Well Protestants think Catholics believe in “dead works” because things apart from good intention are believed in: words of a priest cleansing when the contrition itself wasn’t enough, water and words doing to same for baptism, ect.
Protestants also believe:
1: Christ was being allegorical when he defined the Eucharist… despite clearly being serious enough about the literal nature of his words to allow several disciples to leave him rather than “clarify” the statement as allegory.
2: Christ didn’t bother providing any central authority to guide his church, and instead decided to let a random group of people assembly a Book of writings sometime three-hundred years after his death, and then let everyone interpret it for themselves, even though they may arrive at different conclusions on important issues.
3: The “real” church mysteriously vanished immediately after his death and then was magically “rediscovered” fifteen hundred years later by a Catholic monk with severe scrupulosity…
… What Protestants believe has about as much impact on Catholicism as a feather has on a mountain.
Now I accept the Sacraments, but I don’t know if there are special prayers that work for exorcism.
Why do you accept the Sacraments?
I’ll assume it’s because you accept that the Church has the authority to define what they are. (If not, then please tell me, why? )
Why, then, do you not accept that the Church also has the authority to define specific prayers for exorcism (especially considering that they define specific, necessary, prayers for all the other sacraments.)
I know a traditionalist lady who says that prayers know used by exorcized are wrong because they mention Mary, which wasn’t mentioned before,
This lady is, strictly speaking, wrong. She doesn’t have the authority, the Church does. I know a “traditionalist” lady who thinks it’s fine to use contraceptives. That doesn’t mean it is. This is why we, unlike Protestants, rely on the authority of the Church, rather than personal opinion; to avoid nonsense like this. Catholics who expound beliefs like this do not have enough trust in Christ’s guidance.
and that the New Mass does not have the same power over demons that Old Mass.
One again, misguided mistrust and a refusal to accept Christ’s promise to protect the Church. Also, a significant lack of understanding of history. The early mass was much closer to the new mass than the Traditional Latin Mass. The form of the mass has changed several times throughout history, the TLM just had the longest uninterrupted run. That doesn’t mean it’s any worse, and in some ways I personally do think it’s better; but both masses are perfectly and completely valid and full. No one mass confers greater graces or has “more power” than the other.
So is the argument here being made that the prayers approved by the Church are always the most effective for that period of time until they are reformed?
As I said before, we cannot judge effectiveness. That is up to God. The reason the church defines certain prayers is because it helps people express themselves clearly. I know that I personally have a hard time praying off the cuff; I turn to defined prayers because they help me express what I am praying about in a clear fashion that
I can easily understand and contemplate as I’m praying it. Certain other prayers, such as the Apostle’s Creed or the Rite of Exorcism, have a very specific form for very specific reasons.
With the Apostle’s Creed, you can’t really ad-lib a prayer like that. It is a concise and exact expression of the Christian Faith that cannot be altered without losing some of its truth. With the Rite of Exoricsm, the Church has outlined the prayers to help both the Priest and the individual being possessed. With exorcism, the Priest is literally fighting a spiritual battle against evil in its purest form. This is not some simple prayer reading, it is a deeply troubling and exhaustive experience. (You should read the book that was released recently… I think it’s Called
Demons, Deliverance and Discernment; it talks about the strains put on a priest during an exorcism, along with a host of other topics in this vein that you’d probably find pretty fascinating based on this conversation.) The prescribed prayers are there so that the Priest can focus on them and their task completely, rather than having to come up with something on the fly.
What of the Luminous Mysteries? Is the rosary stronger with these mysteries?
The Rosary can’t get stronger, or weaker. It is simply the Rosary. It is exactly as strong as it needs to be, based on God’s discernment of our needs. You really seem to have a flawed understanding of what prayers is… It’s not “I’ll say this many rosaries in exchange for this much grace.” It’s, “Lord, I am opening myself up to you, please send what graces you know I need unto me, and bring me into deeper communion with you.”
