Be aware of syncretism

QUESTION?

I was wondering if you can help answer some questions. I was talking with my son and he was telling me about the Ed & Lorraine Warren, and their movies and he mentioned they were approved by the church to conduct exorcisms. If I’m correct only designated priest can only conduct a exorcism. Can you assist with this question on the Warren’s. I’ve done some research and unable to find if any information on any church approval on the couple.

ANSWER!

Ed & Lorraine Warren have died, may God have mercy on their soul. What I know about them is from the book "The Demonologist - the extraordinary career of Ed & Lorraine Warren" by Gerald D. Brittle, he spent days interviewing them about their apostolic work. They were Catholics who attended a parish in Connecticut. They had a peculiar lay apostolate, they called themselves 'demonologist.' Their is no such ministry / apostolate in the Catholic Church's tradition or sacred scripture.  Calling yourself a 'demonologist' puts more emphasis on 'demons' than on the work of the 'angels.'  This makes you a huge target for the enemy. They had some knowledge of spiritual warfare but they were not properly formed as they would use 'psychics, clairvoyants, mediums and seances' along with Catholic practices in their spiritual warfare against demons.  What they did is known as the 'sin of syncretism'. 

Fr John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary - SYNCRETISM

SYNCRETISM. The effort to unite different doctrines and practices, especially in religion. Such unions or amalgams are part of cultural history and are typical of what has occurred in every segment of the non-Christian world. Syncretism is also applied to the ecumenical efforts among separated Christian churches and within Catholicism to the attempts made of combining the best elements of different theological schools. But in recent years the term mainly refers to misguided claims that religious unity can be achieved by ignoring the differences between faiths on the assumption that all creeds are essentially one and the same. (Etym. Greek synkrētizo, to unite disunited elements into a harmonious whole; from synkrētizmos.

Unfortunately, Ed & Lorraine Warren did not know how to discern Catholicism from the Occult, the clean from the unclean, many souls are being led astray by falsehood. Our practices need to be grounded in Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church. Ephesians 5:11 "take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them." Say a prayer for their soul.