ONLINE DELIVERANCE SESSIONS

QUESTION? / COMMENT!

I'm interested in hearing more about your opinion regarding online deliverance sessions. My wife has recently been trying to encourage me to participate in regular one hour online deliverance sessions. I agree with the points you make your in your 11/2/23 piece (ONLINE DELIVERANCE SESSIONS | Jesse Romero). I would be interested to know the opinion of a good traditional exorcist priest (ie Fr. Ripperger) on the efficacy of these and whether or regular deliverance prayers are even necessary when there has not been an identified issue by a priest. To me it seems Protestant-like and possibly a distraction from what we absolutely must be doing as Catholics ie Mass, daily family Rosary, morning and evening prayers (Divine Office), etc.

ANSWER! / COMMENT!

Dr Dan Schneider (who is a Liber Christo teacher under Fr Ripperger) responded to another question similar to yours in this manner.

Issued in January 1999 by the Vatican, De Exorcismis et supplicationibus quibusdam, the Roman Catholic Church's new manual for those whose duties include driving out the Devil. It is the first primer to be issued to exorcists since 1614.

Unlike its predecessor, De Exorcismis warns against confusing possession with mental illness. Among the signs of demonic possession are "speaking in unknown languages, discerning distant or hidden things, and displaying a physical strength that is at odds with the possessed person's age or state of health".

But the guide warns that the traditional signs of oppression and obsession can all denote sickness rather than evil. It adds that exorcism should only be tried "after diligent inquiry and after having consulted experts in spiritual matters and, if felt appropriate, experts in medical and psychiatric science who have a sense of spiritual reality". Those elaborate qualifications seem to rule out traditional Freudian psychologists.

The other main novelty is a media black-out. In the name of preventing the ritual and other prayers of liberation "becoming a spectacle", the new rules stipulate that use of media specifically "the presence of media representatives during an exorcism is not allowed."

Here is my comment. Christianity is incarnational, I am sure God can give grace and healing to a person in exigent circumstances through a phone call or a zoom call, but this would be the exception and should not be the norm. The problem with praying deliverance prayers over the internet for an audience is there is no preparation for the person or by the person, prior to receiving that jolt of prayer by a Catholic Priest who doesn't know the person from adam. Mgsr. Rosetti could be praying over people that are in objective mortal sin. It is quite possible because of the name of JESUS, and a Priest of the Most High God doing these deliverance prayers can cause the demons to manifest and the person could be flopping around his living room, growling, becoming catatonic, eyes rolling back etc. It is also possible that he can extract some lower level demons through his prayers. A biggner problem I see, there is no aftercare (a protocol of prayer and catechesis) for the people on zoom receiving these deliverance prayers. The best case scenario that comports with the authority structure set up by God would be for the person who is afflicted to go to confession and then get prayed over by his Parish Priest. Any Priest can do minor exorcism prayers (aka deliverance prayers) over their parishioners.