The Exorcist

"A woman in her early forties... had shaken so violently, that Fr. Vince had seen her levitate five inches off the chair..." The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist by Matt Baglio

We've all seen the movies, the terror and the screaming. Possessed by Demons, souls in degrees of domination are suffocated by the Evil One, some call the angel, Satan. So much superstition. Nonsense-- there may be evil in the world but truly, this Hollywood stuff is too, too much, you say. Perhaps in the world, there is the seen and the unseen. In his book, The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist by Matt Baglio, we learn about the "shadow" world, one inhabited by the dark, the evil and the wicked energies of the world. "Thinking of the day when a person's spiritual well being would rest in their hands... adamant about not engaging the Demon... when the Demon talks, you should not listen to him... you should not ask him questions... never place yourself beyond the power of God, in the darkness."

At the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign campus will appear on October 26, 2009 at 7 pm in Foellinger Auditorium, the Reverend Father Vincent Lampert of the Diocese of Indianapolis, Indiana. Fr. Vincent is one of only 12 officially trained and approved Exorcists practicing in the United States today. He will speak about the Ritual of Exorcism and relate some of his experiences.

"Even Exorcists admit there a lot of mystery to it," writes Baglio. "The crucial role of cooperation between the Exorcist and his [local] Bishop, ensuring that only officially appointed Exorcists perform the Ritual." The Teaching of the Roman Catholic Christian Church regarding exorcism states its authority and tradition to be the biblical passages in which Jesus the Christ cast out Demons, the book of Saint Mark 5:9, and healed those so afflicted. Today before engaging in the ritual of exorcism, the Exorcist must make a determination if the person is suffering from spiritual illness and possession, or is suffering from another type of mental illness such as depression or psychosis.

Those suffering from these types of illnesses are referred to psychologists or psychiatrists. Often however, the Exorcist uses a team approach to healing the afflicted and several practitioners of other disciplines are involved with the person seeking exorcism. The Demon's main 'trick' is to make us think we are unworthy of God's redeeming love; yet it is God the father who has made us in love to be like him, and his own. All are worthy of redemption, so the exorcisms go on.