during what they said was an exorcism ritual on a remote Australian island were sentenced Friday to several years in jail.
Sarah Bara was beaten to death with sticks last year on Groote Eylandt off the northern Australian coast. Last month, Glenys Wurrawilya, Susie Wurrawilya, Paul Wurramara and Roderick Mamarika pleaded guilty to negligent manslaughter in connection with the beating, which several children witnessed.
Some of the accused had originally claimed that they beat Bara as part of an exorcism intended to cleanse her of the devil. But on Friday, Northern Territory Supreme Court Justice Peter Barr said the accused attacked Bara simply to cause her pain and humiliation.
"I am not satisfied that any of the accused thought she had the devil in her," he said.
On the day she was killed, Bara had been asked to find a bag containing medication for Susie Wurrawilya. When she couldn't find it, both Glenys and Susie Wurrawilya began to hit her. Bara was then forced to sit on the ground while a circle of fire was lit around her and was again struck with sticks. An autopsy found she had been hit with extreme force more than two dozen times.
Mamarika and Wurramara did not participate in the beating, but watched and did nothing to stop it, Barr said.
The four received sentences ranging from five years to seven-and-a-half years in jail.
Groote Eylandt, home to an Aboriginal and mining community of around 1,500, is about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the northern Australia mainland.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/23/australia-exorcism-killing-trial_n_1167369.html
Teen Girl Exorcism Squad: Three Arizona Girls Claim to Cast Out Demons
ReplyDeleteBy DAN HARRIS, JACKIE JESKO and JENNA MILLMAN, ABC Nightline April 5, 2012
Brynne, Tess and Savannah from Phoenix are black belts in karate, expert horseback riders and avid musical theater fans. And they perform exorcisms.
"We're just normal girls who do something extraordinary for God," Brynne said. "After seeing an actual exorcism in person, led by us, you will walk away with no doubt, whatsoever."
Brynne, 17, is the leader of the pack, the one the others call the "enforcer." She is home-schooled and a regular on the beauty pageant circuit. Savannah, 20, is known as the "compassionate one," a college student who likes to shop. Finally, there's Tess, "the middle man" because the others say this 17-year-old can play both good and bad cop. She also performs in local musicals.
"There is a war going on every day, being waged against us," Brynne said. "Satan hates us. We know how the enemy is, we know what he's attacking and we can fight back."
Their teacher is Brynne's father, the Rev. Bob Larson, who says he has performed more than 10,000 exorcisms in the last 30 years.
Before agreeing to perform an exorcism, Larson interviews his clients to determine whether they are, in his opinion, demonically possessed. The client must fill out a questionnaire and give some background on his or her personal history.
But Larson claims that 50 percent of the population is probably affected by demons in some way and his girls are the front line of defense. Armed with crosses, Bibles and holy water, the girls summon the demon within the subject, and then the demon apparently takes over the person's body. Brynne said she can tell when someone is demonically possessed when she looks into his eyes.
"When you look at that person, you could just see the evil looking back," she said.
The girls say there are many different types of demons, each with their own names and personalities. One demon, Brynne said, is named Jezebel and is very proud and haughty.
"There's Hate, Murder, Anger, all of those are very violent demons," she added.
"When a demon comes into someone, it's going to bring as many of its kind with it as it possibly can because its desire is to steal, kill and destroy that person's identity, that person's life," Tess said.
Classic signs of possession, the girls said, include when a possessed person starts speaking in tongues, reciting historical facts he wouldn't know otherwise, or having superhuman strength.
Performing exorcisms can be dangerous work, and Larson's wife said she was reluctant to let their daughter, Brynne, do it. But Bob Larson believes it is a good lesson for her.
"The Christian life is risky," he said. "Ministry is risky. Taking on the devil is risky. What's riskier? Saying no to God. Say no to God and the Devil's gonna get you."
Larson said that sometimes the people who come to them to be exorcised are a little taken aback when they see how young the girls are.
"It's like, 'They're going to exorcise me?' It's just totally out of the box. But a few minutes into it, when they see the boldness and the confidence, the maturity and the knowledge of these girls, that all fades away," he said.
"We're not proud of ourselves," Tess said. "We're humble. We're still learning."
Nonetheless, there are very serious questions about the safety and morality of what the girls are doing for others, especially those who might need mental health care.
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ReplyDeleteOne woman, a grandmother who flew in from Dallas for an exorcism with the girls, told "Nightline" that she has demons who have physically hurt and raped her. She insisted she is not mentally ill, but admitted she had been on anti-depressants and had suicidal thoughts in the past. During the exorcism, the woman said her father sexually abused her as a child.
When asked if she thought the exorcisms could be making people with mental illness worse, Brynne disagreed.
"We do this under Dad's supervision. We never do it alone," she said. "He's been doing it for 30 years. He would know if something was going wrong."
However, Bob Larson has been accused of fraud and taking advantage of vulnerable people who are either desperate or prone to suggestion.
The Rev. Darrell Motal of the "Soul & Spirit" Para Church, who believes in the existence of demons, told "Nightline" that Larson is too quick to blame someone's problems on demonic possession and that it's more likely that Larson's clients need mental health care and spiritual guidance.
Father Edward Beck, a Roman Catholic priest, echoed Motal's comments and said he also believes that these young girls are "unqualified" and "unprepared" to perform exorcisms, and that it could be dangerous for them, as well as their clients.
While Larson admitted that he was not a mental health expert, he said if a demon is "blocking the therapeutic help, the therapy's not going to go anywhere significantly."
"Get the demon out, the impediment, and then the therapy can go forward," Larson said.
What's more, Larson and the girls' exorcism sessions are not free, and he insists that one session almost never does the trick.
"We have to fund what we do," he said.
Larson is currently weighing several offers for new reality shows starring Brynne, Tess and Savannah.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/teen-girl-exorcism-squad-arizona-girls-claim-cast/story?id=16074541&nwltr=icymi_nightline_headline
Group calls for exorcism inquiry after Saskatoon incident
ReplyDeleteCTVNews.ca Staff April 18 2012
Reports that a Saskatoon priest was called to help a man allegedly possessed by demons have triggered questions from a national scientific group.
The Centre for Inquiry, an organization devoted to critical thinking, is calling for an investigation into the prevalence of exorcisms in Canada.
Their call for analysis was spurred on by reports last week indicating that Saskatoon's Roman Catholic Diocese was searching for an exorcist after a woman said her uncle showed signs of being possessed by the devil.
Sometimes symptoms of serious mental illness are misinterpreted as signs of demonic possession, said the Centre for Inquiry's Carmen Finnigan.
"Once upon a time we couldn't understand what was going on in this bit of grey matter here," she told CTV Saskatoon, pointing to her head. "So people had the idea that this was demon possession."
Church officials have said no formal exorcism was performed on the man in question, but blessings were offered until his unusual behaviour ceased.
For its part, the Roman Catholic Diocese in Saskatoon has tried to downplay reports that the church is looking for an exorcist.
"We are seeking as a diocese to determine how to pastorally respond to people in all kinds of situations of mental distress," Bishop Don Bolan told reporters at a Tuesday news conference.
He said the church acknowledges the role of medicine for those struggling with mental illness, and said that prayer can also be part of the healing process.
Bolan balked at questions about the recent case of alleged demonic possession, saying the story should have been a private matter. He did, however, refuse to back down on the church's overall belief in exorcisms.
"In Jesus's ministry, there were exorcisms and so it's not something we can lightly dismiss," he told reporters.
There may be certain circumstances where an exorcism could assist someone with a mental illness, said David Nelson, executive director of the Saskatchewan branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association.
"In the context of a person's religion or their culture, it might be demonstrated that some sort of intervention, like an exorcism may be some help with that," he told The Canadian Press.
Still, when a loved one begins behaving unusually, he stresses that families shouldn't skip medicine or psychiatry in favour of spirituality.
With a report from CTV Saskatoon's Carla Shynkaruk
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20120418/inquiry-exorcisms-called-saskatoon-incident-120418/
Canadian media criticized for irresponsible exorcism reporting
ReplyDeleteBy Benjamin Mann, Catholic News Agency April 24, 2012
Saskatoon,(CNA)- Canadian news outlets are sensationalizing an event that was not treated as demonic possession and did not prompt a search for an exorcist, according to the Diocese of Saskatoon's communications office.
Communications coordinator Kiply Yaworski told CNA that the public had been misled by “headlines that were completely false,” suggesting that an exorcism had been performed by a local priest in March. “There was no rite of exorcism,” said Yaworski. “No one here was calling it that.” She said media outlets were erroneously connecting the “blessing of a distraught man” to the topic of possession and exorcism, “just to get people to click on their stories.”
Yaworski was eager to clear up misunderstandings about an event reported by CBC News on April 13, under the headline “Exorcist expertise sought after Saskatoon 'possession'.” According to CBC News, the incident involved a “shirtless middle-aged man, slouched on a couch and holding his head in his hands,” who had “used a sharp instrument to carve the word 'Hell' on his chest.”
“When the priest entered the room,” the Canadian outlet reported, “the man spoke in the third person, saying 'He belongs to me. Get out of here,' using a strange voice.” CBC's article acknowledged that the priestly blessing the man received was “not a formal exorcism.” Bishop Donald Bolan, the only Catholic leader named in the article, reportedly said it was unclear whether the man was possessed or merely mentally disturbed. But his comments were placed alongside those of the unnamed “church leaders,” who were said to be “considering whether Saskatoon needs a trained exorcist” after “a case of what is being called possible demonic possession.”
Yaworski blasted the misleading portrayal of the blessing that had occurred in March, and said Bishop Bolan's considerations about a diocesan exorcist had not been affected by the incident at all. Bishop Bolan did tell CBC that the diocese was “kind of looking at what the diocese of Calgary does,” with its “special commission for spiritual discernment” which looks into unusual cases. Yaworski explained that these comments were a general reflection, not a response to the March incident.
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ReplyDeleteThe spiritual discernment commission in Calgary does not discuss its cases with the media. On April 20, this prompted the Toronto Sun to claim that the Calgary diocese was “working in mysterious ways” with the Church in Saskatoon, through its “shadowy” and “closely-guarded” commission. Yaworski dismissed the notion of a “shadow” and “mysterious” commission in Calgary, and suggested the media were mistakenly imagining a secretive attitude in cases where the Church simply seeks to protect family and personal privacy.
On April 17, the Saskatoon diocese issued an official statement on the original March occurrence, acknowledging that it had “captured media attention.” During the incident, the diocese said, “a priest blessed a distraught and emotional man with holy water and prayed with the family, before advising them to call the police.”
In his statement on the matter, Bishop Bolan stressed the reality of supernatural evil, but confirmed that no exorcism had occurred in the March incident. “In Jesus' ministry there were exorcisms, and so it is not something that we can lightly dismiss,” he said. “But the headline that the bishop of Saskatoon is looking for an exorcist was a vast oversimplification. Catholic dioceses, like other Christian communities, must look at how best to respond to requests in this area.”
“Our resurrection faith is that life is stronger than death, that God brings hope out of despair and light out of darkness,” Bishop Bolan said. “It is more important to affirm the goodness of the love of God than to speculate about the nature of events such as these.”
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/canadian-media-criticized-for-irresponsible-exorcism-reporting/
Arlington lawsuit says priest sexually assaulted woman during exorcisms
ReplyDeleteBy Annie Gowen, Washington Post June 27, 2012
When a troubled Virginia woman became convinced she was possessed by the devil, she turned to a Catholic priest in Front Royal for help.
He was the Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, the telegenic head of one of the country’s largest antiabortion groups, and he appeared regularly on cable news shows. He had put his regular priestly duties on hold to come to Virginia to lead Human Life International in 2000, but he still dabbled in the occasional exorcism.
When they met in 2008, Euteneuer told the woman that he thought her case was “severe” but that he was sure he could help rid her body of a “demonic infestation” of “unclean spirits,” according to a lawsuit filed in Arlington County Circuit Court.
Over the next two years, the suit alleges, Euteneuer sexually molested the woman repeatedly during purported “exorcism” sessions, often conducted in offices on the Human Life International campus, near Interstate 66 about an hour west of Washington.
The rite of exorcism begins with a priest sprinkling holy water and saying prayers. In some cases, it is described as ending with the subject shaking violently, screaming or speaking in tongues. What the lawsuit alleges goes well beyond the rituals prescribed by the Catholic Church.
“He kissed the corners of her mouth; stroked her legs, breasts and thighs; caressed her face; laid his body on top of hers; and frequently explained full, passionate kisses as ‘blowing the Holy Spirit into’ her,” the lawsuit alleges. Once, at a conference, the suit alleges, Euteneuer invited the woman to his hotel room to “pray over” her, then removed her clothes and assaulted her.
The lawsuit, filed last week in Circuit Court, does not name Euteneuer as a defendant. It seeks $5.3 million in damages from his former employer, HLI, and from the Catholic Diocese of Arlington and its bishop, Paul S. Loverde, who the woman’s attorneys say gave Euteneuer permission to perform the rite.
‘Not authorized’
“He was not authorized to perform an exorcism on this woman. He may have lied to her and said he was, but he was not,” said Michael J. Donohue, a spokesman for the diocese. Donohue said Euteneuer worked for a private company and has never been a priest of the Arlington diocese.
The Arlington diocese already has an exorcist, Donohue said, one of about 50 who perform the solemn rite in Catholic parishes across the country. In 1999, the Vatican formally revised and upheld the practice of exorcism for the first time in nearly 400 years.
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ReplyDeleteDonohue said the Warren County woman — identified in court papers as “Jane Doe” — eventually sought help from the diocese’s victim-assistance office in 2010. After hearing her story, the office reported the allegations to church officials in Palm Beach, Fla., Euteneuer’s home diocese, where he was ordained in 1988.
The Arlington diocese also provided the woman with counseling and spiritual assistance, Donohue said.
Meanwhile, Euteneuer was recalled to Florida to undergo counseling. His “priestly faculties” were removed, meaning that he can no longer perform Mass or other sacraments, according to Dianne Laubert, a spokesman for the Palm Beach diocese.
Last year, Euteneuer issued an official statement apologizing for his actions and saying that he was motivated only to help people in “great spiritual distress.”
“One particularly complex situation clouded my judgment and led me to imprudent decisions with harmful consequences, the worst of which was violating the boundaries of chastity with an adult female who was under my spiritual care,” he said in his statement. “I take full responsibility for my own poor judgment, my weakness and my sinful conduct that resulted from it.”
He is not named as a defendant in the current lawsuit because he reached a settlement with the woman out of court, the woman’s attorneys said. Euteneuer’s attorney did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
Euteneuer served as president of Human Life International for 10 years before he abruptly stepped down in August of 2010. The nonprofit missionary group, formed in 1981 by a Benedictine monk, advocates for families and against abortion and population control. It has affiliates in 80 countries.
“To the extent Father Euteneuer has already admitted to engaging in highly inappropriate conduct with a young adult woman, we can only emphasize that such behavior was never within the scope of his employment with HLI,” Stephen Phelan, the organization’s director of communications, said in a statement.
According to the lawsuit, which was first reported by the Associated Press, the woman signed a document pledging her “complete cooperation” in spiritual work with Euteneuer in February 2008.
Over time, the lawsuit says, Euteneuer began touching the woman in inappropriate ways, activity that culminated one evening when he slept in the same bed with her all night. The abuse was paired with “exorcism sessions” that left the victim with a “distorted and damaging belief that exorcism was tied to sexual activity,” the lawsuit says.
Money and a job
According to the lawsuit, he later began giving the woman money, arranged for her to move her home from Sterling to a place closer to his offices and hired her as an employee of HLI. When he learned that she had kept a diary of their encounters, he allegedly asked to have it for safekeeping and then burned it.
The woman’s attorney, Demetrios C. Pikrallidas, said that she has suffered severe emotional distress as a result of the abuse and that she remains “upset and distraught.”
“She placed her trust in a man of faith,” he said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/arlington-lawsuit-says-priest-sexually-assaulted-woman-during-exorcisms/2012/06/27/gJQA9tDs7V_story.html
Exorcism boom in Poland sees magazine launch
ReplyDeleteBy AFP, The Express Tribune September 12, 2012
WARSAW: With exorcism booming in Poland, Roman Catholic priests here have joined forces with a publisher to launch what they claim is the world’s first monthly magazine focused exclusively on chasing out the devil.
“The rise in the number or exorcists from four to more than 120 over the course of 15 years in Poland is telling,” Father Aleksander Posacki, a professor of philosophy, theology and leading demonologist and exorcist told reporters in Warsaw at the Monday launch of the Egzorcysta monthly.
Ironically, he attributed the rise in demonic possessions in what remains one of Europe’s most devoutly Catholic nations partly to the switch from atheist communism to free market capitalism in 1989.
“It’s indirectly due to changes in the system: capitalism creates more opportunities to do business in the area of occultism. Fortune telling has even been categorised as employment for taxation,” Posacki told AFP.
“If people can make money out of it, naturally it grows and its spiritual harm grows too,” he said, hastening to add authentic exorcism is absolutely free of charge.
Posacki, who also serves on an international panel of expert Roman Catholic exorcists, highlighted what he termed the “helplessness of various schools of psychology and psychiatry” when confronted with extreme behaviours that conventional therapies fail to cure.
“Possession comes as a result of committing evil. Stealing, killing and other sins,” he told reporters, adding that evil spirits are chased out using a guide of ritual prayers approved by Polish-born pope John Paul II in 1999.
“Our hands are full,” admitted fellow exorcist and Polish Roman Catholic priest Father Andrzej Grefkowicz, revealing exorcists have a three month waiting list in the capital Warsaw.
Priests performing exorcism also work with psychiatrists in order to avoid mistaking mental illness for possession, he said.
“I’ve invited psychiatrists to meetings when I’ve had doubts about a case and often we’ve both concluded the issue is mental illness, hysteria, not possession,” he said.
According to both exorcists, depictions of demonic possession in horror films are largely accurate.
“It manifests itself in the form of screams, shouting, anger, rage – threats are common,” Posacki said.
“Manifestation in the form or levitation is less common, but does occur and we must speak about it — I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” he added.
With its 62-page first issue including articles titled “New Age — the spiritual vacuum cleaner” and “Satan is real”, the Egzorcysta monthly with a print-run of 15,000 by the Polwen publishers is selling for 10 zloty (2.34 euros, 3.10 dollars) per copy.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/435165/exorcism-boom-in-poland-sees-magazine-launch/
Cult leader convicted of killing 6 in exorcisms hanged in Japan
ReplyDeleteThe Associated Press Toronto Star September 27, 2012
TOKYO—Japan executed two people Thursday, including a 65-year old female cult leader convicted of six murders that took place during supposed exorcisms.
The Justice Ministry said 65-year-old Sachiko Eto and 39-year-old Yukinori Matsuda were executed by hanging. Matsuda was convicted of killing two people during a robbery in 2003.
Eto turned to faith healing after she and her husband joined a cult, according to Japanese media reports. She and two accomplices, including her daughter, were convicted of beating their victims to drive out “demons” and then hiding their bodies at her home.
During her trial, Eto’s lawyers argued she had diminished responsibility as she was suffering mental problems at the time of the crimes. She pled not guilty, but a Japanese court upheld her sentence, ruling that her crimes were “excessively grave.”
Eto’s daughter and another cult member were sentenced to life in prison for the 1995 murders.
Japan is one of the few industrialized countries that have capital punishment. The lack of transparency in the system has been criticized by human rights groups, but capital punishment is generally supported by the public, according to opinion polls.
Japan had no executions in 2011 but has conducted seven this year. The Justice Ministry says 131 convicts are on Japan’s death row.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1262914--cult-leader-convicted-of-killing-6-in-exorcisms-hanged-in-japan
Hi, deliver me from evil: Church sets up an exorcist hotline to deal with demand
ReplyDeleteby MICHAEL DAY The Independent NOVEMBER 29, 2012
MILAN
The Catholic Church has established an exorcist hotline in Milan, its biggest diocese, to cope with demand. Monsignor Angelo Mascheroni, the diocese’s chief exorcist since 1995, said the curia had also appointed twice as many exorcists to cope with a doubling in the number of requests for help over 15 years.
“We get many requests for names, addresses and phone numbers; that’s why we’ve set up a switchboard in the curia from Monday to Friday from 2.30pm to 5pm,” he told the chiesadimilano website.
“People in need can call and will be able to find a priest in the same area who doesn’t have to travel too far.” And to that end, the number of demon-busting priests on call has increased from six to 12.
The Monsignor said he knew of one exorcist who had been seeing up to 120 people a day. “But with so little time per client he was only able to offer a quick blessing. That’s not enough,” he said. ”There should be two to four appointments a day, no more, otherwise it’s too much.”
It’s not clear why the number of suspected possessions has risen so sharply. But Monsignor Mascheroni said that part of the increase might be explained by the rising numbers of parents having difficulty controlling disobedient teenagers.
“Usually the parents call [because they are] concerned about a child who won’t go to school or who’s taking drugs or rebelling. In reality it’s not a demon, but when they’re 18 years old young people don’t want to be told what to do.”
He warned that many worried and vulnerable people were at risk from charlatans. “Magicians demand money; we … give our time, give benediction … all for free. It couldn’t be any other way.”
The Monsignor said that all those who sought help were welcomed. But he added: “The real diabolical phenomena, at least in my experience, are very rare.” He said that “mental phenomena, mental and psychiatric disorders” were often to blame for unusual behaviour.
Not all Catholic exorcists take such a pragmatic approach, however. Father Gabriele Amorth, who was the Vatican’s chief exorcist for 25 years, claims to have dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession.
Father Amorth said that sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church were proof that “the Devil is at work inside the Vatican”. He also claimed that satanic behaviour lay behind Vatican attempts to “cover up” the deaths of Alois Estermann, then commander of the Swiss Guard, his wife and another Swiss Guard, Corporal Cedric Tornay, in 1998.
Father Amorth also took a dim view of fantasy novels and yoga. Practising the latter, he once warned, was “satanic; it leads to evil just like reading Harry Potter”.
The act of exorcism: Catholic practice
Defined by the Catholic Encyclopaedia as “the act of driving out, or warding off, demons, or evil spirits, from persons, places, or things which are believed to be possessed or infested by them, or are liable to become victims or instruments of their malice,” exorcism has been practised by the Church for centuries, but its use has increased dramatically over the last half century.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/hi-deliver-me-from-evil-church-sets-up-an-exorcist-hotline-to-deal-with-demand-8368988.html
The pope and the devil: Is Francis an exorcist?
ReplyDeleteby Associated Press May 21, 2013
VATICAN CITY — Is Pope Francis an exorcist?
The question has bubbled up ever since Francis laid his hands on the head of a young man in a wheelchair after celebrating Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square. The young man heaved deeply a half-dozen times, shook, then slumped in his wheelchair as Francis prayed over him.
The television station of the Italian bishops' conference reported Monday that it had surveyed exorcists, who agreed there was "no doubt" that Francis either performed an exorcism or a prayer to free the man from the devil.
The Vatican was more cautious. In a statement Tuesday, it said Francis "didn't intend to perform any exorcism. But as he often does for the sick or suffering, he simply intended to pray for someone who was suffering who was presented to him."
Fueling the speculation is Francis' obsession with Satan, a frequent subject of his homilies, and an apparent surge in demand for exorcisms among the faithful despite the irreverent treatment the rite often receives from Hollywood.
Who can forget the green vomit and the spinning head of the possessed girl in the 1973 cult classic "The Exorcist"?
In his very first homily as pope on March 14, Francis warned cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel the day after he was elected that "he who doesn't pray to the Lord prays to the devil."
He has since mentioned the devil on a handful of occasions, most recently in a May 4 homily when in his morning Mass in the Vatican hotel chapel he spoke of the need for dialogue — except with Satan.
"With the prince of this world you can't have dialogue: Let this be clear!" he warned.
Experts said Francis' frequent invocation of the devil is a reflection both of his Jesuit spirituality and his Latin American roots, as well as a reflection of a Catholic Church weakened by secularization.
"The devil's influence and presence in the world seems to fluctuate in quantity inversely proportionate to the presence of Christian faith," said the Rev. Robert Gahl, a moral theologian at Rome's Pontifical Holy Cross University. "So, one would expect an upswing in his malicious activity in the wake of de-Christianization and secularization" in the world and a surge in things like drug use, pornography and superstition.
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In recent years, Rome's pontifical universities have hosted several courses for would-be exorcists on the rite, updated in 1998 and contained in a little red leather-bound booklet. The rite is relatively brief, consisting of blessings with holy water, prayers and an interrogation of the devil in which the exorcist demands to know the devil's name and when it will leave the possessed person.
ReplyDeleteOnly a priest authorized by a bishop can perform an exorcism, and canon law specifies that the exorcist must be "endowed with piety, knowledge, prudence and integrity of life."
While belief in the devil is consistent with church teaching, the Holy See does urge prudence, particularly to ensure that the afflicted person isn't merely psychologically ill.
The Rev. Giulio Maspero, a Rome-based systematic theologian who has witnessed or participated in more than a dozen exorcisms, says he's fairly certain that Francis' prayer on Sunday was either a full-fledged exorcism or a more simple prayer to "liberate" the young man from demonic possession.
He noted that the placement of the pope's hands on the man's head was the "typical position" for an exorcist to use.
"When you witness something like that — for me it was shocking — I could feel the power of prayer," he said in a phone interview, speaking of his own previous experiences.
Sunday also happened to be the Pentacost, when the faithful believe Jesus' apostles received the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and Maspero noted the symbolism.
"The Holy Spirit is connected to the exorcism because ... it is the manifestation of how God is present among us and in our world," he said.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, sought to tamper speculation that what occurred was a full-fledged exorcism. While he didn't deny it outright — he said Francis hadn't "intended" to perform one — he stressed that the intention of the person praying is quite important.
Late Tuesday, the director of TV2000, the television of the Italian bishops' conference, went on the air to apologize for the earlier report.
"I don't want to attribute to him a gesture that he didn't intend to perform," said the director, Dino Boffo.
That said, Francis' actions and attitude toward the devil are not new: As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio frequently spoke about the devil in our midst. In the book "Heaven and Earth," Bergoglio devoted the second chapter to "The Devil" and said in no uncertain terms that he believes in the devil and that Satan's fruits are "destruction, division, hatred and calumny."
"Perhaps its greatest success in these times has been to make us think that it doesn't exist, that everything can be traced to a purely human plan," he wrote.
Italian newspapers noted that the late Pope John Paul II performed an exorcism in 1982 — near the same spot where Francis prayed over the young disabled man Sunday.
http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/international/europe/2013/05/the_pope_and_the_devil_is_francis_an_exorcist
Catholic Church Top Exorcist Claims He Rid World of 160,000 Demons
ReplyDeleteBy Leonardo Blair, Christian Post May 28, 2013
The Catholic Church's top exorcist, who claims to have sent 160,000 demons back to hell, says he wants Pope Francis to allow all priests to start performing the ritual to deal with a rising demand for exorcisms from the faithful.
Father Gabriele Amorth, 88, who also heads the International Association of Exorcists, told The Sunday Times that he will ask Pope Francis to allow all priests the right to do exorcisms without the church's approval. According to the report, priests currently need special approval from their bishop to perform the rite and it is rarely granted.
"I will ask the pope to give all priests the power to carry out exorcisms, and to ensure priests are properly trained for these starting with the seminary. There's a huge demand for them," said Father Amorth.
He explained that he was inspired to make the request after watching Pope Francis perform what he insists was an exorcism on a man "possessed by four demons" in St. Peter's Square.
"The pope is also the Bishop of Rome, and like any bishop he is also an exorcist," Amorth reportedly told La Repubblica newspaper. "It was a real exorcism. If the Vatican has denied this, it shows that they understand nothing."
"There was now, more than ever, a need for exorcists to combat people possessed by 'sorcerers' and 'Satanists,'" he noted in that report.
An 84-page update of exorcism rites compiled in 1614 and drawn up in 1998 stipulates how Catholic priests trained as exorcists should operate. According to the guidelines established by the church, they have to follow a ritual known as "De exorcismis et supplicationibus quibusdam," or "Of exorcisms and certain supplications."
Amorth explained that Pope Francis' exorcism on May 19 helped to balance the growing atheism in the world where people don't believe in the Devil anymore.
"We live in an age in which God has been forgotten. And wherever God is not present, the Devil rules," said Amorth.
"Today, unfortunately, bishops don't appoint sufficient exorcists. We need many more. I hope that Rome will send out directives to bishops around the world calling on them to appoint more exorcists."
Amorth is also an outspoken critic of yoga and Harry Potter books and dismissed them as ungodly hobbies.
"Practicing yoga brings evil as does reading Harry Potter. They may both seem innocuous but they both deal with magic and that leads to evil," he said.
In addressing Harry Potter, he said: "People think it is an innocuous book for children but it's about magic and that leads to evil. In Harry Potter the Devil is at work in a cunning and crafty way, he is using his extraordinary powers of magic and evil."
"Satan is always hidden and the thing he desires more than anything is for people to believe he does not exist," he noted. "He studies each and every one of us and our tendencies towards good and evil and then he tempts us."
http://global.christianpost.com/news/catholic-churchs-top-exorcist-claims-he-rid-world-of-160000-demons-96794/
Floyd man pleads no contest in daughter's death, says demon possessed her
ReplyDeleteEder Guzman-Rodriguez said he thought a demon had entered his 2-year-old daughter in November 2011, and that was why he punched and choked her to death.
by MELISSA POWELL, The Roanoke Times June 3, 2013
FLOYD — Eder Guzman-Rodriguez told police that his 2-year-old daughter was possessed by a demon, causing him to punch and choke her until she lay lifeless inside the family’s home.
“I didn’t mean to kill the baby,” Guzman-Rodriguez told police shortly after the incident in November 2011. “I didn’t mean to choke her.”
Floyd County Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Shortt read that quote in circuit court Monday after Guzman-Rodriguez pleaded no contest to first-degree murder.
Guzman-Rodriguez, 30, originally from Mexico, was sentenced to 20 years and 11 months for the murder of his daughter, Jocelyn. He was also originally charged with malicious wounding and felony child neglect, but those charges were dropped Monday morning as part of a plea agreement.
According to Shortt’s summary of the evidence, Guzman-Rodriguez told police that Jocelyn had a demon inside of her and that he had attempted to exorcise her of the demon. Jocelyn’s cause of death was manual asphyxiation, Shortt said.
Shortt said that on Nov. 23, 2011, the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office received a call at 9:39 p.m. reporting the death of a child in the 100 block of Lance Drive. The first deputy who arrived saw “several Hispanics holding Bibles” standing on the deck of a mobile home, Shortt said.
Police found Guzman-Rodriguez and his wife, referred to in court as Carmen Nolazco, sitting on a couch in the living room, Shortt said. Nolazco was crying and had visible injuries to her face, head and chest, Shortt said.
Jocelyn was found on a bed in the master bedroom, wrapped in a blanket, according to Shortt. She was blue and had no pulse. The room was in disarray with several Bibles and “other religious literature,” Shortt said.
Guzman-Rodriguez told police that he saw his daughter gesturing to him as if she wanted to fight, Shortt said, and that he punched her “over and over” with his bare hands, Shortt said.
“I know I am the one who hit her,” Shortt said Guzman-Rodriguez told police. “I was the only one there. The demon used my body to kill her.”
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Shortt said Nolazco could not have prevented Jocelyn’s death because Guzman-Rodriguez had beaten, kicked and strangled his wife to the point of unconsciousness before he attacked his daughter.
ReplyDeleteWhile Shortt was describing Jocelyn’s injuries — which included fractured ribs, abrasions, contusions on a lung and hemorrhages — Nolazco ran out of the courtroom Monday and began loudly sobbing and screaming just outside the courtroom doors.
Shortt requested a recess but came back minutes later and continued her summary of the evidence. Nolazco did not re-enter the courtroom.
Shortt said the plea agreement allows Nolazco to “immediately begin the healing process” and “avoid having to relive in detail the horrible tragedy that altered her life forever.” Guzman-Rodriguez was previously scheduled to have a five-day jury trial in August.
Circuit Court Judge Marcus Long accepted the plea agreement and sentenced Guzman-Rodriguez to life in prison, suspended after he serves 20 years and 11 months. Guzman-Rodriguez will be placed on 25 years of active supervised probation upon his release.
Because he is not a United States citizen, Guzman-Rodriguez will be deported after he serves his sentence, said one of his lawyers, Jonathon Venzie.
Before announcing the sentence, Long asked Guzman-Rodriguez if he wished to make a statement. Through an interpreter, who stood next to him throughout the hearing, Guzman-Rodriguez at first said “no.”
Then he added: “I just want to say to Ms. Stephanie Shortt that I hope God forgives her for all the hurt she caused my wife.”
After the hearing, Venzie said that Shortt had previously gone through the autopsy report with Nolazco, causing her to go “off the deep end.”
Guzman-Rodriguez found that unnecessary, Venzie said.
Nolazco is “on his side. She believes it was the devil,” Venzie said, adding that the two are still married. In Jocelyn’s obituary, published by a Galax funeral home, Nolazco’s full name was listed as Maria dell Carmen Nolazco Garcia.
Venzie said Jocelyn was “cute as a button and loved by everyone.”
“It’s a horrible family tragedy,” Venzie said. “They’re all victims. Poor Carmen was living the dream — she was married, she had a child, a home, and in one second, she lost everything. My heart goes out to Carmen.”
http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/1979957-12/man-pleads-no-contest-in-daughters-floyd-co.html
Exorcisms often claim most the innocent -- our children
ReplyDeleteBy Benjamin Radford, LiveScience June 7, 2013
A Virginia man was convicted earlier this week in the death of a 2-year-old who died during a 2011 exorcism. Eder Guzman-Rodriguez beat his daughter Jocelyn to death in an attempt to rid her of the demon he believed was inside her.
Police summoned to the scene encountered several people holding Bibles outside the home, where Guzman-Rodriguez stated that he had also become possessed by a "bad spirit" when he punched and choked Jocelyn to death. The girl was found on a bed, wrapped in a blanket surrounded by Bibles.
Such beliefs in demonic possession and the violent exorcisms that may follow have a long history and can harm the most innocent among us, children.
Psychology of the exorcism
The belief that demons can possess people is one of the most widely held religious beliefs in the world. The Vatican first issued guidelines on exorcisms in 1614 and revised them in 1999. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, signs of demonic possession in adults include superhuman strength, spitting, cursing, aversion to holy water and the ability to speak in unknown languages.
Those conducting exorcisms are devoutly religious and truly believe they are doing good through the beating and torture of innocents. Though spirits are said to be able to possess anyone, children are especially likely to be suspected of being possessed. Not only are children often thought to be more corruptible and susceptible to evil influences, but their misbehavior (and even innocent actions) may also seem to be manipulated by dark forces. Parents and caregivers who believe in spiritual possession may look for signs their child is possessed: According to police, Guzman-Rodriguez said he believed his daughter was "gesturing to him as if she wanted to fight."
In other cases, believers assume bad behavior is driven by evil spirits — "the devil made me (or him, or her) do it" is very much alive in many people's minds. The beatings and abuse are not seen as a punishment for the child, because the physical aggression, in the exorcist's mind, is directed at the evil spirit within. The child's body is simply seen as a temporary vessel for the bad spirit. The physical and emotional abuse is seen as an unfortunate but necessary price to pay for the child's spiritual salvation.
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Child exorcisms
ReplyDeleteAs disturbing as this case is, there are many similar historical precedents. A century ago in Ireland, it was not demons but other supernatural, malevolent entities — fairies — that were believed to possess babies and children. Some children were believed by their parents to be changelings, either "false children" or children possessed by an evil spirit that could be driven from the child through abused and punishment.
In her book "The Burning of Bridget Cleary" (about a woman killed by her husband in an attempt to exorcise fairy spirits from her), folklorist Angela Bourke of the National University of Ireland notes that many "accounts can be found in nineteenth-century newspapers and police reports of suspected child-changelings in Ireland being placed on red-hot shovels, drowned or otherwise mistreated or killed."
Bourke cites an example from 1828 in which a woman named Ann Roche drowned a 4-year-old boy she believed was possessed; like Guzman-Rodriguez, she claimed that she didn't mean to harm or kill the child, just to drive the spirits out of him. Unlike Guzman-Rodriguez, who was sentenced to just under 21 years in prison, Roche was found not guilty and released.
Though belief in fairies has waned in modern times, belief in spiritual possession by demons and other supernatural entities remains very much with us. In 2003, an autistic 8-year-old boy in Milwaukee was killed during an exorcism by church members who blamed an invading demon for his disability; and in 2005, a young nun in Romania died at the hands of a priest during an exorcism after being bound to a cross, gagged, and left for days without food or water in an effort to expel demons. In 2010, a 14-year-old boy in England was beaten and drowned to death by relatives trying to exorcise an evil spirit from him.
Though belief in spirits and demons has been a part of humanity for millennia, it also has a dark side and can inflict terrible harm on the most innocent among us.
Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of "Skeptical Inquirer" science magazine and author of six books including "Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries" and "Hoaxes, Myths, and Manias: Why We Need Critical Thinking." His Web site is www.BenjaminRadford.com.
http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/07/18833175-exorcisms-often-claim-most-the-innocent-our-children