I am Roman Catholic. This was a subject really never discussed till the book "The Exorcist" came out in the early '70s. It was really an "unknown" subject. I do know that the church believes all spiritual experiences such as "seeing" ghosts, hearing "strange" noises, being "touched" and so on as being "Demons". Period! That's something that not many people know about. I know there are people out there doing exorcisms. I'm not an expert on this subject. It was always seen as the true and only way of doing this practice. It has to be done by only a Catholic priest sent with the Vatican's approval. There are many steps first that has to be done before the actual exorcism can commence. Many secret meetings.
So why now does the Catholic Church want "more" priests involved in exorcism? Is it all the paranormal shows, paranormal groups visiting sites (doing too much provoking), all the claims of people seeing ghosts? Or is it because 2012 is just around the bend? (Or maybe they know something we don't?)
What gets me is that not many people are joining the church to become priests and nuns anymore! And maybe this is being done to make it more appealing to the young. Now that would be creepy!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-11-13-exorcists_N.htm
(Apologies in advance if I step on toes here, but this is only my opinion, so don't chew me out too much!!) I've studied the phonomenon of "demonic possession" for a few years now and my own experiences and findings yield that only about 2-3% of cases appear as genuinely "demonic" in nature. personally don't believe that exorcisms have a place in the modern world. The rest are false and may be attributed to fear, ignorance and/or nescience. A prime example, perhaps, is the case of Annelise Michel, who died of malnutrition and dehydration as a result of an intensive long-term exorcism. Yet she displayed all the outward signs of epilepsy and a form of schizophrenia, both of which were not widely researched in the '70s. She was so indoctrinated into the Catholic faith that she came to believe she was possessed by multiple demons, and eventually she starved herself in order to purge herself of them. There are numerous accounts of similar such incidences dating back to the Middle Ages right up until the early '90s, when knowledge of the brain and its mental conditions really advanced.
ReplyDeleteNo apology needed. As someone who at one time worked as an OT in a psych ward. Many pts display extreme "odd" behavior. To the Regular Joe it can be seen as demonic possession. Trust me on that one. Which now they understand to control with a medication cocktail. That is why it is not as common as it was in the past.
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