Month: January 2018

Dublin, Ireland, Jan 24, 2018 / 11:08 pm (CNA).- An Irish priest and exorcist is asking the country’s bishops for more support after noticing a dramatic increase in demonic activity in the country.

In a recent interview with The Irish Catholic, Fr. Pat Collins said he has been overwhelmed with the number of requests for exorcisms from the faithful in Ireland. In an open letter, he has urged the Irish bishops to train more priests to deal with the demand.

“(I)t’s only in recent years that the demand has risen exponentially,” Collins told The Irish Catholic.

Collins’ comments are on par with those of other exorcists throughout the world, including the International Association of Exorcists (IAE), a group of 400 Catholic leaders and priests, which has reported a dramatic increase in demonic activity in recent years.

In 2014, the IAE said the levels of demonic activity throughout the world had reached what they considered a “pastoral emergency.”

Collins said that he was “baffled” that the bishops haven’t trained more exorcists for Ireland, and added that anyone who doesn’t see the need for more exorcists is “out of touch with reality.”

“What I’m finding out desperately, is people who in their own minds believe – rightly or wrongly – that they’re afflicted by an evil spirit,” Collins said.

“I think in many cases they wrongly think it, but when they turn to the Church, the Church doesn’t know what to do with them and they refer them on either to a psychologist or to somebody that they’ve heard of that is interested in this form of ministry, and they do fall between the cracks and often are not helped,” he added.

A spokesperson for the bishops’ conference at Maynooth told The Irish Catholic that each diocese is required to have a trained exorcist, who is able to discern the difference between signs of true demonic possession and signs of mental or psychological illness.

“Exorcisms are very rare and this office has not been made aware of any cases of ‘exorcism’ in Ireland in recent years,” the spokesperson said.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between demonic activity and mental illness. From paragraph 1673: “Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness.”

In April 2015, the Congregation for the Clergy and the Sacerdos Institute hosted a seminar at Rome’s Regina Apostolorum University, specifically aimed at training priests and lay people in spotting the differences between psychological problems and demonic possession.

The conference included interventions from a wide range of experts in the field of exorcism, including practicing exorcists, medical professionals, psychologists, lawyers, and theologians.

Recently updated rules of the Catholic rite of exorcism also state that a person who believes they are possessed must first rule out mental illness before seeking an exorcism. If the rite of exorcism is still needed, they may seek out a priest who has been trained and appointed as exorcist for his diocese by his bishop.

Collins noted that it often takes multiple meetings with a person seeking an exorcism to determine precisely what is afflicting them, but noted that whether it is true demonic activity or other problems, the requests have gone up dramatically in recent years.

Father Vincent Lampert, a Vatican-trained exorcist and a parish priest of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, has previously told CNA that the best defense against demonic possession is staying close to the sacraments.

In his open letter to the Irish bishops, Collins wrote: “…there has been increasing evidence of the malicious activity of the evil one.”

“I can’t judge from my own subjective experience because people see on the internet that I’m supposed to be an exorcist so I get an inordinate number of calls from people, and emails, all I can say is I have that reputation, but it’s only in recent years that the demand has risen exponentially,” he wrote.

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Frankfurt, Germany, Jan 24, 2018 / 03:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A German bishop’s proposal that the Catholic Church could provide blessing ceremonies for gay couples, as well as divorced and civilly remarried couples, gained support at a Church conference in Frankfurt this weekend.

Earlier this month, Bishop Franz-Josef Bode suggested that the Church develop a ceremony for blessing same-sex unions during an interview with Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung.

“We need to think about how we can differentiate a relationship between two same-sex people,” said the bishop, who is deputy chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference: “Is not there so much that is positive, good and right that we have to be fairer?”

The bishop said that same-sex unions are a reality in the country.  “We must therefore ask ourselves how we meet those who enter into this relationship and who are also partly involved in the Church,” he said.

“How do we accompany them pastorally and liturgically? How do we live up to them?”  

On Jan. 20, Father Johannes Zu Eltz, the city-dean of the Catholic Church in Frankfurt and a senior official in the Diocese of Limburg, said that the Church should consider “theologically founded blessing ceremonies” for couples who do not meet the requirements for marriage in the Church.

The suggestion was made during the Frankfurt City Church Forum II, attended by 170 Church leaders. Such forums are used to discuss reforms that can be made within the local Church.

The proposed blessings would be for same-sex couples “as well as [divorced and] civilly remarried people as well as people who, in their own estimation, do not consider themselves sufficiently worthy of the marriage sacrament,” according to katholisch.de, the official website of the German Catholic bishops.

Couples seeking such a blessing would need to meet certain criteria, according the priest’s proposal, such as “a state marriage in the registry office.” This would include same-sex couples, since Germany legalized same-sex marriage last year.

The ceremonies would also be made “different” than the marriage liturgy, the priest added, omitting things such as the exchanges of rings or vows, in order to avoid confusion with the marriage sacrament.

Rather, Zu Eltz said the proposed blessing ceremonies would be done “in respect of a binding partnership,” asking God’s blessing “for a successful future of something that already exists,” according to a report from the Diocese of Limburg.

The priest added that these blessings would fulfill a “primitive human need for ‘salvation, protection, happiness and fulfillment of his life’ linked to the request for God’s blessing.”

According to the bishops’ website, Bishop Felix Glenn of Münster forbade a “planned blessing for a homosexual couple” last year, in order to avoid confusion.

The Catholic Church teaches that marriage is the lifelong union of a man and a woman.

Regarding those with same-sex attraction, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that: “The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition. Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.” (CCC 2358-2359).

This recent proposal is not the first time that German clergy have suggested the Church bless same-sex unions or couples in irregular situations. In 2015, ahead of the Synod on the Family, Bishop Bode told German news agency KNA that while he understood that the Church could not consider these unions as marriages, the Church should consider the strengths as well as the weaknesses of such unions and perhaps provide a private blessing.

Bode was one of three German bishops elected by the German Church to attend the Synod on the Family in October 2015.

Following the publication of the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, Bode and other German prelates have been outspoken in their desire for the Church to change its practices regarding same-sex couples as well as divorced and remarried couples.

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