10
Catholic San Francisco
July 10, 2009
July 10, 2009
Catholic San Francisco
11
A diocesan exorcist on the job: pastoral care for the “intensely suffering” By Rick DelVecchio
A San Francisco exorcist advises “don’t wait too long.”
“T
Like Father Gary Thomas, Franciscan Father Guglielmo “William” Lauriola believes exorcism is needed now more than ever. Father Lauriola, emeritus pastor of the former Immaculate Conception Parish in the Mission District of San Francisco, has been praying the Rite of Exorcism over sufferers since 1969. He prays the 1953 rite in Latin rather than the revision the Vatican issued 10 years ago. He sees 10 to 15 people a month. “Now it’s more than before – in the last two years so many are coming,” the 81-year-old priest said. “We are less positive-minded.” Often he counsels young people who are showing “devilish” behaviors but are not really possessed. “When I treat them they are calmer and the parents are more at peace,” he said. “That is not exorcism – that is a healing moment.” Father Lauriola said he welcomes calls at Immaculate Conception Chapel at 3255 Folsom St. “Tell them don’t wait too long because it will be hard to be free,” he said.
Father Gary Thomas, the exorcist for the Diocese of San Jose, in the reconciliation room at Sacred Heart Church in Saratoga.
Here are excerpts from the interview with Father Thomas. Some of the questions are paraphrased: How does Satan manifest in the people you pray over? People don’t realize that either the prayers of deliverance or the prayers of the solemn rite have efficaciousness to them if they’re dealing with a demon. They will stimulate the demon. The person will begin to have symptoms, seizures, eyes roll in the back of the head. Sometimes they will take on a reptilian appearance. They can easily speak a language they would have no prior proficiency in. It all depends on the power of the demon that may have infiltrated them. What you’re describing is the demon’s response to the rite? Absolutely. Demons are deceivers and they’re deceivers by nature because Satan’s greatest deception is to convince the human race that he doesn’t exist – and a lot of people believe he doesn’t exist. Even before an exorcism or prayers of deliverance are prayed over a person there can be manifestations by the very appearance of a priest who’s an exorcist. Most of them would happen once the prayers begin, but not always. Any manifestations that have proved difficult to confront – physically or emotionally? I always have another priest with me. Demons attack the exorcist and they attack where the exorcist is weakest. It’s not so much a physical attack, although down through the ages there have been recorded appearances where saints claimed they had been attacked by demons. I never experienced a physical attack. Mine have been more spiritual, psychological, emotional.
St. Francis exorcising demons in Arezzo, in a depiction on a fresco by Giotto.
Is the demon trying to destroy you? Certainly Satan would not want to have any person with any kind of credibility that would call attention to his diabolical presence in the world and then trying to expel those presences. Christ uses me as a vessel. It’s Christ who’s the deliverer. The exorcist is the vessel. Why Christ chooses to deliver is a mystery, although it’s all related to the greater glory of God. Is the victim a vessel of evil? No. The vast majority I have prayed over have become exposed to the diabolical or the preternatural more often than not out of curiosity. You have to open yourself. You have to create a doorway for a demon to enter. The vast majority of times a demon is not going to approach someone and tempt or enter them unless they have been in some way invited. I’m always telling people if you have a prayer life and you are in close to the Lord, you have nothing to worry about. That doesn’t mean there are not other levels of temptations. EXORCIST, page 20
Here are highlights of Diocese of San Jose Bishop Patrick J. McGrath’s responses to questions from Catholic San Francisco about Father Gary Thomas’ exorcism ministry in the diocese and exorcism in general. Bishop McGrath is a canon lawyer. • There has always been an exorcist, or a priest trained to deal with this. Usually this is not publicly known but more of an internal matter known to the bishop and other clergy should the need arise. • Exorcisms are not public but there is “no great secrecy about exorcism” in as much as it is “part of the teaching and tradition of the Bishop Patrick Church.” J. McGrath • Exorcism is rare, and rightfully so – more and more is now known about mental illness which could account for “exorcisms” of the past. • Canon 1172 specifies the role of the bishop regarding exorcism, including the idea that the Code says “you’re supposed to have one, in case.” “Every bishop must have someone available. The ultimate point is that we help people” when medicine and psychiatry are not able to. • Father Thomas has a team – medical doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist, and two priests who deal with spirituality. The team members “are people of faith who believe in an entity called Satan,” and evaluate the possibility of “possession” very thoroughly. Then, permission has to be given for an exorcism. • Bishop McGrath is impressed positively with how Father Thomas and the team are looking at cases. “Gary and the team don’t believe everyone who comes in is possessed. In fact, after scrutiny, there are very few cases…Satan is not rampant in the Diocese of San Jose.” • There is no urgent need to have a second exorcist. “It would have to be proven to me that we need more of this in pastoral ministry.” • As to Father Thomas’ remarks about the bishops all having exorcists and the U.S. bishops’ conference putting exorcism on its agenda, McGrath simply said, “Well, that’s Gary’s opinion.” He said the bishops have more pressing concerns.
g Pacific Rowing Club LAKE MERCED
3 Learn-to-row Camps for udents pre-9th to 12th grade students June 8 – July 19 • June 29 – July 10 July 20 – July 31 Sessions: Novice, 8 – 12 noon
Cost: $295 per session pacificrowingclub.org Contact Bob Maclean at 415-242-0252 or rtmaclean@earthlink.net
The Golden Gate Boys Choir and Bellringers
2390 Bush Street, San Francisco, Ca. 94115
A Catholic Pueri Cantores Boy Choir
Solemn Novena in Honor of
and SAINT JUDE THADDEUS
www.BizzarrosAuctions.com BUY A CAR! SELL A CAR! DONATE A CAR!
Weekday Masses • 8:00 A.M. and 5.30 P.M.
2581 Spring Street, RWC
Saturdays 8:00 A.M. • Sundays 9:30 A.M. & 11:30 A.M. (preceded by Rosary)
Terms: 10% Cash Deposit on winning bid. Balance: Cash, Cashier Check, MC, Visa. Buyer Fee Required: 10% of Bid Price; 10% of $40 Smog Inspection; 10% of $40 Doc Prep; & $44 Auction Dealer # 42419 Bond 41152292
For example? Sexual temptation, trying to really jeopardize my celibacy, creating emotional disturbances in me where I might not trust certain people who are very significant in my life, particularly in the life of the parish. The temptation to seek inappropriate ways to gain intimacy with others. Exacerbating the experiences of loneliness that appear in a priest’s life at times. Those are all ways.
“The ultimate point is that we help people:” San Jose bishop
Shrine of St. Jude Thaddeus DOMINICAN FATHERS
SAINT ANNE
650.363.8055
(PHOTO BY RICK DELVECCHIO/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)
he Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist,” (Doubleday, 2009), by journalist Matt Baglio describes San Francisco-born Father Gary Thomas’ training under a master exorcist in Rome and his return to his Bay Area parish to take up what may be the most misunderstood healing ministry in the Church. What sets exorcists apart from priests who are skeptical of the ministry may be their biblical belief in the physical reality of evil and the power of prayer and the sacraments to vanquish it. Father Thomas, 55, who was raised in South San Francisco and is a long-time pastor in the Diocese of San Jose, is one such priest. Some of the strongest passages in the book show his dawning realization of evil’s power to penetrate a person’s being deeper than any physical condition. The disturbed Sister Janica, for example, growls like a dog ready to bite, then emits an otherworldly scream. As Father Thomas witnesses the master Father Carmine De Filippis, a Capuchin, calmly recite prayers and lay hands on the victim, he feels the sounds are not human in their character and source. Another victim, Giovanna, makes a sound that seems to come from the depths of her stomach – a sound the author describes as one a dog might make if it were able to speak. At one point she turns to Father Thomas with black, hate-filled eyes that appear to be as thick as Coke bottles. Father Thomas had worked as an embalmer as a young man, and the eyes remind him of the eyes of the dead. Such experiences move Father Thomas to embrace the ministry as few other U.S. priests have done. He comes to see it as a means of relieving a type of suffering that seems to go beyond pain, and to help friends and family members as well. He sees how exorcists restore grace to vexed souls, and he sees the power of simple prayer and the administration of the sacraments to reclaim victims from the desperation and isolation Satan has in store for them. He learns that although the exorcist may undergo physical and mental trials as he battles the deceiver, he has the stronger hand because the Kingdom of God is above that of God’s fallen angels. Father Thomas’ perspective had come to be similar to that of Pope John Paul II, whose papacy saw a return to the view that exorcism is a pastoral task with roots in Jesus’ work as described in Mark’s Gospel. In 1999, the Vatican revised the 400-year-old Rite of Exorcism and recommended it to priests, under legal guidelines that require it to be used judiciously through the authority that Jesus gave his Church. In 2005, Father Thomas’ bishop in the Diocese of San Jose, Patrick J. McGrath, picked him to go to Rome to train as an exorcist after a fellow priest in line for the assignment was unavailable. He completed a 40-hour course and observed 80 exorcisms as Father Carmine’s apprentice. Since returning to San Jose as pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Saratoga, he has led an allCatholic exorcism team made up of two other priests, a physician, a psychiatrist and psychologist. He also assists the Diocese of Oakland on the rare occasions when a possible case arises there. In the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Franciscan Father Guglielmo “William” Lauriola has performed exorcisms for 40 years (see related story.) Officially, inquiries about exorcisms in the Archdiocese were referred to Auxiliary Bishop Ignatius Wang before the bishop’s recent retirement, Archbishop George H. Niederauer said. The archbishop said he is discussing the matter with Bishop Wang to determine future policy. True exorcisms are rare. The book notes that in the 24 years before Father Thomas began his training, only two investigations into possible possession had been conducted in the Diocese of San Jose. Father Thomas has gone to his bishop for approval to pray the rite in five cases, two of which are ongoing. The first three cases had their roots in a history of abuse, involvement with occult practices or addiction. The fourth concerns a scientist is his 40s who learned to “channel spirits” and who showed increasingly intense manifestations early in Father Thomas’ work with him. Lately, the victim has been improving. Father Thomas said he has just received approval to perform a fifth exorcism. The victim is a woman who believes herself cursed by a man trying to extort her for money. She has psychotic symptoms that have not responded to medication, leading the exorcism team’s psychiatrist to suspect that something other than disease is at work. Father Thomas agrees: “I just sense a presence where there’s just something else that happens to her.” Father Thomas prays the rite in the private reconciliation room at the parish church, with the subject seated and a second priest present. Exorcism treats the “intensely suffering” and deserves a greater role in pastoral ministry and in the training of priests, Father Thomas maintains. He is nothing if not outspoken in his view that the U.S. Church is fearful and dismissive of exorcism and owes it to the sufferers to do more. “Most of these situations are not diabolical but our Church has a responsibility to minister to these people because they end up going to evangelicals, going to charlatans, and they get in more trouble,” he said in an interview with Catholic San Francisco. “It leads them to conclude we don’t believe, and quite honestly they’re right.”
To be held July 18-26 at St. Dominic’s Church Bush and Steiner Streets
Since 1883, the Young Men’s Institute (YMI) has operated as a fraternal ho arsupporting e w e? its motto of “Pro Deo, Pro Patria” (For God, CatholicWorder For Country). Today, over 2500 members (called brothers) honor this motto by working together on worthwhile programs & activities for our Catholic faith & for our communities. Besides doing good deeds, YMI brothers and their families enjoy a variety of fun social events (e.g., dinners, tournaments, picnics, etc), as well as membership benefits (e.g., scholarships, death benefits).
Can I Join?
(Plenty of Parking)
Yes, we are looking for new members to join us. If you are a Catholic adult male, simply email us at ymius@aol.com or call us at 1-650-5887762 orCa 1-800-964-9646. You can also visit our website for more info n I J oi n? at www.ymiusa.org. We will provide you a brief YMI application form simp ly m a il council. us at Membership to complete and the location of the nearest YMI ius@a ol.c om or ca$4 ll or$5 us d uring [ M- F 9 a m to 5 fees are ym very affordable (about per month)
Send petitions to: Father Martin Walsh, O.P. P.O. Box 15368, San Francisco, CA 94115-0368 (415) 931-5919 • www.stjude-shrine.org
Who are we?
Father Reginald Martin, O.P. Father Dominic Briese, O.P. Preacher Preacher
pm] a t 1 -6 5 0- 58 8- 7 76 2 or 1- 8 00 -9 6 4- 96 46 . ur website for mor e info at The YMI . .visit . . . oJoin the Brotherhood! www. ym iusa.or g.
Celebrating 20 years of service to families in the Archdiocese of San Francisco and Diocese of Oakland Winter Membership Drive 2009 Boys, age 7 and older with unchanged voices welcome to apply Summer Music Camp • Monthly Sung Mass • Concert Tours Choral Music • New Friends • Handbell and Chime Groups
All Are Welcome! Please Join Us! End-Of-Camp Concert Performance Golden Gate Boys Choir and Bellringers – Catholic Boy Choir Youth Retreat Center 1977 Reliez Valley Rd., Lafayette 94549 (behind & above Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery)
Saturday, August 8th, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. Come early and enjoy your picnic lunch on the camp grounds. Information and application for GGBC fall enrollment at www.ggbc.org
For further information, please view the web site www.ggbc.org or call (415) 431-1137