Generational Healing Mass

[palmas85]

yes, exactly-I think there is confusion with the Healing Masses and the Family-tree or Generational (intergenerational)healing Masses.
The Cancellor called me yesterday and I tried to explain as best as I could. He said he had never heard of this type of Mass but said that since the Priests I mentioned were in good standing it meant that what they were doing was probably OK and that it was probably just a “healing” Mass. So again, no real definite answer. I still wonder about the article from Catholic On-line about the Korean Bishops condemning these Masses- I mentioned that article to the Chancellor but he did not know about it and said maybe it was something different. Back to square on -forget it , Oivay, I give up

Actually the parishes that offer these type of masses advertise them as being exactly that, Generational Healing Masses or family tree Masses. They are careful to separate them from a normal healing Mass which is completely different. If you google it and read the bulletins from the Churches that offer them the difference is plain to see. They are not the same thing and do not in any way purport to serve the same purpose.

Just because a Priest is in good standing doesn’t mean that he does everything right. Let us not forget the Barney Mass of a while back in which a Priest in good standing dresses up in a Barbey the dinosaur costume and invites the congregation up for a Barney blessing. This after a Mass in which Extraordinary Ministers costumed as devils and pirates handed out Holy Communion or any of the thousand other aberations we’'ve had thrown at us in the name of inclusivity and progressive thought…

 

[peregrine]

…but why is it that in some families you see the same problem of, lets say, alcoholism, abusive relationships, abortion just to name a few, seem to run in families. It is with the intention to break this “spirit” of evil so to speak for which I thought these Masses were helpful. You ask God to bind and gag and send to the nearest Tabernacle these bad spirits that plague us. This seemed OK to me.Is this wrong?

 

[palmas85]

My friend Palmas will understand this. My cathedral parish has a relic of Blessed Father Seelos which is used for the monthly healing Mass. This is a “healing” Mass in which those that are sick come forward to be blessed with the relic. Fr. Seelos died from yellow fever in New Orleans ministering to the plague victims.
That’s what I call a “healing” Mass.

I don’t need to be “healed” because my great grandfathers held and sold slaves. What does their sin have to do with me? The very concept of generational healing Masses is antithetical to Catholic theology.

Here’s another thought. Just how far back, generation wise, do we go? If I had a Norse ancestor, Ragnar the Vicious, should I be healed for his deeds a thousand years ago? I asked this very question of my brother and, of course, didn’t get an answer.

Apparently this line of thinking is that all sins committed by anyone in your family tree going back I guess to Adam and Eve carry a cumulative weight on you and that this is what causes you to have problems today, poverty, bad relationships, anger management issues , losing a job, anything at all. These Masses claim that in order to be free from this generational curse, you must pray for their sins to be forgiven, and that then and only then will your life get better as a result. I see absolutely nothing Catholic in that line of thinking at all.

Have you been to St Patricks lately? They have just been given as a second class relic a chasuble and stole that belonged to St Ignatious Loyola. Father wore them last Sunday, Truly remarkable.

 

[palmas85]

…but why is it that in some families you see the same problem of, lets say, alcoholism, abusive relationships, abortion just to name a few, seem to run in families. It is with the intention to break this “spirit” of evil so to speak for which I thought these Masses were helpful. You ask God to bind and gag and send to the nearest Tabernacle these bad spirits that plague us. This seemed OK to me.Is this wrong?

The Church has never taught that evil spirits plague certain families generationaly, although it does happen apparently in certain types of possession where the family invites the demon in and raises the family around it… While true if I come from an abusive family there is a good chance that I might be abusive myself, that has nothing to do with evil spirits dogging the family. There are just as many who come from abusive family backgrounds that do not perpetuate the cycle. Ditto for alcoholics and other problems we face as well.

I pose a question here. Why does God permit evil if he is all powerful? Why does he permit suffering? Why does he allow bad things to happen to good people if it is in his power to stop it? This goes all the way back to St. Augustine who couldn’t accept Christianity for a long time partially because he couldn’t accept the thought of a soverign God permitting evil. He didn’t accept it for a lot of other reasons as well but that was one of the main ones.

These are the questions that the founders of the generational healing Masses apparently were trying to answer by establishing this type of Mass. If it is not your fault then it must be someone elses. So they came up with the idea that your ancestors behavior and sins are somehow passed on to you. The way to improve your life and free yourself from their sins and the curse following the family and thus better yourself is to pray for them.

And that my friend has never been taught by the Catholic Church.

Pray for the dead, of course.
Free their souls from Purgatory, of course:thumbsup: .

But you do it for them. Not for you. Not to improve your life.

 

[Peter_Michael]

It all depends upon what one means by “curses.”

Church teachings do not support the idea that personal sin can be passed down from parent to child. The child is not responsible for the sin of his parent or grandparent or ancestor.

However, the effects of sin can be certainly be passed down.

For example:

The sin of lust can result in viral infection of one’s wife and her subsequent children with the AIDS virus.

The sin of alcohol and drug abuse can injure the health of the unborn child in a mother’s womb.

The sin of lust by a male ancestor can impact the behavior of his sons and grandsons.

A male with sexual addiction can pass on the behaviors and attitudes of sexual addiction towards women as sexual objects to his sons.

Children who are sexually abused can blame themselves and see themselves as bad and gravitate to spouses who treat them abusively.

Thus, there are many ways the effects of personal sin can be passed down through the generations.

Then, there are genuine curses that can be passed on.

For example, people involved with the occult can become oppressed even possessed by evil spirits.

These evil spirits can also oppress their loved ones.

For example, in 1983, I met a women who had gone to a witch in Mexico to help cure a child.

The witch cast a spell that helped the child but then demanded more money than the woman could pay her. The witch in a rage cast a spell on the woman and her family. I found out about her story as a member of a hospice team that went to her home to support her as she was dying of terminal cancer of the uterus/ovaries.

When I came to her home with the hospice nurse, it was about sunset. As I got out of the car I heard a strange bird; it sounded both like a bird and a human and I remarked to the nurse that I had never heard such a bird call and I knew the birds of the area. The hospice nurse went to the one room house to examine the woman. Her son came out of the house and relayed the story of the curse to me. He told me the witch had asked the devil to send a lost soul from hell to haunt the woman and her family forever. He told me that the lost soul revealed itself at sunset by its strange call both like a bird and a human. Surprised, I told him that I heard that call. At that moment, an invisible cloud descended upon me and the young man. It felt like a million million invisible mosquitoes swarming about me whispering words that I could not understand. The hair on the back of my head stood up on end. And, he said to me, “You feel that too, don’t you.” I was terrified but I could not think. I was so confused by this entity. I tried to pray the Lord’s Prayer but I could not remember it! Finally, I kept repeated the name of Jesus over and over and it finally lifted.

Priests celebrate Masses for the dead to free them from purgatory; priests also celebrate healing Masses to free those oppressed by demonic spirits and the effects of intergenerational sins.

The results can be dramatic as the loved ones are freed from purgatory and demonic oppression and the ill effects of intergenerational sin are healed.

 

[benedictgal]

It all depends upon what one means by “curses.”

Church teachings do not support the idea that personal sin can be passed down from parent to child. The child is not responsible for the sin of his parent or grandparent or ancestor.

However, the effects of sin can be certainly be passed down.

For example:

The sin of lust can result in viral infection of one’s wife and her subsequent children with the AIDS virus.

The sin of alcohol and drug abuse can injure the health of the unborn child in a mother’s womb.

The sin of lust by a male ancestor can impact the behavior of his sons and grandsons.

A male with sexual addiction can pass on the behaviors and attitudes of sexual addiction towards women as sexual objects to his sons.

Children who are sexually abused can blame themselves and see themselves as bad and gravitate to spouses who treat them abusively.

Thus, there are many ways the effects of personal sin can be passed down through the generations.

Then, there are genuine curses that can be passed on.

For example, people involved with the occult can become oppressed even possessed by evil spirits.

These evil spirits can also oppress their loved ones.

For example, in 1983, I met a women who had gone to a witch in Mexico to help cure a child.

The witch cast a spell that helped the child but then demanded more money than the woman could pay her. The witch in a rage cast a spell on the woman and her family. I found out about her story as a member of a hospice team that went to her home to support her as she was dying of terminal cancer of the uterus/ovaries.

When I came to her home with the hospice nurse, it was about sunset. As I got out of the car I heard a strange bird; it sounded both like a bird and a human and I remarked to the nurse that I had never heard such a bird call and I knew the birds of the area. The hospice nurse went to the one room house to examine the woman. Her son came out of the house and relayed the story of the curse to me. He told me the witch had asked the devil to send a lost soul from hell to haunt the woman and her family forever. He told me that the lost soul revealed itself at sunset by its strange call both like a bird and a human. Surprised, I told him that I heard that call. At that moment, an invisible cloud descended upon me and the young man. It felt like a million million invisible mosquitoes swarming about me whispering words that I could not understand. The hair on the back of my head stood up on end. And, he said to me, “You feel that too, don’t you.” I was terrified but I could not think. I was so confused by this entity. I tried to pray the Lord’s Prayer but I could not remember it! Finally, I kept repeated the name of Jesus over and over and it finally lifted.

Priests celebrate Masses for the dead to free them from purgatory; priests also celebrate healing Masses to free those oppressed by demonic spirits and the effects of intergenerational sins.

The results can be dramatic as the loved ones are freed from purgatory and demonic oppression and the ill effects of intergenerational sin are healed.

Now, I can understand your comments. In my neck of South Texas, we have such individuals as curanderos and brujas (wiches) who are extremely popular. People will visit curanderos to have curses removed (that were placed by a means of brujeria-witchcraft).

The irony in all of this is that my city is a very Catholic commnity. Yet, these practices are very common. As a diocese, we have failed to address this issue. Granted, curanderos and brujas have been around for centuries and form part of the culture; however, we don’t catechize the faithful on these issues. What compounds the issue even more is that many of these practices wind up being tied to the veneration of saints and the Blessed Mother. But, that’s for another thread altogether. I just wanted you to realize that I understand your perspective on curses.

Now, that being said, I still have some very serious reservations about these so-called “Generational Healing Masses”. First of all, there is nothing in the Roman Missal that makes allowances for such a Mass. By this I mean that there are no propers (collect, prayer over the gifts and post-communion prayer), prefaces and appropriate scriptural readings for “generational healing”.

While we do have some leeway, this is granted only if we use the apppropriate propers, prefaces and readings. We can’t make up things as we go along. No priest or bishop has the authority to create his own Mass.