Confronting the Devil

Perhaps it is that time of year but there is much buzz about exorcisms both within Church circles and outside. Radio Switzerland is reporting a spike in reports of possession and exorcisms. There is a recent report from Quebec about successful exorcisms. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has scheduled a two-day workshop for later this month on exorcisms and doctrine as well as procedures and resources. 60 Bishops and 66 priests are reported to be registered for the workshop. Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield Illinois organized the event and told the Catholic News Service that the 5 or 6 current exorcists in the United States are overwhelmed by requests and the Church needs more qualified exorcists. Not everyone in the U.S. is pleased by this news, most especially Father Richard McBrien of Notre Dame who finds discussions about exorcisms embarrassing and a distraction.  

The problem isn’t confined to the U.S. A report last year suggests that Italy is facing its own crisis. Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s chief exorcist suggested in an interview with The Times of London earlier this year that one sign of the devil’s presence and his work was the ‘sex abuse scandal’. Father Amorth’s memoirs were published in English this year, Memoirs of an Exorcist, and he isn’t shy about sharing the results of his 25 years in the job and the 70,000 cases of demonic possession he has had to deal with. Richard Owen of the Times in a follow up to his piece has an intriguing interview with the prelate.

While Exorcisms are a real issue for the Church, they are also fodder for a lot of pop culture and that’s going to escalate come January of 2011. That’s when The Rite will be released into theatres across North America. It stars Anthony Hopkins and delves into the work of the real life exorcist, Father Gary Thomas of San Jose California. The story of how Father Thomas came to be an exorcist was the subject of the best selling book: “The Rite: The making of a modern exorcist” by Matt Baglio. Thomas, a priest for 27 years, has been an exorcist for 4. Thomas told The American Catholic that he is hoping for big things from the Bishop’s workshop on the 12^th and 13^th of November but acknowledges that the movie maybe less faithful to the story of his work as an exorcist but he had little control over that.