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November 15, 2018
Father Gerald D. Coleman, PSS
In a recent column, Father Ron Rolheiser cited James Hillman’s 1993 book “Suicide and the Soul.” Hillman addresses complex issues that “go against common sense, medical practice and rationality.” A “restlessness” can invade a person’s soul and body and create distress, conflict, and even insanity. According to the Gospel writers, Jesus engaged in battle against overwhelming agitations. He fought against his own temptations in the desert and expelled demons from individuals.
Luke and John testify that the resurrection overturns the domain of Satan and replaces it with the kingdom of God. Perhaps the afflicted ones who caught the attention of the New Testament writers suffered something irrational and undiagnosable. Luke relates the heart-wrenching story of the man from the Gerasenes who suffered demons who severely tormented him (8:26-33). He screamed and was kept under guard with chains for fear of what he might do. He was a person torn away from his right mind. Jesus brought him peace. At Christmas one reason for tidings of comfort and joy is the birth of Jesus who came “to save us all from Satan’s power when we had gone astray.”
As in other places in the world, the call for exorcism has been rigorous in the United States. Many books, journalistic investigations, and movies have placed before us horrifying and malevolent demons who cling with unbelievable tenacity and exhibit superhuman strength. Secular media’s appetite for gratuitous violence exploded in William Friedkin’s 1973 film “The Exorcist,” and Malachi Martin’s 1976 book “Hostage to the Devil: The Possession and Exorcism of Five Americans.”
A resurgence of demonism and exorcism ministries were rejuvenated. Whatever a person’s problem – depression, anxiety, substance addiction, a runaway sexual appetite, mood swings, blurred self-identities, disturbing visions and sensations – the indwelling demon was held responsible. Exorcisms were performed (at times by well-meaning but attention-focused priests) to banish the devil and return a person to moral and psychological health. This amounts to “redemption by exorcism.”
In the mid-1990s there was only one officially appointed priest-exorcist in the entire country. In 1996 there were 10, and now practically every diocese and country in the world boasts of one (See U.S. Catholic, October 2002). One credible exorcist writes that “most people who seek out an exorcism are suffering from some psychological or emotional problem that they’re convinced has been caused by demons. They believe that only through an exorcism will their problem be eliminated and their circumstances improved.”
All parties to an exorcism have an enormous investment in the ritual. They want it to work. They expect it to work. They pray for it to work. Exorcism is too often a ritualized placebo that promises to mend body, mind and soul. It’s an alternate medical therapy for those who see demons everywhere.
In 1983, Harvard-educated psychiatrist and author M. Scott Peck testified in “The Road Less Traveled” that he participated in two exorcisms. On both occasions, he “confronted a profoundly evil spirit.” He concluded, however, that “genuine possession is very rare” and exorcism should be used only when it fits, for example, with the Charles Mansons of the world. Leading authority on evil spirits Francis MacNutt reached the same conclusion in his 1993 book “Deliverance from Evil Spirits.” Without denying the possibility that the devil might be found in a rare bush, there is a real danger of seeing the devil in every bush.
The papacies of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI fostered a revival of theological thought about the devil and created an environment conducive for an explosion of academic classes on exorcism, frequently called “Demonology Theory.” As recently as September, Pope Francis asked for daily prayers to “protect the Catholic Church from ‘attacks of the devil’ and ‘devil turbulence.’” His remarks come in response to the clerical sex abuse scandal roiling the church and the papacy.
Vatican II’s document “The Church in the Modern World” states that “a monumental struggle against the powers of darkness” pervades all human history (no. 37). Catholics, Protestants and Evangelicals, along with a host of non-Christian traditions, the Chinese Taoist belief as one example, affirm that darkness can torment the church and the world. The Rite of Baptism for Children and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults acknowledge that those being baptized will have to “fight the devil and all his cunning.” The exorcism prayer at our baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of confirmation, is a pledge by the church that the power of God will always be greater than the powers of darkness (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1237).
For a significant minority of Americans, Satan and his henchmen are very much alive. Designated priest-exorcists should serve this ministry only for a limited time and never use the Catholic ritual, “De exorcismis,” to encourage satanic superstition. Fears of an external enemy can cloak the important work of self-assessment. Priests would better use their time not as demonologists but helping ordinary people explain their fears and appreciate that they are created in God’s image and likeness.
Sulpician Father Gerald D. Coleman is adjunct professor, Graduate Department of Pastoral Ministries, Santa Clara University.