Wednesday, November 11, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
17
Exorcism: Increasingly frequent, including after U.S. protests
By David Crary
AP National Writer
In popular culture, exor-
cism often serves as a plot
device in chilling films about
demonic possession. This
month, two Roman Catholic
archbishops showed a dif-
ferent face of exorcism 4
performing the rite at well-
attended outdoor ceremonies
to drive out any evil spirits
lingering after acrimonious
protests.
The events9 distinctive
character gave a hint of how
exorcism 4 with roots in
ancient times 4 has evolved
in some ways as it becomes
more commonplace in many
parts of the world.
In Portland, Oregon,
Archbishop Alexander
Sample led a procession
of more than 200 people
to a city park on October
17, offered a prayer, then
conducted a Latin exor-
cism rite intended to purge
the community of evil. The
event followed more than
four months of racial justice
protests in Portland, mostly
peaceful but sometimes fuel-
ing violence and riots.
On the same day, 600
miles to the south, San
Francisco Archbishop
Salvatore Cordileone per-
formed an exorcism cer-
emony outside a Catholic
church in San Rafael, where
protesters had earlier toppled
a statue of Father Junipero
Serra.
<We pray that God might
purify this place of evil spir-
its, that he might purify the
hearts of those who per-
petrated this blasphemy,=
Cordileone said.
Serra was an 18th-cen-
tury Spanish missionary
priest, long praised by the
church for bringing Roman
Catholicism to what is
now the western United
States. His critics say that
Serra, in converting Native
Americans to Catholicism,
forced them to abandon
their culture or face brutal
punishment.
Cordileone said the
exorcism prayers in Latin,
remarking that <Latin tends
to be more effective against
the devil because he doesn9t
like the language of the
church.= The prayers were
different from those offered
when a person is believed
to be the subject of demonic
possession.
Two experts on exor-
cism 4 religious studies
professor Andrew Chesnut
of Virginia Commonwealth
University and the Rev. Pius
Pietrzyk of St. Patrick9s
Seminary and University
in California 4 recalled no
other recent exorcisms in
the U.S. similar to those in
Oregon and California.
Chesnut noted that in
Mexico, some high-ranking
Catholic clergy performed
an exorcism in 2015 seeking
to expel demons nationwide.
Participants said they were
responding to high levels
of violence, the practice of
abortion, and the crimes of
the drug cartels.
More broadly, Chesnut
said exorcism, in its tra-
ditional form as a demon-
chaser, is increasingly wide-
spread around the world,
though there are no official
statistics.
< T h e E x o rc ist, = th e
memorable horror film of
1973, depicts exorcism as a
relatively rare and secretive
endeavor. But it9s now so
common that some exorcists
combat demons remotely
using their cell phone,
according to Chesnut.
He says the driving force
behind the surge since the
1980s has been the spread
of Pentecostal churches
that highlight the conflict
between demons and the
Holy Spirit, especially in
Latin America, Africa and
parts of Asia, including the
Philippines.
Brazil is a particular hot
spot for exorcisms, some-
times featured on televised
broadcasts of church ser-
vices. Pastors wave their
hands over a person deemed
to be possessed, shout orders
for the devil to depart, then
hold their hand to the per-
son9s forehead and push
them backwards, occa-
sionally resulting in their
collapse.
The Catholic church
is not ceding the practice
of exorcism to these other
faiths. Pope Francis has
acknowledged the legiti-
macy of the practice, and a
Vatican-approved univer-
sity in Rome has been con-
ducting exorcism-training
sessions during Francis9s
papacy for priests from
around the world.
In September, Francis
named three new auxiliary
archbishops for the arch-
diocese of Chicago; one of
them was Jeffrey Grob, one
of the top exorcism experts
in the archdiocese.
In the United States, one
of the premier Catholic enti-
ties focused on exorcism is
the Pope Leo III Institute
in the Chicago suburb of
Libertyville. Though oper-
ating with approval of the
U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, it is independent
and privately funded, with a
focus on training and educat-
ing priests about exorcism.
In a statement on its web
site, the institute acknowl-
edges there is some skepti-
cism about exorcism and
demonic possession.
<Many Catholics are
even among those who
don9t believe in the devil or
his influence upon them,=
it says. <It is important to
recall that Pope Francis has
never been shy about speak-
ing about the devil, and has
warned many times against
naivete in the fight against
Satan, even in the 21st
century.=
One perennial challenge
for modern-day exorcists
is to determine if a person
potentially possessed by
the devil is in fact suffering
problems better addressed by
mental health professionals.
In light of this, the insti-
tute says its curriculum <is
devoted to the importance
of knowing how to dis-
cern whether someone is
truly possessed, or whether
they have some sort of psy-
chiatric or psychological
illness.=
The institute says it
agrees with those who say
exorcisms have increased in
recent years, but adds that
<there is no serious statisti-
cal study of the practice.=
The U.S. bishops confer-
ence has placed a detailed
Q-and-A about exorcism on
its web site, <in hopes that
clear information is brought
to bear on a topic that is
often shrouded in mystery or
misinformation.=
Associated Press writer
Mauricio Savarese in Sao
Paulo, Brazil, contributed to
this report.
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