Because Satan can only be so many places at once, you see.
“The devil tempts everyone — people in politics, in economics, in sport. And naturally, he tempts, above all, the religious leaders, so you shouldn’t be surprised if the devil tempts those in the Vatican. That’s his job.”
Father Gabriele Amorth isn’t speaking metaphorically when he says that. The 85-year-old priest means people can be tempted and literally possessed by Satan.
(…)
And as the chief exorcist of the Roman Catholic Church, it’s his job to expel the devil when someone is possessed. Amorth, the founder of the International Association of Exorcists, has performed more than 70,000 exorcisms in his career, he estimates.
But there is a difference between possession — where the devil takes hold of someone’s body and actions — and temptation, where Satan lures a person into doing evil, he said.
As a child abuse scandal sweeps across Europe, with accusations being made against priests in Ireland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, Amorth said the pedophiles are tempted, not possessed.
He has never done an exorcism on a child molester, he said.
“I have carried out exorcisms on some priests who had been molested by the devil,” he said, without going into details.
“But cases of pedophilia exorcised, no. … Pedophiles are not possessed by the devil, they are tempted by the devil,” he said.
Setting aside the utterly insane idea that people’s bodies are possessed or inhabited by invisible evil spirits for just a moment…
So, this exorcist (oh, to be paid throughout life for doing nothing) has done his monkey business on priests who have been “molested by the devil”?
I wasn’t aware the devil was into guys.
Any-hoo, I think it’s great that the Roman Catholic Church continues to talk about these things, because they just keep saying crazier and crazier things! And none of it is moving an inch toward exculpating the thugs! As far as I can see, it’s having the opposite effect, and each day and each new grotesque revelation are doing their part to continue chipping away at the moral authority of the Catholic Church, and the faster that happens, the better off the world will be.
Pam Spaulding breaks the situation down with her usual excellence and candor:
A black teen-ager who was verbally assaulted and “exorcised” by his pentecostal church earlier this year tells a skeptical Tyra that he is cured of his sexual orientation.
Basically my feelings are this: Unless the black community comes to grips with the fact that lgbts of color exist and talk with us instead of looking at us as outsiders, expect more nonsense like this.
While Exodus International maintains a don’t-support-don’t-oppose policy, some ex-gay activists have spoken out against the ex-gay exorcist church in Bridgeport, Conn.
Rev. D.L. Foster, who heads Gay Christian Movement Watch, an Atlanta-based “ministry” that opposes the acceptance of homosexuality in the church, posted [the video] on his Web site.
“I thought what I saw in the video was bizarre and I don’t think [the practice depicted] is biblical,” Foster says. “There is a sense of spiritual coercion. You have a young man on the floor being stepped on, being videotaped.” He says he has seen incidents like this (he doesn’t condone them), but “this is extreme.”
Truth Wins Out has been monitoring the unfortunate news of a Connecticut church that performs ex-gay exorcism; Exodus International has refused to explicitly oppose the practice.
A minister and trusted source of Rod 2.0 reports the 16-year-old boy no longer attends the church and has found an LGBT “inclusive and affirming” church.
McKinney suggested to CNN that her church may exorcise people for many reasons: “It’s not just the homosexuality spirit. It could be the alcohol spirit, the crack cocaine spirit, the adultery spirit. Everything carries a spirit.”
McKinney’s church remains under investigation by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families.
Truth Wins Out reported earlier this week on Manifested Glory Ministries, a “church” in Connecticut that performs ex-gay exorcisms.
We immediately called upon Exodus’ member church in Connecticut, New Life Church in Meriden, to comment on the exorcism. The church did not respond. Today, however, MSNBC quotes Exodus International in Orlando stating that it does not support exorcism — but does not oppose exorcism, either.
And a fringe group called the “Christian Anti-Defamation Commission” has declared the abuse of gay youths and young adults by so-called churches to be an exercise in “religious liberty” and, strangely, a response to white racism. (Perhaps the demons of homosexuality are white?) Hat tip: Ex-Gay Watch.
A Bridgeport, Conn., church called Manifested Glory Ministries posted a controversial video on YouTube that raises concern about the unregulated abuse of children by church-sponsored ex-gay programs.
The video features church elders performing an exorcism of so-called “homosexual demons.”
The video shows leaders of the Manifested Glory Ministries in a frenetic scene, screaming, “Right now I command you to leave!”
At the same time a teen writhing on the ground as the adults around him implore so called “homosexual demons” to get out.
The leaders yell at the boy on the ground saying, “Right now in the name of Jesus, I call the homosexuality, right now in the name of Jesus.”
For 20 minutes it continues with the boy in a near seizure, even vomiting.
Robin McHaelen runs a mentoring program for gay teens, True Colors, and tells Fox 61 that she knows of five other teens in Connecticut who’ve been subjected to “demon casting”:
What really freaked me out is the people who did that to that child wasn’t because they were trying to hurt him. They thought they were trying to help him, but I think that they murdered his soul.
The church has since taken down its YouTube account, but not before its videos were replicated by other YouTube users.
Exodus International has one member church in Connecticut, New Life in Meriden. Truth Wins Out contacted the church for comment but has not received a response.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, former clients of Mercy Ministries — an antigay residential program serving Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom — say they were denied professional psychotherapeutic or counseling services and granted only occasional, program-monitored visits to a general practitioner.
Instead of professional care, residents were dictated Bible verses, prayed at, and “exorcised” — and then denied support for appropriate follow-up care. Some residents say they required years of professional care to recover from abuse suffered in the program.
Mercy is a residential program for 16- to 28-year-old women that claims to offer “Christian counseling” to women who struggle with abuse, depression, eating disorders, unplanned pregnancy, and sexuality. Residents are monitored during their trips outdoors and denied access to family and friends for four to six weeks at a time. Some participants reside on-site for months.
Ex-transgender and former Exodus North America executive director Sy Rogers was reportedly featured often in the program’s in-house videos. Former clients who experienced no same-sex attraction say they were disturbed by the program’s preoccupation with stamping out “lesbianism.” Program rules forbid hugging and any other physical contact among clients.
Despite harsh rules and inordinate repetition of ex-gay rhetoric, “Mercy Ministries denies it runs an ‘ex-gay’ program,” according to the Herald.
Government agencies such as Centrelink have also been drawn into the controversy, as residents are required to transfer their benefits to Mercy Ministries. There are also allegations that the group receives a carers payment to look after the young women.
Corporate sponsors have since yanked funding — except for Gloria Jean’s Coffee, which continues to subsidize what appears to be an abusive cult-like environment:
Deeply felt ties bind Mercy Ministries, Gloria Jean’s and the Hillsong Church, connected through a complicated chain of directors and former directors – as well as donations.
Bene Diction Blogs On explains Mercy Ministries’ close ties to Hillsong, Australia’s largest pentecostal church, and finds the ministry planning to expand in Canada and the United States.
