Exorcism growing among Catholics? San Francisco Weekly offers flawed investigation.

by Julia Duin 17 March 2016 Getreligion.org

(Editors Note: the article referenced in this piece can be read at St Michaels Journal or at SF Weekly)

There are some publications that treat religion-news coverage like a trip to some mysterious planet where the inhabitants are incomprehensible. Such was the San Francisco Weekly’s recent take on a local exorcist. It was so crammed with mistakes, one wonders if anyone bothered editing or fact checking the piece.

The Weekly has had some decent religion stories in the past, but this was

How can you tell if someone is demon-possessed?

Rome, Italy, Mar 17, 2016 / 06:01 am (Catholic World Report CNA/EWTN News).- Recognizing the difference between a person who’s possessed and a person struggling with a mental illness or other infirmity is a vital part of the ministry of exorcism, according to a long-time exorcist and priest.

Father Cipriano de Meo, who has been an

3 Exorcists Share Insights on Sin, the Occult, and the Might of Jesus Christ

National Catholic Register
by Patti Armstrong 03/04/2016

 

Like a houseguest who can’t take a hint, the devil fails to leave after the welcome mat is pulled in. He is simply not someone that should ever receive an invitation.
In my recent article on the demolished house believed to be a site of demonic activity, Zak Bagans, host and executive producer of the TV show Ghost Adventures, admitted during an email interview, that

Looking for Satan in All the Wrong Places

Some think the Devil can be found in the Hebrew Bible. Are they right?

by PHILOLOGOS
MARCH 9 2016
http://mosaicmagazine.com

Mosaic reader Lynn Goucher writes:

I am a Jew by choice, who converted formally a little over a year ago. I was raised in a secular Christian home and have always been perplexed and somewhat disgusted by the Christian obsession with the devil. Although Christians insist that the devil appears in the Torah, my understanding is that the biblical Hebrew word satan, from which comes the name Satan, has been mistranslated as “devil” when it really means “obstacle.” Am I right or wrong?

The answer is: both. It depends partly on which books and periods of the biblical corpus one is looking at;

Return of the Devil: Exorcism’s Comeback in the Catholic Church

By Chris Roberts
SFWEEKLY.COM
Wednesday, Mar 9 2016

 

The people stir a few minutes past 7 p.m. when a tiny man wearing white robes — a long rectangle of cloth with Vegas-worthy golden sparkles hanging around his neck — appears from a door to the left of the altar. A few weeks shy of his 89th birthday, Father Guglielmo Lauriola walks slowly across the raised altar area to a waiting chair. Here he sits, facing away from his congregation in the style of the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass, to read from laminated card prayers and songs devoted to the Virgin Mary. Aside from Jesus on the cross, she is the principal figure of veneration here at the 104-year-old church.

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Nobody moves. This is when the show really starts.

Exorcist informs community on common misconceptions about exorcisms

Purdue Exponent

BY BRITTANY JUDGE Staff Reporter

Purdue students reacted surprisingly to a discussion about exorcisms Monday night at the Catholic Center, intrigued by the complexities behind the decision to perform one.

While exorcisms are portrayed as entertaining and heart-pumping in the movies, The Rev. Vincent Lampert, the exorcist of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis, revealed the truth behind them.

“(Exorcisms are) not performed in an

Exorcist Weighs in on ‘Vampire’ Murder in Mexico

By Christian Telegraph, Christian Telegraph On March 10, 2016

The murder of a 24-year-old man in Chihuahua, Mexico last month is being considered by authorities as a “possible satanic ritual” designed to transform the victim into a vampire, Christian Telegraph reports according to Catholic News Agency.
A report from the Chihuahua State attorney general says that the four people accused of the murder – three men and a woman, ages 18-25 – “profess Satanism” and

The Devil came down to Georgia

The Devil came down to Georgia…and traveled the United States this year: Exorcism’s reappearance in the Catholic Church

By Kenya Sinclair (CALIFORNIA NETWORK) 3/10/2016
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – “It is a big phenomenon,” J. Gordon Melton, a Methodist minister said of exorcisms in the United States. “There is a lot of exorcism going on.”

Sociologist Michael Cuneo, author of newly published “American Exorcism,” believes “Exorcism is more readily available today in the United States than perhaps ever before.”
In his book, Cuneo wrote, “By conservative estimates, there are at least five or six hundred evangelical exorcism ministries in operation today, and quite possibly two or three times this many.”

The Roman Catholic Church keeps at least

Institute to hold 11th exorcism course

Organiser says secular society opens way to demonic influence

(ANSA) – Rome, March 9 – The Regina Apostolorum pontifical institution of the Legionaries of Christ in April will offer the 11th edition of its week-long course on exorcism, open to both clergy and laypeople who want to learn about the practice of exorcism as well as its practical applications in both pastoral life and other fields such as psychology and law.
The course is organised by the Istituto Sacerdos in collaboration with