Catholic Interest In Exorcism On The Rise

New York Times:

The rite of exorcism, rendered gory by Hollywood and ridiculed by many modern believers, has largely fallen out of favor in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.

There are only a handful of priests in the country trained as exorcists, but they say they are overwhelmed with requests from people who fear they are possessed by the Devil.

Now, American bishops are holding a conference on Friday and Saturday to prepare more priests and bishops to respond to the demand. The purpose is not necessarily to revive the practice, the organizers say, but to help Catholic clergy members learn how to distinguish who really needs an exorcism from who really needs a psychiatrist, or perhaps some pastoral care.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[thebigbike]

04:46 PM on 11/15/2010

Sorry Ratzi, but exorcism is NOT a sufficient legal resolution to child molesting priests. They STILL have to face the music in civilian court, no matter how much you shuffle, and hide and excuse.... but then maybe YOU and the college of cardinals are possessed by demons that need to be exorcised. Which still is not a sufficient resolution in the non catholic world.

[irishgramm]

08:12 PM on 11/13/2010

2010 A.D. people!!!!! Time to let go of superstitions, boogymen, devils, and demons. All of those evil traits live and are doing well in the nature of mankind without the help of the Catholic Church getting involved at any point. To each their own, I say, until it gets to the point of being self destructive or self serving.....then I have a problem with all of this hocus pocus.

[rosal]

08:01 PM on 11/13/2010

Dear Lord, these people will go back to the times of Adam and Eve pretty soon. It sounds like they are grasping for power over the masses, a sign they are really losing it. Time to run as fast as possible away from these people.

[BeltwayInsider]

07:16 PM on 11/13/2010

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Vatican are both in serious need of an exorcism, as both have demonstrated themselves to be capable of tremendous evil.

[Balzac]

07:04 PM on 11/13/2010

They should try investigators and prosecutors.

[BoojWaZEE]

06:19 PM on 11/13/2010

The church also announced that they are going to lock Stephen Hawkings away in a dungeon for claiming that the earth is NOT the center of the universe.

[plages]

06:18 PM on 11/13/2010

The only reason that that priest is holding that cross up right, is because its burned his hand, which by the way, was holding onto a child in the next room!

[BoojWaZEE]

06:16 PM on 11/13/2010

Why don't they save themselves the time and money of training new exorcists and simply steal a page from the muslim playbook and stone all evil doers to death ?

Not only is it cheaper but you also don't have to deal with all of those spinning heads and vomit all over the walls !!!

[blknightowl]

06:28 PM on 11/13/2010

LOL....maybe we could start with politicians....hmmm???

[pbnyc59]

06:08 PM on 11/13/2010

Don't look behind the curtain, just like the Wizard of Oz, it's all fake.

[Davest]

05:58 PM on 11/13/2010

Maybe they can pray the gay away?

[clearthinker16]

05:50 PM on 11/13/2010

can they exorcise the demons in Congress and the Senate and get the devil out of politics.

[ando harris]

05:50 PM on 11/13/2010

I'm possessed by a sex demon and a sarcasm demon. I've grown kind of used to them now. I'm afraid if I tried to have them exorcized, they might get p!sed. Best to let sleeping dogs lie.

[terroh8er]

05:50 PM on 11/13/2010

I'm glad the church is training people to tell them not to see a psychiatrist. I'm sure an exorcism is just what they need.

Really though.. At least they aren't abandoning their traditional practices. This gives us secularists some fodder to change the minds of whatever rational people are left in the church.

[Ascoli]

05:42 PM on 11/13/2010

"More exorcisms needed"........how much $ will they be charging for this new scam?

[MNValley]

08:28 PM on 11/13/2010

If it doesn't work, it may cost you your soul ...

[Clint Abear]

05:37 PM on 11/13/2010

are they needed for fox news?