In the article Wages of Exorcists to Rise WIlliam Butterfield explains that despite the influx in the number of exorcists, there are still not enough to meet demand. In the past few decades the Catholic practice of exorcism has reemerged. Exorcism is the use of prayer to rid a person or place of the devil or demonic spirits. Butterfield says that the push by the Catholic Church to prepare more exorcists seems to be a competetive reply.
Butterfield says The Catholic Church has limited the supply of individual prayer to its priests. Since people demand prayer, they have started attending other churches which will supply the opportunity to pray. Evangelicals have been outpacing the Catholic Church in congregational recruitment.
Basically the Catholic Church is being beaten by the competition. In an effort to offer the consumer/ parishioners what they demand, the Church is increasing the supply of individual prayers, in the form of exorcisms. Who would have though that a ceremony used to cast out the devil had anything to do with Man Ec?
2 comments:
Is this something that is advertised in any way or is it just assumed that the local Father will cast out your demons for small fee?
-1 on June's post for a poorly formatted link.
I wasn't able to find the post, but I have heard about this. My understanding is that it is being driven by immigration from Latin America and Africa, where Catholics are still much more likely to believe in demonic possession.
I'm also sure "The Exorcist" and Mulder and Scully had something to do with this.
A further thought is that the Catholic Church had been trying for centuries to deprecate exorcism as a practice. It's resurgence kind of makes you wonder if it works sometimes ...
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