Exorcism.

[Spirithound]

Well, I take the Catechism to be God’s infallible word after the Bible. So please let me know what the original document says in Latin. I hope it’s only a translation mistake.

1673 …Sollemnis exorcismus, « magnus exorcismus » appellatus, non potest fieri nisi a presbytero cum Episcopi permissione.

potest, according to Cassell’s Latin Dictionary, has primary meaning of “power”, and secondary meaning of “authority”.

 

[Benadam]

Well, so it’s only a question of risk. So the lay man does have the power to drive out demons, as is demonstrated in Luke 9:49-50.

A lay person can expel through adjuration. There are many factors involved that can’t be ignored. The disposition of the person possessed, the circumstances that allowed the possession, the possessed persons state once the faculties are released. An exorcism not followed up with proper care can place the soul in a worse condition than before.

Anyone can command an evil spirit to leave in the Name of Christ but what if the demon is there under the command of another who has rights over it? Perhaps the adjuration of the lay exorcist are eneogh to compel the demon but it can’t act because it would violate an oath to another. These aren’t meaningless matters for good or evil spirits. Only the Church has rights over boundaries set up by evil spirits, or doors permitting domain, or evil oaths between persons. A priest wielding the authority Jesus handed over to the Church to command demons removes any appeal to rightfull dominion an evil spirit may claim. A demon may claim that it can’t leave because of an oath. It may even be true. The lay exorcist can only appeal to the authority Christ handed to the Church. The authority of the Apostles invested in the Bishop wielded by the Priest has power over any evil claims.

 

[WesleyF]

A lay person can expel through adjuration. There are many factors involved that can’t be ignored. The disposition of the person possessed, the circumstances that allowed the possession, the possessed persons state once the faculties are released. An exorcism not followed up with proper care can place the soul in a worse condition than before.

Anyone can command an evil spirit to leave in the Name of Christ but what if the demon is there under the command of another who has rights over it? Perhaps the adjuration of the lay exorcist are eneogh to compel the demon but it can’t act because it would violate an oath to another. These aren’t meaningless matters for good or evil spirits. Only the Church has rights over boundaries set up by evil spirits, or doors permitting domain, or evil oaths between persons. A priest wielding the authority Jesus handed over to the Church to command demons removes any appeal to rightfull dominion an evil spirit may claim. A demon may claim that it can’t leave because of an oath. It may even be true. The lay exorcist can only appeal to the authority Christ handed to the Church. The authority of the Apostles invested in the Bishop wielded by the Priest has power over any evil claims.

Thanks for this post! Now I see what Jesus meant when he said “Whatever you bind will be bound in heaven…”. This authority to bind and lose was given by Jesus to his bishops, the apostles! So you’re right. Although a lay person may command an evil spirit to leave a person, it may be possible that the evil spirit takes possession of this person some other time. So we need to exercise the power of “binding” which is entrusted to the bishops. That way, the evil spirit will never enter the person again.

 

[mark5630]

I have two responses regarding this topic. When I was in the seminary the topic of exorcism was brought up in a Catholic theology class. The Priest who was giving the class responded to a question of whether harm can be done during the the act of the exorcism. He told us that the Priest involved in the exorcism can not be mortally wounded during the exorcism because of powers received during his ordination. He said that permission is required by the Bishop because only one or two Priests of each archdiocese are given the training to perform exorcisms. The men chosen to be Exorcists are Priests who have been ordained for a long period time, have a profound faith and prayer life, and are viewed by the Archbishop as being very holy. It is these Priests that are called the Exorcists of the church. He also told us that God allows people to be possessed by the devil not because of their sin or weakness in faith but to be illustrations to others that the Devil not only exists but is a powerful entity. It is due to this understanding, that possessed people can not be mortally wounded. It was then asked if this is so, why would God allow so much pain to be endured by those possessed. He responded that the actual pain which we see can not be known for sure that the person actually feels the pain. He also told us that those who endure the possession does not remember being possessed nor the exorcism.

My second comment is that possessions occur often through out the world but rarely are know to the outside world. I concur that the evidence of a possession takes time to be fully materialize which is more often than not viewed as an illness at first. It takes a long time to determine that the person is actually possessed by the church, and then a Exorcist is assigned by the church. The exorcism is throughly planned, preparations are done, and the Exorcist has a period of profound pray time. The exorcism itself can be extremely long and not at all as portrayed in the movies.

I hope that this though lengthy brings new light to this discussion.