Friday, June 04, 2010

Catholic: The reformed rite of exorcism is inferior says priest

The Catholic Church has a gift that no other church, Christian or otherwise, can even imagine having — namely, a written exorcism ritual. This little book makes the Devil shake in his boots! As one who uses the ritual, I know how much of a tour de force it is against the power of evil. That being said, the exorcism ritual is not what it was in its glory days.

Although the Second Vatican Council authorized the revision of all liturgical books, it is hard to believe that the Council envisioned the radical changes made to such an important weapon of the Church militant as the 1614 exorcism ritual, known as De exorcizandis obsessis a dae­monio ("On Exorcising Those Obsessed by a Demon"). Its 1999 revision is titled De exorcismis et supplicationibus quibusdam ("On Exorcisms and Other Supplications"). Even the change in title signals a change in focus: The 1614 ritual is about freeing those obsessed by demons; the 1999 revision is about prayers and supplications. I am sure the Devil is happy to have the focus diverted from breaking his power to pious prayers.

I do not say this for effect. I say it because it is true. It appears as if someone took a knife to the old ritual and then, when all the pieces were cut up and lying in a pile, discarded some and cobbled the rest together in a new order and called it a "revision." It is no surprise, as Fr. Gabriele Amorth noted in his 1999 book An Exorcist Tells His Story, that the revision was conducted without the input of a single practicing exorcist.
Read the rest here.

2 comments:

Steve Hayes said...

I'm sure there's one in the Book of needs.

And the Anglicans used to have one. O once wrote to ask for a copy, and they sent me their entire stock of about 100, at no charge, saying there was no demand for them.

Patrick Sheridan said...

Of course it's inferior. Any attempt to ''reform'' Liturgy by authority is an abuse, and the result of this process is bound to be inferior...