I tried to talk to priests about evil, satan and demons and the like. I got the silent treatment EVERY time. No one ever wanted to talk about that. I mean, I'd be having email conversations, then if I asked about that, the door slammed shut.

I really needed answers, and really was concerned. I even talked to some face to face, and was basicaly patted on the head and sent away.

This really made me re-think the whole catholic thing. I'd tried returning to the church after many years, but if the person who ministers cannot face a dificult question, then how can that person help me at all? I may never reach sainthood, but at least I'll not back down from the hard questions if asked.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Amen.

-- Saint no one (seesthru@peoplepc.com), July 30, 2003

Answers

Why would questions about evil and Satan qualify as "hard questions"? What do you want to know?

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), July 30, 2003.

im with big Paul on this one, what exactly qualifies as a hard question? there are more than enough qualified people here to answer your questions.

further, im sure there are perfectly sound reasons why things may have happened the way they did, and remember that the church is more than the people that make it up. perhaps it was a mistake to not answer your questions, but dont let the faults of a man crumble your relationship with God.

-- paul (dontsendmemail@notanaddress.com), July 30, 2003.

NO, the priests definitely were talkkative and helpful, until I asked them what was demonic oppression? Then I got silence. Then, My emails went unanswered. So I wnet down to talk to a priest face to face, and was met with a patronizing attitude, and told that it was silliness to worry over such tings, mental illness was the probable problem etc...

Anyway, I don't let MAN interfere with my faith in God. I have lost faith in the catholic church though. God is as always, perfect, and the object of my love. The church, is just a place I stop in to attend mass. I also attend protestant services. I decided I was not catholic, and I am not protestant. I am a follower of Christ, and look to Him to lead me. I never expected perfect priests, but I don't expect them to balk at the hard questions either. Apparently their faith is weak. I hope they find true faith, the kind that doesn't turn away from anything.

-- Saint No One (seesthru@peoplepc.com), August 03, 2003.

You talked to A PRIEST who apparently was unprepared to answer your specific question, and based on that experience you concluded that CATHOLIC PRIESTS balk at the "hard questions"?? There are 50,000 Catholic priests in the United States alone. Are you quite sure that the priest you talked to was representative of all of them? In fact he was not. Almost any priest would be willing and able to offer you guidance on a matter as commonplace as demonic oppression. It sounds to me like the priest you approached was embarrassed that he wasn't able to do so.

The Church is not just a place to attend Mass. Even the church building is far more than that. But the Church itself is the source of your Christian identity. You cannot be a true follower of Christ while refusing to believe and accept His teachings; and He clearly taught that the Church is the channel of God's grace to all men, and is the pillar and foundation of truth, without which the fullness of truth cannot be known. If you look for God to lead you, while rejecting the Church through which He leads, you will find plenty of willing leaders, but they won't be leading you where Christ wants you to go.

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), August 03, 2003.

Saint, if you would like a blessed St. Benedict medal, I can send you one, although you may have to wait a bit for me to get the proper blessing for it. Others here have recently offered to send a blessed St. Benedict medal to anyone who wants one... perhaps take them up on the offer. This would be incredibly helpful.

Don't underestimate the efficacy of holy water either.

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), August 03, 2003.

Someone is offering one of these medals here just for the asking. Take the offer. It has an excorcism blessing if blessed properly, and you can bet that jake had it done properly.

It's the most indulgenced medal in the Catholic Church and is meant for these very purposes; use it as a weapon against whatever is bothering you.

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), August 03, 2003.

I talked to a total of 5 priests. 2 face to face from different parishes, and 3 others via email. At the mention of demonic oppression, the emailing ones stopped emailing immediately, and the face to face ones started getting patronizing. That's 5. Others I can'e out and emailed online and asked point blank about it, never answered in the first place.

So, since I can't get anyone representative of the whole church, only men who fear either ridicule or demons, I will use the buildings for mass attendance, and I will no longer worry about catholic or protestant. Jesus was our Savior, and he wasn't catholic and he wasn't protestant. His apostles were neither. They were followers of Christ. I'll let Jesus answer the hard stuff and stop placing my faith in men .

Thanks for the offers of the medals guys and it touches me that you would offer. I don' think they are required. The Saints, if they can help, would do so willingly with no need for a medal. I will try the holy water though. :) And Christ himself, will remove any oppressive beings. I may be confused as to why priests don't answer the hard things, but I do know my faith in my Savior is all the stronger for the turn of events. :)

-- Saint No One (seesthru@peoplepc.com), August 03, 2003.

And the Blessed Mother, too; don't sell her short. Take advantage of what she has to offer which is no less than all graces. She was the one that crushed the head of Satan and is the most feared by evil entities.

All these things are at your disposal, so use them whenever and wherever you can... if you truly believe that the demonic is the source of harassment.

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), August 03, 2003.

Jesus Christ founded one Church for all men. History clearly identifies that Church as the Holy Catholic Church. All members of the Church Christ founded are and always have been Catholic, including the Apostles. Jesus has already answered "the hard stuff", by revealing the fullness of truth to His Church. You won't find it anywhere else, for it doesn't exist anywhere else. If you expect to hear the truth from Jesus, but ignore the Church to which Jesus said "He who hears you hears Me", you will not hear it. Guaranteed.

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), August 03, 2003.

Saddly alot of diocesan and religious order priests had a less than impressive philosophical and theological preparation prior to ordination. I know. I was a seminarian and met alot of other seminarians... some don't give good homilies because they've never read or heard good homilies! Some can't talk about high trinitarian theology because they haven't studied it and don't want to fall into heresy by guessing... ditto with the angelology questions about demons, oppressions etc.

Then too many had weak formations in the faith so may not believe in the devil or spirits (as weird as that sounds) as "real realities".

But rest assured that many good diocesan and religious clergy exist and can answer your questions. YOu may find answers from educated Lay catholics here or elsewhere too.

-- Joe (joestong@yahoo.com), August 03, 2003.

The source of my Christian identity is Christ. There is only ONE church, and Christ is the head of that church. I follow Him, not threats by humans. I look to my fellow humans for fellowship, and if that fellowship is only given on the condition that I not look for answers to the ugly questions, then I see fellowship elsewhere, in other buildings where people gather to Worship God and follow Christ. If anyone thinks tht's a ticket to hell for me, then so be it.

-- Saint No One (seesthru@peoplepc.com), August 03, 2003.

"Saddly alot of diocesan and religious order priests had a less than impressive philosophical and theological preparation prior to ordination... then too many had weak formations in the faith so may not believe in the devil or spirits (as weird as that sounds) as "real realities"."

I agree, but often I think it goes deeper than that, in that some simply don't believe these things for themselves despite any training they might have received. I say that because in so many ways I experienced a similiar wave of the hand over a broad range of issues from just about the majority of them. I think they have lost the Faith. But we've always had this problem to some degree or another and the Faith will never die.

That being said, turning back to Saint here, please consider Saint before leaping to conclusions that answers can be found anywhere else than Christ's Church. My brother who is a priest told me a story once about an excorcism he was involved in (I believe as a witness as opposed to a participant) where the permission of the local bishop had not yet been granted for the rite. The demons knew it and pointed out this fact, and until they had received that permission, the priest was unable to proceed with any effectiveness. The enemy knows where real power and authority orginate.

Without wishing to come off as trying to pressure you, please consider doing a little investigation this matter. Not one of a dangerous curiousity, but a serious one... I think you will find that in matters of the demonic that the Catholic Church alone has the "goods" necessary to combat these types of things, and that it can be found no where else as the power to deal with them is handed down by apostolic succession, regardless of the faithlessness or faithfulness of the individual who has the mark of the Holy Orders.

In other words, the priesthood, the other Sacraments, the sacramentals; all these things the demons fear, and nothing else. The documented excorcisms which you can find and read about will show this to be true.

The object of the demons' hatred is the Catholic Church and the Church alone; this should indicated something to you. Don't walk away too quickly! =)

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), August 04, 2003.

Dear Saint no one:

How do you know that the answers you get in those "other buildings" are the right answers? At least these priests backed off because they didn't know. I think there are very few real experts on evil, satan and demons outside "Buffy the vampire slayer".

-- Stephen (StephenLynn999@msn.com), August 04, 2003.

It sounds to me as though you are a young man. I myself am not an old man. I believe that satan is alive and well at this time. I believe either he or his minions are bothering you. The reason being is you are searching out Christ personally. I myself believe I was at one time demon plagued, as I call it. I am born again, meaning Im born again in Christ. I am also catholic, but I do not agree with all they do. I am more apt to agree with the evangelicals. If the Bible says it I agree with it. Excorism is in the Bible, so I must believe. I also believe that we must take more of the Bible literally, word for word. We are now in the end times, satan knows this. He must act quickly to decieve as many as he can, his time is now very short. I believe that we will see fewer and fewer excorcisms, for a time. If people do not see or here of him ,he must not really be there. He is the great deciever. I believe that many in the Catholic faith are emberrased by excorcism. He is doing a pretty good job of decieving, would'nt you say. If you are not born again in Christ yet, once you are he will not bother you as much. He will know he has lost you to Christ. GOD BLESS!

-- mike trevis (trevis@dtsnet.net), January 27, 2004.

You may be a baptised Catholic, Mike T. But not a practicing Catholic.

You are born again ONCE in holy baptism, not after some subsequent understanding of the scriptures. Furthermore, whatever you may privately think, there is no cause or Catholic tenet that qualifies you to preach the end times. You simply do not know; and predicting events to come shortly isn't allowed a faithful Catholic.

The matters you bring up of Satan, exorcism and the Church are probably correct to a certain point. However, our Church has always taught us there is a devil. Millions of them, even. We were never in ignorance of this reality. You're preaching something opposed to the apostles' doctrines when you say ''If you are not born again in Christ yet, once you are he will not bother you as much. He will know he has lost you to Christ.''

All souls are given the truth and grace to resist evil in Christ's Holy Church. But there are no formulae like yours in reality; as if once some soul is ''born again'' the devil cannot overcome him/her. That is totally false. Every moment of our lives is a contest here, between the faithful Christian and his/her enemy the devil.

Whether or not he is acknowledged seriously by all of us, he has power to tempt us to sin. Unrepentent sin damns everyone; and a self-styled ''born again'' evangelical is no exception. Indeed Satan greatly prefers you follow these heretical notions about faith. Despite your knowledge of his existence and his aims, you are never safe from him without prayer, self-denial, and God's grace.

Grace comes from God to your soul by way of His Church. Not by a bogus ''born again'' faith that abandons His holy sacraments for protestant doctrines. You must remain a faithful Catholic or you are endangering your immortal soul; end times or not.

-- eugene c. chavez (loschavez@pacbell.net), January 27, 2004.

Dear bboard I have never been accused of being heretical before,GOD correct me if I am. I would like you to read a few places in the NIV study bible: pg.1598-JOHN 3.1-3.21 and REVELATION 22.12-22.21. You accuse me of making statements I know nothing about. The Lords words say I do. This is what I meant, when I said I did not agree entirely. Remember judge not lest you be judged yourself. God Bless!

-- Mike trevis (trevis@dtsnet.net), January 28, 2004.

Mike,

You have no way of knowing what "the Lord's words" say, since you have no means of accurately or authoritatively interpreting the Lord's words. You can quote them, but you can't understand them, and the fact that you think your bizarre end times theories come from the Bible is just one sad commentary on your lack of ability to interpret. If these ideas were actually in the Word of God, do you really think no-one would have noticed until the end of the 18th century, when your end-time theories with all their wierd variations and contradictions were first invented?

If you knew the history of the Bible, you would realize that it is a Catholic book, compiled by Catholics, for Catholics, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and used by no-one but Catholics for many centuries. We don't mind you borrowing our book, but please don't try to tell us what it means. You have no basis for doing so, espcially given that the thousands of conflicting sects of your tradition can't even agree on its meaning among themselves. If Protestants could truly interpret scripture, they would be united in common belief, just like the Holy Catholic Church, not fragmented into denominational chaos.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), January 28, 2004.

Mike is reacting to my admonition. I said he had some heretical notions. Mainly the ''born again'' megillah straight out of the protestant tracts.

I wanted him to address us publicly, so I deleted his email without answering.

He stated he was a Catholic who had lately been born again. Supposedly by a new biblical formula. He's just deluded. If he's experienced some kind of spiritual awakening which feels like a new life, more power to him. Let him enter the confessional once more and receive forgiveness of sin. Then live in Communion with Christ and his Holy Church. And stop listening to heretical sects rave about raptures and end-times.

Above all, don't buy their claptrap about never losing your salvation now, because you have ''eternal security'' in this lifetime. That's false. We must work out our salvation in fear and trembling. We must beware, lest thinking we stand, we should FALL--

-- eugene c. chavez (loschavez@pacbell.net), January 28, 2004.