Anyone heard of Fr. Greg Bramlage/ Missionaries of the New Evangelization

[rayne89]

Fr Bramlage was invited for a 3 day mission at our normally very traditional Catholic parish. My family attended only the first night which left a very bad taste so we did not return. He has a “healing” ministry. He spoke about demonic oppression, generational healing and asked people to give testimony at the end of the night if they had been healed during the evening. He had people laying hands on others praying. The entire time we had exposition of the blessed sacrament. Our parish has a facebook page and you can see a deep divide growing between those who thought it was fabulous and those who were very put off, even offended by it. I missed part of it because my husband walked out and I followed him out to discuss it. Father put up this huge list of things he said were occult. And talked about many occult influences including the Beatles. My husband’s mom is a fundamentalist protestant and it seems very much their way of thinking.

Anyone I was wondering if anyone knew or had experience with this ministry.

 

[RPRPsych]

A brief Internet search reveals that he’s a Charismatic Catholic.

Such groups tend to be quite involved in spiritual healing, which would necessarily involve a consideration of demonic influences.

However, such groups have often had trouble with skirting the wilder side of Pentecostalism, and they can sometimes say quite silly things. I remember a similar group that conducted a retreat at a women’s college when I was a boy (I attended because my mother was teaching there.) The team consisted of one priest and a married couple, who all harped on the evils of “rock music” and sang some fairly banal songs. Last I heard, the couple split up acrimoniously, and the wife was making accusatory posts about the other two on her blog.

If it is of God, it will endure; if not, no. If you’re uncomfortable with such expressions of spirituality, I’ve always found it prudent to stick to the “ancient ways, in which we may find peace” (to quote Jeremiah). Innovation is not always good.

 

[djrakowski]

Fr Bramlage was invited for a 3 day mission at our normally very traditional Catholic parish. My family attended only the first night which left a very bad taste so we did not return. He has a “healing” ministry. He spoke about demonic oppression, generational healing and asked people to give testimony at the end of the night if they had been healed during the evening. He had people laying hands on others praying. The entire time we had exposition of the blessed sacrament. Our parish has a facebook page and you can see a deep divide growing between those who thought it was fabulous and those who were very put off, even offended by it. I missed part of it because my husband walked out and I followed him out to discuss it. Father put up this huge list of things he said were occult. And talked about many occult influences including the Beatles. My husband’s mom is a fundamentalist protestant and it seems very much their way of thinking.

Anyone I was wondering if anyone knew or had experience with this ministry.

We must attend the same parish, and I’ve been deeply concerned about the aftermath of this mission. I’ve just posted a question to the Ask an Apologist forum and I hope they’ll offer some clarification. I teach apologetics at the parish and I’m being flooded with questions and concerns and expressions of confusion that I can’t answer.

Here’s the question in case you’re interested:

Our parish hosted a mission that was given by a priest whose ministry focuses on healing. One of the more prominent (and controversial) elements of this mission included prayers for generational healing. Here are some statements from his document on how to prepare for this service:

“Great traumas may be healed through generational healing prayer without your knowing their exact cause. However, if you find that your family’s problems are not completely resolved after one Holy Communion or healing prayer session, continue to intercede for them. In some cases, it may be necessary for prayer for the Healing of Generations to be repeated several times for family bloodlines.”

This seems to denigrate the value of redepmtive suffering and deny the necessity of bearing the cross as commanded by Our Lord in the gospels.

Here is a prayer that’s recited during the petitions at this service:

“We ask you to surround us, Lord Jesus with Your Holy Light. Heavenly Father, let the healing waters of our baptisms now flow back through our maternal and paternal generations to purify our family lines of Satan and sin.”

This seems to pervert the purpose of baptism, which remits the guilt of original sin and any actual sins committed at the time it is received. How can it be claimed that the graces of my baptism can flow back to others?

Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

 

[Church_Militant]

Good grief! I’ve seen some stuff on this but never had it fall close to me. Thanks be to God!

Personally, I’d have walked out as well and gone straight to my pastor about it. It conflicts with much of Catholic doctrine. Baptism is a personal sacrament…not a generational one and whoever came up with this stuff is way out there like Pluto. It has to have had its roots in Protestantism and likely Pentecostalism.

Here’s a definition from a site that pushes it.
Generational Healing - Center for Christ Consciousness

Same site’s definition:

At the CCC we believe that every person has a spark of God within them and a divine and sacred purpose to his or her lives. We affirm that it is your divine birthright to recognize who and what your relationship to your Creator is and to come into conscious awareness of your higher purpose as a child of God and a citizen of the universe.

That’s about as New Age as it gets, which tells us we need to unload it ASAP.

What is Generational Healing?

         Generational Healing is a restorative healing process               that delves into the deepest part of our human system of consciousness,               which houses our unconscious memories of the past from many generations.               It liberates us to tap freely into our divine nature. I found several sources that should help us refute this problematic error.

Generational healing? - Catholic Answers Forums

Is it Catholic? - Healing of the Family Tree - Catholic Doors Ministry

**The Sins of Our Ancestors - Divine Mercy

I suggest printing out these sources and taking copies to your pastor with a suggestion to include it in the bulletin or links to them on the parish website.

(Gotta get ready to go to Mass but I’ll check back in later)
**

 

[djrakowski]

Here’s my response, which I plan on discussing with our pastor on Monday:

The top-level quotes were taken from the following document, which I found on Fr. Gregory Bramlage’s website (missionariesofthenewevangelization.us/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Generational-Healing-Mass.pdf)

“Great traumas may be healed through generational healing prayer without your knowing their exact cause. However, if you find that your family’s problems are not completely resolved after one Holy Communion or healing prayer session, continue to intercede for them. In some cases, it may be necessary for prayer for the Healing of Generations to be repeated several times for family bloodlines.”

• This implies that there is no value in suffering (redemptive or otherwise) or taking up your cross daily. The intent of this healing prayer is to continue until all of your family’s problems are resolved. I know we are to pray without ceasing, but there is no promise that our prayers will relieve us of all of our ills.

CCC 1505: Moved by so much suffering Christ not only allows himself to be touched by the sick, but he makes their miseries his own: “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.” But he did not heal all the sick. His healings were signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God. They announced a more radical healing: the victory over sin and death through his Passover. On the cross Christ took upon himself the whole weight of evil and took away the “sin of the world,” of which illness is only a consequence. By his passion and death on the cross Christ has given a new meaning to suffering: it can henceforth configure us to him and unite us with his redemptive Passion.

CCC 1521: Union with the passion of Christ. By the grace of this sacrament (anointing of the sick) the sick person receives the strength and the gift of uniting himself more closely to Christ’s Passion: in a certain way he is consecrated to bear fruit by configuration to the Savior’s redemptive Passion. Suffering, a consequence of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus.

If it becomes a “participation in the saving work of Jesus,” then it doesn’t make sense that the only good that can be done with suffering is to end it.

• Certainly, we can pray that suffering would be minimized or eliminated. But the fact that this document encourages us to keep coming back for family tree healing prayers until they’re completely gone indicates that they’re ONLY supposed to be completely gone, that there is nothing good we can do with them other than to eliminate them. This document doesn’t elucidate the value of redemptive suffering at all.
• According to the Catechism (1520 - 1523), the effects of the sacrament for the sick are as follows:

CCC 1520 says that it confers “a particular gift of the Holy Spirit” - for strength, peace and courage to overcome the challenges associated with the ailment. It also says that this gift is an assistance from the Lord in the power of the Spirit for spiritual healing (including forgiveness of sins), and if it is His will, physical healing

CCC 1521 speaks of “union with the passion of Christ.” It goes on to say “in a certain way he is consecrated to bear fruit by configuration to the Savior’s redemptive Passion.” That is to say, redemptive suffering

CCC 1522 - “an ecclesial grace.” It “contributes to the good of the People of God” and “to the good of all men for whom the Church suffers and offers herself through Christ to God the Father”

CCC 1523 speaks of “a preparation for the final journey.” That indicates that life has a finality that may not end in the relief of suffering.

• In summary, this document indicates (or at least allows for the interpretation) that suffering is meant only to end, has no positive purpose, and that continual prayer (following this form of prayer specifically) is a guarantee that it will end. This seems contradictory to these passages of the CCC.

 

[djrakowski]

Part 2:

“We ask you to surround us, Lord Jesus with Your Holy Light. Heavenly Father, let the healing waters of our baptisms now flow back through our maternal and paternal generations to purify our family lines of Satan and sin.”

• Seems to imply that the effects of baptism are repeatable and applicable to others, which contradicts the Catechism (and implies that we can be born again multiple times):

CCC 1272: Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation. Given once for all, Baptism cannot be repeated.
Here, the person baptized is described as “configured to Christ,” not other parties for whom I may pray at a future date.

• I receive baptism once for the remission of the guilt of original sin, as well as any personal sins. Isn’t this only effective once (at the time it is received)? If I can pray the graces of my baptism to “purify our family lines of Satan and sin,” then is it also true that I can stop going to confession and instead pray for the graces of my own baptism to flow over me again and purify me from sins I’ve committed since receiving it?
• Do these graces, prayed over our family members, make them new creations in Christ?

CCC 1265: Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte “a new creature,” an adopted son of God, who has become a “partaker of the divine nature,” member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.

This paragraph of the CCC indicates that the effects of baptism (being made a “new creature”) are applicable to the person being baptized, the “neophyte,” and nobody else.

• This paragraph also indicates that there is no need for a separate baptism in the Holy Spirit, which was a common theme I’ve heard from attendees in the conference:

CCC 1262: The different effects of Baptism are signified by the perceptible elements of the sacramental rite. Immersion in water symbolizes not only death and purification, but also regeneration and renewal. Thus the two principal effects are purification from sins and new birth in the Holy Spirit.

 

[djrakowski]

I’ve been finding connections between the practice of “family tree healing” and new age movements and eastern mysticism (particularly reiki). Do the Google search on “family tree healing reiki.” Awful. Why did our pastor allow this?

 

[Church_Militant]

Here’s something from the CA apologists on What about Reiki?

 

[rayne89]

Djrakowski we do belong to the same parish. I could not see the the screen well when Fr. put up the huge list of occult influences on Monday night because of where I was seated. I know he indicated acupuncture and yoga are wrong because they come from other religions -it would seem drawing from Reiki then would also be quite wrong. My daughter who was seated in a different pew because the church was so packed seems to think Reiki was on that list of occult things if she remembers correctly.

Charismatic adoration doesn’t trouble me personally. (Meaning the praise and worship music). Catholics from different parts of the world praise God in different ways. I wouldn’t presume to think it offends God.

The troubling part to me were statements made that I had never heard before as part of Catholic teaching. I only was there one night, so I have no idea what was said the next two nights. I also heard Fr.'s homily last Sunday before the mission began.

I did email out pastor Monday night about something personal that caused my husband to walk out and our pastor was very supportive. I know he’s being flooded with questions. I also know he is an amazing, faithful and holy priest. Please let me know privately if you find out anything that helps us understand what went on this week. And if Fr. can explain this generational healing business - I can’t believe he would be ok with that , maybe he didn’t realize this priest was going to teach that. I truly just can’t believe he would support something contrary to the faith. Thank you.

 

[djrakowski]

I will let you know how my meeting goes. Please pray for me, that I’m able to present my case clearly, calmly and intelligently, without letting my passions get in the way.

 

[rayne89]

Thank you and I will most definitely will be praying for you.

 

[djrakowski]

I’ve received an answer in the Ask an Apologist thread here.

 

[MelissaMA]

Sorry for all the typos. I am still upset and it is hard to type.

 

[sojo]

For Melissa - I am so sorry for your experience. My son is 17 years old with Down syndrome, and unfortunately, we have had such experiences a few times. There are selfish hypocrites in our Church as there are in the world. It hurts double when a supposed Christian snubs us and our children, I know. There are no words except to know that many Catholics are not like the ones you encountered and our Pope himself embraces the disabled. Even on this forum, I’ve seen lectures about how we should remove ourselves and our “disruptive” children from their midst so they can pray and worship in peace. Our church doesn’t even have a crying room - they just prefer we go stand outside in the rain or leave altogether so they can have their peaceful moment with the Lord. Unbelievable. They will face their maker some day is all I can offer. And I’m sorry. I know how it cuts to the quick. I’ve shed those same tears.

 

[MJE]

healingoffamilies.net/Home.html
Your family is beset with problems. That is to say, it is a normal family. Since you are a believer in God you have most certainly prayed to God about many of these problems. And maybe you have had the joy of answered prayer for some, some respite for others, but there are still those problems that don’t seem to go anywhere! Your image of God is seriously shaken because you don’t understand why He doesn’t seem to hear you on these particular issues. Your voice feels like a cry in the desert.

This serious issue is addressed in a truly fresh and inspired book, “The Healing of Families”, by renowned author Father Yozefu-B. Ssemakula, who hails from Uganda, and is now ministering in the U.S. based in the Pensacola-Tallahassee diocese. His in-depth book is filled with powerful prayers to cleanse and heal the family.
Fr. Ssemakula presents a simple, effective, and powerful prayer method for freeing you and your family from problems you have prayed about for a long time without results, including health issues. Through Father’s inspired book and seminar you will learn to distinguish between the true Cross of Christ that we have to carry for our salvation, Mt 16:24 (necessary suffering), and the false Cross, which is a simple captivity and oppression of God’s children, LK 4:18 (unnecessary suffering). God never wills evil and pain for us at any point in our lives. Evil and pain are interruptions of God’s plan for our lives Jer 29:11, even if good can be extracted from them. 1 John 4:8 tells us: “God is love.” John 10:10 states: “I came that they might have life and have in abundantly.” God’s will is always good. When things turn out bad for us, it can never be the will of God.

In Baptism, God pre-equipped us with all the tools we need to effectively deal with the majority of our problems. In reading Father’s book or attending a Healing of Families seminar you will understand how to use the tools of your Baptism to end recurrent problems in your lives.

 

[MelissaMA]

To Sojo-- Oh, Thank you for getting back so quickly. I am so hurt. I have not had this happen before. I just do not understand. This same man, Father Greg Bramlage, praised the " unclean" the lepers the diseased for risking ridicule to go before Jesus and ask to be healed. Did he not think that Jesus was disrupted? Did he not realize that the brother’s who lowered their brother onto the house of John (?) for Jesus to heal made a big mess all over the place. Well , yes, he did know this because he talked about it yesterday and praised them for their faith and fearlessness when asking for healing. Was I not being fearless? How disruptive we all these faithful Fr. Greg praised yesterday ? Very I would say!!!

I am so sorry for the times you and your son have felt left out. We are not used to that. We cherish our daughter ,( as I am sure you do your son) see her as a gift and maybe we are prideful and maybe that is what I need to learn from this but what did she learn? She learned that she was not welcome before Christ. That hurts. I told her they were wrong. But what has she been shown?

 

[MJE]

MellissaMA, I suggest you write a letter to Fr. Bramlage explaining your experience. For your sake as well as his.

 

[sojo]

All I can say, Melissa, is that it is easy to quote scripture and lecture to others about mercy and healing and the goodness of the Lord. It is another thing entirely to witness to the world through our actions. You do that every day in how you love and care for your daughter, as I do my son and for all the others I advocate for in the disability community. I try not to put my son in situations where he may be harmed physically or emotionally. You were right to remove your daughter from those people who were behaving in an un-Godly manner and to warn others in the disability community so they can avoid that “ministry”.

They have unwittingly “witnessed” to you their lack of sincerity in what they were speaking and proclaiming. God bless your daughter, and just keep assuring her of your and God’s love.

 

[MelissaMA]

Thank you , Sojo and blessings to you and your son. It is good to hear from a mother with a child with special needs that you feel I was right in leaving. I DO feel they are wrong but I wondered too if I was the one wrong. But I feel assured that my child, your child , all children are welcome in prayer before the alter.
I think I will write a letter to Father Bramlage. I know I am going to talk with the Parrish priest ( who was not there ) tomorrow and see how he feels.

Thank you God bless!!!

 

[MJE]

Fr Bramlage was invited for a 3 day mission at our normally very traditional Catholic parish. My family attended only the first night which left a very bad taste so we did not return. He has a “healing” ministry. He spoke about demonic oppression, generational healing and asked people to give testimony at the end of the night if they had been healed during the evening. He had people laying hands on others praying. The entire time we had exposition of the blessed sacrament. Our parish has a facebook page and you can see a deep divide growing between those who thought it was fabulous and those who were very put off, even offended by it. I missed part of it because my husband walked out and I followed him out to discuss it. Father put up this huge list of things he said were occult. And talked about many occult influences including the Beatles. My husband’s mom is a fundamentalist protestant and it seems very much their way of thinking.

Anyone I was wondering if anyone knew or had experience with this ministry.

I doubt you are questioning the reality of evil, the devil, and his influences.
Have you researched authentic RC healing ministries? Could this be a holy priest and serving with the full approval of his and your bishop? Could he be a son of the church?