Do we Catholics believe in ESP?

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I read about the lives of the Saints constantly, and - one of the remarkable things I note is - the accounts almost always tend to speak of miraculous abilities the Saint had.

For instance, Saint Therese of Lisieux (Happy Feast Day to Her!!!, btw), claimed to be able to read hearts; Saint Faustina could see and speak with Jesus; and so on… Some Saints have Levitated… Some have worked cures or cast out demons…

I think we give different names to these abilities - e.g. reader of hearts, prophecy, discernment, (infused) prayer, and so on… In Catholicism, they seem to get lumped into what’s called “supernatural” phenomenon…

But here’s the rub…

When it comes to other, perhaps more secular or clinical, forms of language - terms like “paranormal”, “metaphysics”, “E.S.P.”, “telekinesis” and so on… even “ghosts”… how are we to regard this use of other, perhaps not-necessarily-Catholic language?

The reason I ask is because - I wonder… is it okay to say a Saint, like St Therese, who had the ability to read hearts, had ESP… or Saint Faustina, who could see Jesus, was a “sensitive” or like a clairvoyant because (based upon Jesus’ instruction) she predicted, or perhaps best called “prophecized”, WWII?
 
Wm777 said:
Saint Therese of Lisieux (Happy Feast Day to Her!!!, btw), claimed to be able to read hearts
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There are people who are more perceptive regarding others’ posture, facial expression, tone of voice, and choice of words. It may seem that they can read hearts, but they are merely using their God-given senses and talents. I suspect this is the nature of Therese’s gift.

My father and I occasionally had the same thoughts and sometimes the same dreams. We wondered about it and not too seriously called it ESP but I suspect there is a natural explanation.
 
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There’s no doubt about it - believers live a supernatural life.
 
Think of “the rub” as something that rubs a person in an uncomfortable way. Here is the dictionary definition, courtesy of Merriam-Webster.com:
rub noun

Definition of rub (Entry 2 of 2)

1a : an unevenness of surface (as of the ground in lawn bowling)

b : obstruction, difficulty – “the rub is that so few of the scholars have any sense of this truth themselves”—Benjamin Farrington

c : something grating to the feelings (such as a gibe or harsh criticism)

d : something that mars serenity
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The title of this thread gave me pause… if you believe ESP exists but Catholic policy says no, do you immediately stop believing it? Can you make yourself believe something you don’t believe? If I don’t believe in gravity would I float? Just asking as I find this a curious question. And, does changing the word you call it change your belief in it?
 
Many saints seem to have been given such graces, such graces as they need to help them in their mission. I don’t see that they asked for them but received them through their relationships with God, therefore they were sanctified. Having read quite a bit about various saints myself these graces seem to have their downside too.

Sometimes it’s good to be ordinary.
 
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Human power and ability, or Charism of the Holy Spirit? Years ago, I was made aware of things that I had no other way of knowing. This, of course, was illumination by the Holy Spirit. The less of “us” we keep locked up in our hearts, the more room there is for “Him” and His gifts/charisms.
 
Simply put demons can give people powers too. Exorcists often report people having super human strength when under the influence if a demon, for example.
 
If Saint Faustina could see Jesus, then that was because He appeared to her. He gave her a mission to make the world aware of His Divine Mercy.
Saint Padre Pio had the gift of reading souls which was intended to bring many souls to Christ through the confessional.
Dabbling in the paranormal on the other hand is considered to be the sin of witchcraft , and Scripture absolutely forbids all forms of witchcraft - see Deut.18: 10-12 Satan always tries to mimic God’s good gifts.
 
Sounds like a grey area, like not something that generally should be pursued. Sometimes we’ll have unusual things happen, like family members just “knowing” when someone in the family has passed but that’s just something occasionally allowed to be revealed by God, nothing else.

Saints had special circumstances and gifts from God handled by their superiors and confessors.
 
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I’m thinking the answer at you now. Levitate the soda on my desk once you receive the message.
 
Semantics, semantics, semantics…

If the substance of a word (or term) was the idea it represents, then I’d say a rose by any other name is still a rose.

But, then, I suppose the quality of said substance is a somewhat different matter. In fact, if we called our rose a redwood tree - and advertised it to people who commonly understood redwoods to be the mighty, tall and petrified trees on the western side of North America, then we would have essentially changed the quality of our meaning too much for it to be what the word represents anymore, unless we explicitly made the redefinition explicitly known.

In the case of the terms I provided, I would say some forms of prayer have been known to result in extra sensory perceptions (ESP), but not all ESP is prayerful. Some Marian apparitions, for instance, are only revealed to the seers, which can only mean the seer has been infused with some sort of extra sensory perception the non-seers hasn’t. On the other hand, some animals and machines can perceive things humans cannot, so there must be some sort of “ESP” that exists beyond the scope of human perception and prayer. Thus, not all ESP is necessarily prayerful.

Making sense?
 
I didn’t say I had it. I only asked if we Catholics believe in ESP.

Most seem to think we do, but your reply seems to rule you out.

Don’t make me have to email the Vatican.
 
Yes, you made sense but if someone is describing an experience that exactly matches the definition of ESP but then calls it something more canonical sounding, isn’t it still ESP? Are you not trying to separate ESP which is not to be believed in into another term so that you can believe in it. Saying I don’t believe in ESP but I do believe a certain Saint could read someone’s thoughts seems… confusing? And don’t you either believe in ESP or don’t believe in ESP? Or are you really saying you don’t believe in ESP except if a Saint did it.
Please, I’m not trying to be difficult, I’m really trying to understand your thought process. Thanks!
 
Christians believe that some have been given visions, prophecies, or other supernatural knowledge, but these are gifts from God, not human abilities. What the secular world calls supernatural or paranormal events are often divorced from God. This sort of divination is not something that Christians should ever be involved in.
 
I sometimes feel - the more closer I am to holiness -
the more darker and dangerous - things seem to be.
Solemn. Unknown.
It’s certainly not a smiling mega-church happy go lucky bright sunshine vibe.
 
We do have an ability called “intuition”, which is essentially the ability to read between the lines.
It’s not a magic trick, and it doesn’t always work on command.
For instance, experienced police officers become very good at sensing when somebody is lying to them. It’s not because they have magical powers, it’s just that after years of dealing with people in crisis, they develop the ability, and eventually it becomes a habit. They don’t even realize that they’re looking for certain cues and tells. It’s just a thing they automatically do. But even then, they can be fooled from time to time.

I think it’s very reasonable that a person who lives an intensely spiritual and God-centered life would become adept at things like “reading hearts”.
 
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