Take a look at this, from CWN and then… well… just take a look.
Prominent US priest bemused by exorcism conference
Father Richard Vega, a priest of the Archdiocese of band president of the National Federation of Priests Councils, has told The New York Times [Why am I not surprised to see that publication involved?] that when he heard that the US bishops were offering a conference on exorcism, “My immediate reaction was to say, why?”
The Times reported:
The conference on exorcism comes at a time, he said, when the church is bringing back traditional practices. The Vatican has authorized the revival of the Latin Mass, and now a revised English translation of the liturgy, said to be closer to a direct translation from the Latin, is to be put in use in American parishes next year.
“People are talking about, are we taking two steps back?” Father Vega said. [?] “My first reaction when I heard about the exorcism conference was, this is another of those trappings we’ve pulled out of the past.”
But he said that there could eventually be a rising demand for exorcism because of the influx of Hispanic and African Catholics to the United States. People from those cultures, he said, are more attuned to the experience of the supernatural.
I don’t trust Hell’s Bible to report things clearly. That said, is there is – what – touch of condescension in this? Sure, it is filtered and passed along. But, I get a sense that this mean:
“Let those primitives dabble in that sort of thing. If that does it for them, we’ll have to be accommodating.”
After all, we are so very grown up now. We know that most of this is based on superstition, or exaggerated devotions and psychological imbalances they produce. We are people of nuance.
I think we are more in need now of good and holy exorcists than ever because the Enemy is bold, cunning and has succeeded with the help of men who ought to know better in belittling his malicious work to the point where the “devil” is a punchline.
But consider: the enemy has ability of fallen angels. They have knowledge and patience. They never sleep. They are never distracted. They never forget. They never flag in their malice.
Priests would do well to think about the four last things before going to bed. A priest will be judged by the Just Judge as a priest, not as Joe Sixpack.
Then think about what must go through the mind of a soul during those first ten seconds in hell.
They had better think about hell good and hard, because they are going to go to hell if they by negligence prompt people to stop believing in the attacks of the enemy and the possibility of a judgment that could go very badly indeed. And he would be, in hell, also a priest forever, with particular torments, special pains.
How’s that for something pulled out of the past, padre?
