(The Daily Mail) A Catholic priest who inspired The Exorcist died from a fall after what he claims was a possessed child spoke to him, it has emerged.
The new revelation comes from a CIA agent after it had been widely reported Malachi Martin from Ireland told a friend an invisible force pushed him to his death.
Ahead of the release of a new documentary, his close friend Robert Marrow has lifted the lid on the moment he believes the priest was effectively killed - when a possessed four-year-old girl he was meant to be exorcising spoke to him in America.
Talking to RTE Radio 1’s The Ryan Tubridy Show, the producer of the feature-length show called Hostage to the Devil Rachel Lysaght recalled a harrowing moment during filming.
Former CIA agent Mr Marrow retracted the steps to Connecticut where Father Martin had offered to carry out an exorcism on the four-year-old girl.
When he arrived at the neutral home, the family were already there, and the girl walked up to the priest and said: 'So you're Malachi Martin - and you think you can help her?', suggesting she was talking while having an out-of-body experience.
It has been claimed that after the exchange in 1999, a fall led to his death from a head trauma at the age of 78.
He told a friend that it was caused by an invisible force that pushed him.
By this time, the father from County Kerry in South-Western Ireland was hiring himself out as a private exorcist and it is believed he was the inspiration behind the famous film released in 1973.
Due to Father Martin's age, Mr Marrow drove him to his clients across America where he had relocated after turning his back on the church.
The former CIA agent told RTE the encounter between the priest and the girl was the most disturbing thing he had ever seen, according to Rachel Lysaght, who also wrote the new documentary.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — So, exorcism might seem like fiction. But did you
know that the Vatican has actually encouraged every Catholic diocese to
have a trained exorcist on staff?
A local psychologist is an expert who is traveling around the world to train those priests.
Once he was a skeptic, but he tells KDKA’s Andy Sheehan, after
assisting in nearly 100 exorcisms, his experiences have made him a
believer.
For the past 10 years Adam Blai has been on the front line.
“Basically, it’s a war between heaven and hell,” says Blai. “That’s
been going on since Creation started, and it’s a war over us for the
most part.”
Fighting over the bodies and souls of the possessed.
“Their mouth isn’t moving and the sound coming out of them is beyond what a human can produce,” Blai says.
A force that’s taken over.
“I’ve also seen bones dislocate spontaneously, and pop out when
something animated the body and put the body into a different shape,” he
says.
Blai says he’s needed to summon angels and saints to battle what he calls “the kingdom of darkness.”
Sheehan: “So, it’s a war.”
Blai: “Oh yeah, we’ve seen the demon and possessed
call out to its brothers and doors blow off and there’s nothing there,
but something has entered the room. That happens all the time.”
Exorcism traces its roots to the New Testament Gospels where Jesus
frees the possessed, but even Blai himself was initially skeptical.
“Your mind rebels against really believing that this is really real,
even after you’ve seen some things,” he says. “But eventually, the
evidence piles up, and the pile becomes so large that you really have to
accept it.”
A trained psychologist at Penn state, Blai has studied the most
violent criminals, but even in serial killers and rapists, he found at
least some humanity – not so with the possessed.
“When you interact with somebody possessed by a demon, their heart is
so completely and totally black and devoid of any hesitation or
compassion that you know in your heart that they would tear you apart
and be smiling the entire time,” Blai said.
Blai: “Holy water is something that’s used in every case.”
Sheehan: “Now, if you sprayed the possessed with
holy water, would it burn? That’s something we see in the movies. There
will be some reaction.”
Blai: “Oh yeah, they have a violet reactions. It looks as though they’ve been scourged with a whip.”
“It really changes you, and to see a full-blown case like they would
make movies about — though Hollywood always exaggerates things a little
bit – it really kind of straightens out your spiritually life,” Blai
said. “And you have to think very hard about what you’re going to do
with that knowledge.”
(Neatorama) Madalin Ciculescu, an attorney in Romania, was plagued with foul-smelling demons
in his house who constantly turned his electrical gadgets on and off. So he
hired four local Orthodox priests to exorcise them. In his lawsuit, Ciculescu argues that they didn't finish the
job:
'When I am at home they switch the TV on and
off all the time, they make foul smells that give me headaches and basically
roam unhindered around my house and my business.' The man produced his
mother to back up his claim saying that even the hair-dryer was possessed and a
black shadow came out of it when anyone tried to use it - and she also said the
fridge was infested by the flatulent demons that she confirmed left foul smells
about the property.
But the lawyer for the Archdiocese from Arges, Anton Alin,
rejected the allegation of fraud saying that the exorcism had been properly
carried out and they believed the allegations of further demons and more bad
smells were simply a product of the man's imagination. The Romanian court agreed with the church and rejected the
application against Bishop Argatu as well as priests Ionut Cret Ovidiu, Gheorghe
Nicut, Marius Dumitrescu and Gheorghe Dunitru - and ordered Ciculescu to pay
legal costs.
(Radio Netherlands Worldwide) With exorcism booming in Poland, Roman
Catholic priests 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.
A merely human exorcist is always going to fallible in a thousand different ways. My stupidities would cripple me even more than I was crippled by a run-away-tourist-bus in Rome, as you see in the picture. That picture was taken in the mid-1990s by an exorcist, now deceased. The fellow I cut out of the picture was an exorcist in the making, whom I was helping to train. That was in Piazza Farnese, just off Campo dei Fiori…
Now, I should hope that there is no exorcist in training or any other exorcists who take what I present in these series without a critical eye. If not, I’d be tempted to give him a black eye. Jesus was an exorcist, and is, of course, the only exorcist still today. If anyone is ever successful in an exorcism, it is because Jesus is there. If an exorcist should pay attention to anyone, it is Jesus, not necessarily to any other exorcist. Jesus and the Church! Don’t make heroes of anyone except Jesus.
I must say that it is frustrating when priests over-romanticize exorcism, putting it in the too hard category to learn something about in a serious way, instead claiming breathlessly that all they need to know is what Father X said (because Father X is famous and they once assisted him). Exorcism is just a sacramental which needs a lot of common sense. The first thing to kill off common sense is breathlessly claiming an authority who is not Jesus or the Church, and this so as to rationalize some stupid thing one is doing.
The most pastoral, reasonable perspective one can have is not to have any special exciting bubbly insight. There’s no time for fluff in exorcism. No time for heroes. Satan will be sure to crush any exorcist if that exorcist has any supposed talents or tricks or insights or heroes. Depending on such things is to invite Satan to find fault with them. He will.
Now, I’m sure Father Amorth will forgive me for what I’m going to do now, for it makes for a great point not taking on any heroes without a grain of salt. I’m sure he would be the first to agree. I don’t think he wants to be anyone’s hero, but thre are countless budding exorcists who take him as a hero. I’m going to make just a little, gentle criticism of Father Amorth. The occasion for this is that Father Cameron, O.P., has included something Father Amorth wrote in the Meditation of the Day in the American liturgical publication called the “Magnificat” (401-402, on 30 August, 2011). Father Candido is cited. That caught my eye, since, for a time, he was my spiritual director way back in the 1980s. I’ve known Father Amorth for about that long as well... (continued...)
Acts 19,13-17 — Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” When the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, tried to do this, the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I recognize, Paul I know, but who are you?” The person with the evil spirit then sprang at them and subdued them all. He so overpowered them that they fled naked and wounded from that house. When this became known to all the Jews and Greeks who lived in Ephesus, fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in great esteem. [nab]
That’s in Scripture, right? Yes. That’s an inspired account, right? Yes. Surely the Holy Spirit is instructing us about how Satan will always act when one lacks a mandate to exorcize, right? Wrong, wrong, wrong!
Makes rules of conduct for yourself, such as obeying the Church no matter. However, don’t make rules for Satan. Did he not say rather emphatically: “Non serviam! I will not serve!” ? Satan may very well not react this way every time. In fact, he may want one without authority over himself, one who is not an exorcist expressly mandated by the local Ordinary, to think he has such power. This creates a culture of seeming legitimacy of disobedience, whereby people rejoice not that their names are written in heaven, but that they have “power” over demons. Satan is better at arrogance than we are. He will win, every time, if this is the kind of thing people are doing. And many, many souls fall into this trap. Time and again. Belligerently... (continued...)
From time to time you’ll see the terms “major” and “minor” thrown about by major or minor ecclesiastics regarding exorcism. There has been a great deal of confusion about this for the past 150 years or so. Clarity is a good thing when dealing with Satan. Some don’t want clarity because they want to break the law of the Church and just do what they want. This is common in the field of exorcism. Disobedience is exactly what is not needed for exorcism, but this is where one will find plenty of disobedience, real belligerence.
In summary: If it is a direct command to Satan in the name of Jesus, it is a true imprecatory exorcism for which an express mandate is needed from the local ordinary. If it is not a direct command to Satan in the name of Jesus, it is not an exorcism per se, though it can be called a deprecatory exorcism or intercessory exorcism, though that is not very precise language and only confuses the issues. One doesn’t need any permission to prayer to God for someone.
Those who want to muddy the waters almost always want to do true exorcisms even though they have no permission from the local Ordinary, even though they are not priests. These disobedient souls insist that only a “major”, “public”, “ancient”, “lengthy”, “printed and therefore official”, “Latin as opposed to ‘mere’ vernacular”, “‘serious’ as opposed to what happens in the prayer group” kind of exorcism is what is forbidden to them. They say that they can give direct commands to Satan, holding their hands over all and sundry, as long as, in their opinion, what they are doing is “minor”, “private”, “modern, even of their own composition”, “short”, “oral or at least unofficial in that it has not been put through a process of approval”, “vernacular”, “not so serious, just in a prayer group” kind of thing. This is ludicrous and plays right into the hands of Satan... (continued...)
In Latin, the only word that’s ever been used for being harassed by a fallen angel is ossessione. English speakers have a difficult time with this word, and pedantically transliterate os-sessione (ob-sessione) as obsession, and then, getting rid of the preposition “ob-”, we add “pos-” to get possession, as if that made things all the more serious.
Now, in Latin, “ossessione” has nothing to do with our post-Freudian psychologized perspective on obsessive-compulsive disorder. No. Instead, in Latin, “ossessione” refers to being held hostage, to being under siege. It is quite an exact fit, that. As in the picture of Massada under siege by the Romans, where those inside the walled fortress were safe and self-willed, as least for a while, just so is the soul of the person who is under attack from a fallen angel. They have their free will intact, and cannot be forced to agree to what Satan is doing against them. Of course, such souls, like those in Massada, are under a great deal of pressure. Some, like those at Massada, commit suicide if they are without help, or if they are treated like a nuisance. Not good. Always be good and kind, ever so gentle with those vulnerable people who have come to you for help, who are often on their way to committing suicide, but decided to come see you first. Think long and hard on that. See things from their perspective.
It is very true, of course, that many of those who will ask for your help are merely psychologically obsessed with the devil, that is, even though Satan has never once bothered them, they are convinced that he is after them all the time and in every way. These people do not need an exorcist for exorcism, but it would be good to give them words of encouragement and to know how to send them on their way for the help they need. But, again, you may be the last stop also for them before they go off and commit suicide. Always be gentle with such vulnerable people who come to you for help. It’s good to know yourself, what bothers you. For instance, I know that I dislike it when people say they are harassed by the devil, but are saying that only to make themselves seem important, to get attention for themselves. They are plenty of such people. But, again, always be good and kind. This disarms even such people as this.
At any rate, the Church has never admitted of various categories of harassment by the devil. Instead, it just has to be serious enough whereby you judge that such a case is appropriately treated by exorcism.... (continued...)
The devil doesn’t at all like when a priest becomes an exorcist officially mandated by the local Ordinary. If this is becoming a statement which you can make by way of experience, then you probably don’t have to be reminded about what our Lord says in the Beatitudes:
“Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5,10-12).
Rejoice and be glad!
I love that.
I don’t know how many times I’ve been told that such beatitudes cannot ever apply to me. Imagine that!
That’s one of the pictures I took of the gargantuan images of the saints in the underground basilica of Saint Pius X in Lourdes when I was a chaplain there for a couple of years. Remember, he was a civil lawyer and a canon lawyer and a moral theologian and a saint. Probably he wants to do what the Church wants. We give him the benefit of any doubt!
In our times, the seal of confession is quite absolute, including indirect revelation of what went on in the confessional. If you were to begin a true imprecatory exorcism during confession, do you not think that the exercise of this sacrament would be interrupted or ended for the sake of a sacramental? The devil will have won, even in the confessional, or outside of it if the possessed person goes into antics and bursts out of the confessional because you have started an exorcism in the wrong place at the wrong time. That poor person will have no one to care for them, to hold them down if necessary, so that they don’t hurt themselves.
Some insist that Saint Alphonsus recommended an exorcism of certain penitents during confession. I’d like to see that passage, and I’d like to see, if that is true, if he is speaking of an imprecatory or “merely” deprecatory exorcism. I would assume the latter if there is no distinction. If it is “merely” the latter – with no commands being given to the devil, as at the end of the Lord’s Prayer: “but deliver us from the Evil One”, a request to our Lord – then go for it! But don’t make an imprecatory direct command to Satan during confession.
The sacrament of confession is infinitely more valuable to a soul than the sacramental of exorcism. Get the confession done, and then, if need be, move on to the exorcism.
Protecting the seal of confession does not admit of loopholes and excuses. It’s an absolute.
One of the greatest Dominican exorcists, a Consultor for I don’t know how many dicasteries of the Roman Curia, a brilliant professor and theologian – who once gave me excellent, incisive advice for a thesis I was thinking about writing at the time with the then Secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and now Cardinal, A.V. – told me that he once neglected to say terce on the day he was to do an exorcism. He said that upon beginning the exorcism, the devil immediately taunted him about this. His reaction was to, then and then, drop to his knees and go to confession to the priest with him. All went well after that.
On another occasion – and this goes back some decades in Rome – there was a young priest who could do nothing except scoff at even the idea of exorcism. Being invited to go to an exorcism, he went, only this time to make a show of his scoffing, crossing his arms, shrugging his shoulders, scowling his disapproval, almost mocking the goings on, certainly not praying in his contempt. As the exorcism became intense, the devil turned to this unbelieving sorry excuse for a priest, and started describing the time that the priest had had the night before in a hotel room with a prostitute, naming the hotel, the works. This priest ran out of the room and kept on running, hopefully right to a confessional... (continued)
Finding this huge snake skin today, on the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, reminds me of my life and times as an exorcist here and there around the world. It comes to mind to do a series on exorcism tips for the new exorcists coming on the scene in America and right around the world.
Mind you, it’s NOT that I’m anything special at all. It’s just that I’ve had quite a lot of varied experience, both in the training of exorcists and in doing exorcisms. Experience is always useful. Always. In this series, I won’t conjecture anything. I’ll be extremely strict about the interpretation of restrictive law about exorcism, keeping you within the parameters of obedience to Holy Mother Church.
Here’s the first tip, taking a hint from the great letter of Saint Judas (or Jude) in the New Testament (see 1,9): Saint Michael the Archangel would not rebuke the devil, but counted on the Lord to do this for him.
Never, don’t ever take it upon yourself to revile Satan. Humbly ask Christ our God, the Son of the Immaculate Conception to do this for you. If you do that, Satan will jump right out of his skin and depart immediately. He’s nothing compared to the Son of the Immaculate Conception. Asking is “deprecation.” Everyone is free to do that. We do that at the end of the Lord’s prayer: “Deliver us from the Evil One.”
If you are an exorcist, expressly mandated by your local Ordinary to do an exorcism or to have the ministry in an ongoing manner, and you are called upon to pronounce an imprecatory exorcism , such as “Begone, Satan!” – imprecation being a direct command – never, don’t ever forget that you are doing this in the name of Christ our God, the Son of the Immaculate Conception. If you, for a second forget this, Satan will have his way with you. I’ve seen this countless times as an exorcist.
In any case, recite the prayer to Saint Michael after every Mass. These are not suppressed for the Extraordinary Form of 1962. That suppression came a couple of years later and would not affect the provisions of Summorum Pontificum for the 1962 Mass.
Even in regard to the Ordinary Form, I think both Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict have asked that the Prayer to Saint Michael continue to be recited after every Mass.... (continued)
"The Rite" takes exorcism more seriously than I expected it to. It begins with the supposition that Satan is “alive and active in the world” and assumes that satanic possession takes place and that the rite of exorcism works. Otherwise, we wouldn't have a movie, would we? In metaphysical terms, I must immediately jump on the word “alive.” In what sense can a being that exists outside of time and space be said to be alive? Active, yes.
The movie is based on the actual experiences of Father Gary Thomas, a California priest who was assigned by his bishop to study exorcism at the Vatican. In "The Rite," he becomes Father Michael Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue) from Chicago, and the closing credits tell us he's now working in a Western suburb. That's a fib. The director, Mikael Hafstrom, should say three “Hail Marys” and make a good act of contrition.
Father Michael is not a saint. He enters the seminary as a way to get a four-year college education before taking his vows, and then tries to leave the novitiate. Discovering the cost of his education would then roll over into a $100,000 student loan, he reconsiders and agrees to attend a monthlong course in Rome. This sort of detail is more refreshing than shots of him silhouetted against ancient desert structures while monks intone Gregorian chants.
In Rome, he attends classes, debates scripture, and then is advised to spent some time with an experienced exorcist, Father Lucas Trevant (Anthony Hopkins). This too is from the book by Matt Baglio, although in the book, this priest is Italian. As Hopkins appears onscreen, "The Rite" slips into gear and grows solemn and effective. Hopkins finds a good note for Father Trevant: friendly, chatty, offhand, self-effacing, realistic about demonic possession but not a ranter. He takes the kid along while treating the apparent possession of a pregnant young woman.
That something happens to make people seem possessed I have no doubt. Diagnosing whether Satan is involved is above my pay grade. What I must observe is that demonic possession seems very rare, and the Church rejects the majority of such reports. Yet it approaches epidemic proportions in "The Rite," almost as if it were a virus. The film is like one of those war movies where everybody gets wounded but John Wayne.
Still, I found myself drawn in. It is sincere. It is not exploitative; a certain amount of screaming, frothing and thrashing comes with the territory. My own guess is that people get the demons they deserve. While true believers go into frenzies, the Masters of Wall Street more cruelly lose joy in their wives and homes.
In Rome, Father Lucas meets a journalist named Angeline (Alice Braga), who like most women in the movies, even journalists, lacks a second name. She follows them on assignment, but it is one of the film's virtues that she does not get romantically involved. In a correct casting decision, Braga is attractive but not a sexpot. This movie was filmed largely in Hungary. In Hollywood, the role would have had Megan Fox written all over it.
Hafstrom uses what I assume are some Hungarian interiors to go with his exteriors in Rome. A centuries-old library is especially impressive. The ancient presence of the Vatican is evoked to great effect; a reminder that although Satan is in fashion in many denominations, when you want to exorcise, you call in the experienced professionals. The priests are not blind believers. Father Kovak argues at one point that a psychiatrist might be more appropriate. When they get into the trenches with the demons, there is spiritual hand-to-hand fighting, but Father Trevant, Father Kovak and Angeline are as realistic as probably possible.
This is I suspect a more realistic film than "The Exorcist," although not its equal. The real Father Gary Thomas has cited "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" (2005) as more accurate. I admire "The Rite" because while it delivers what I suppose should be called horror, it is atmospheric, its cinematography is eerie and evocative, and the actors enrich it. It has given some thought to exorcism. Grant its assumptions, and it has something to say.
Hardcopy Issue Date: March 2011
Online Publication Date: Mar 1, 2011, 14:26
Starring Anthony Hopkins, Colin O’Donoghue, Ciarán Hinds
Warner Brother Enterprise presents a film directed by Mikael Håfström
based loosely on a book by Matt Baglio, The Rite: The making of a modern exorcist, 2009
rated: PG-13 for disturbing thematic material, violence, frightening images, and language including sexual references.
The biggest difference between the film The Rite and the book on which it is loosely based is the character of the man called to Rome to be trained as an exorcist. In the film, this man is the fictional Michael Kovak, an affable seminarian who doubts his vocation and suffers from weak faith. In the book, this man is a real person, Father Gary Thomas, a well-educated 57-year-old American priest who was requested by his bishop in 2005 to train for the position of exorcist for his diocese. People who have read the book may find this difference distracting. However, it ends up being unimportant. Taken as a whole, the film is surprisingly accurate about the phenomenon of diabolical possession.
The film deals with three exorcisms. The first case is that of a young pregnant woman. The exorcist helping her is Father Lucas Trevant (Anthony Hopkins), an intense, charismatic priest originally from Wales but living alone in Italy in a suitably spooky house. Seminarian Michael Kovak is sent to train under Father Lucas. His training is hands-on. During a series of exorcisms on the young woman, Michael sees her exhibit disturbing behaviours, such as speaking a variety of languages in different voices, displaying superhuman strength, uttering obscenities, writhing, choking, spitting, and convulsing when touched by a Crucifix or sprinkled with holy water. All these phenomena are consistently documented by reputable exorcists, which means the filmmakers did their homework. Oddly, Michael remains unconvinced of any supernatural explanation and insists the woman needs a psychiatrist.
The second case is that of a young boy who has been bitten ferociously by an evil “mule” and displays knowledge of things he cannot know through natural means. Father Lucas asks pointed questions to determine whether or not the boy is suffering from child abuse. He becomes convinced it is a genuine case of extraordinary diabolic activity. As part of the exorcism, he demands to see the boy’s pillow, tears it apart, and finds inside the confirmation of his diagnosis. Again, the filmmakers did their homework. Exorcists emphasize the importance of correct diagnosis, and do indeed report the discovery of strange hidden objects as a sign of demonic activity in some cases. At this stage in the film, the seminarian Michael begins to believe.
The third case is that of Father Lucas himself. This part of the film is the most sensationalistic and the least catechetical. Accurate reflection of Church teaching breaks down because the seminarian Michael successfully performs the exorcism on Father Lucas with the aid of a female journalist. The Catholic Church does not allow seminarians to perform exorcisms. If they attempt to do so, they are unlikely to be successful. An exorcism is to be performed only by a faithful priest appointed by his bishop. Also, experienced exorcists discourage the popular idea that the devil normally attacks the exorcist as revenge for the exorcism ritual.
...This summer, without warning, Euteneuer, 48, left his HLI post, saying he had been called back to the Palm Beach Diocese by Bishop Gerald Barbarito. His book on exorcism disappeared.
The Catholic blogosphere lit up like a Christmas tree, as supporters speculated on where he was, why he left an organization he seemed destined to lead and what his professional future might be.
The person who could answer those questions is Barbarito, Euteneuer's superior. And Barbarito is not talking.
A diocesan spokeswoman said only, "This is a matter dealing with priestly personnel, and we are not going to participate in this story."
Euteneuer did not respond to an interview request.
Euteneuer's supporters are still questioning the reasons for his departure.
"What really happened to exorcist Euteneuer?" wrote Catholic blogger Matt C. Abbott in December on RenewAmerica.com, a Catholic website.
Trained in exorcism ritual
Before he dropped out of public life, Euteneuer was a frequent interviewee on Abbott's blog. Abbott contacted the Diocese of Palm Beach regarding Euteneuer, but received no response.
A small number of modern-day priests, like Euteneuer, are trained in a specific Catholic exorcism ritual, in which the priest orders demons to leave a possessed person or place.
Exorcism has been a part of Catholic Church practice since its earliest days. There are references in the New Testament to Jesus casting out devils.
In a speech he would give titled "An Evening with an Exorcist," Euteneuer attempted to demystify one of the least understood of Catholic rituals. He also recounted his bizarre experiences.
In another interview, Euteneuer said one demon offered to help him with his Latin if he would let him stay put. Asked by the interviewer if that might be an example of demonic humor, Euteneuer retorted that demons have no sense of humor.
He condemned the Harry Potter books and movies, the Twilight vampire books and movies and the television sitcom Sabrina the Teenaged Witch as vehicles for the devil to enter weaker natures. He also advocated that exorcisms be performed outside abortion clinics, which he described as "temples of a demonic religion..."
Whatever happened to Euteneuer, it happened swiftly.
In June, HLI was promoting his new book, Exorcism and the Church Militant. In July, Euteneuer was back in his home diocese, in Jensen Beach, giving his "An Evening with an Exorcist" presentation.
On Aug. 27, Human Life International issued a brief press release saying Euteneuer had "stepped down" at the request of Barbarito.
All references to the exorcism book disappeared from the HLI website.
His scheduled September talk on Catholicism in a Chicago suburb was canceled.
By September, it was nearly impossible to buy a copy of his book, Exorcism and the Church Militant, just published in June. One online bookseller was offering it for $975...
PAWTUCKET, Rhode Island, February 5, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A boycott has been launched against toymaker giant Hasbro and Toys R Us for making and marketing a pink Ouija board targeting girls as young as eight years old.
The board's Toys R Us webpage - which has evidently been recently removed - boasted: "It has always been mysterious. It has always been mystifying. And now the OUIJA Board is just for you, girl." The board comes with 72 "fun questions" to ask, including: "Who will call/text me next? Will I be a famous actor someday? Who wishes they could trade places with me?"
However, a glow-in-the-dark Ouija board is still available on the Toys R Us website, which is also marketed for ages 8 and older. The product description suggests: "Make up your own questions, and let the OUIJA Board satisfy your curiosity in virtually endless ways. OUIJA Board will answer. It's just a game - or is it?"
The vast majority of online comments, both positive and negative, on the glow-in-the-dark version strongly emphasized that the Ouija board is potentially dangerous and "not a game." Several comments discussed in depth how to treat the "spirits" of the game politely, in order to avoid attack. Only about half a dozen comments out of 123 claimed the game was "just a toy."
"This may be a game to you, but I assure you whomever you are playing with on the 'other side' it is not a game to them," wrote one contributor.
Another user wrote: "Although I love this game, it is very definitley (sic) NOT suited for 8 year olds, considering it works most of the time, and they could be talking to evil spirits."
Yet another user told the following story, which resembled the stories of several others who also posted their comments about the board: "they asked the board my middle name which noone in the room knew. its spelled it out perfectly. i was so freaked out. we all got really into the game but then the lights started flickering, by its self. of course us girls just screamed ang hugged each other and the door opened. omg it was so freaky we stopped playing that night."
John Cain of Ottawa, Canada, launched a boycott of Hasbro and Toys R Us after learning of the Ouija board targeted at young girls, reports Susan Brinkmann of Living His Life Abundantly International.
“Kids wouldn’t even think about Ouija boards unless it was marketed directly toward them,” said Cain.
Brinkmann points to the testimony of New York City policeman Ralph Sarchie, who has routinely assisted at exorcisms, and who says “innocent” board games like the Ouija board are immensely dangerous.
“There ought to be a law against these evil, occult `toys,’” wrote Sarchie in his book "Beware the Night." “I can hear some of you out there saying, ‘Hey, I used a Ouija board and nothing happened.’ Consider yourself lucky, then. It’s like playing Russian roulette. When you put the gun to your head, if you don’t hear a loud noise, you made it. Same thing with the board: The more times you pull the trigger, the more likely that on the next shot, your entire world will go black.”
Stephen Phelan of Human Life International threw his support behind the boycott. Fr. Tom Euteneuer, HLI's president, is an experienced exorcist who has also strongly condemned Ouija boards.
“No responsible parent would want his or her child messing with this, and they need to be thrown out of houses and destroyed if you already have one,” said Phelan. "And tell a priest that someone in your family has been using a ouija board as soon as possible. ... No Christian family should support either of these companies with their money."
Toys R Us spokesman Bob Friedland told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) Friday that the pink ouija board, which the store has sold since 2008, was no longer shown as available "because we're making way for newer products."
Asked whether Toys R Us had received complaints over the ouija board, Friedland responded, "nothing significant that I've been told about," and denied that outside criticism affected the decision to pull the game.
Toys R Us still carries a glow-in-the dark Ouija board marketed to children 8-14 years old.
To sign up for the Hasbro/Toys R Us boycott click here.
However, a glow-in-the-dark Ouija board is still available on the Toys R Us website, which is also marketed for ages 8 and older. The product description suggests: "Make up your own questions, and let the OUIJA Board satisfy your curiosity in virtually endless ways. OUIJA Board will answer. It's just a game - or is it?"