Has anyone ever met the exoricst/theologian Fr. Chad Ripperger?

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Tis_Bearself said:
More controversial are things like
  • he has recently made statements that Democrats are “possessed and in league with the devil” and has aligned himself with a group of priests that include Fr. Heilman and Fr. Altman, who have gotten very caught up with the 2020 election result and portraying it as a battle for the USA between good (Trump and Republicans) and evil (Biden and Democrats).
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Please provide a reference. It seems odd that a person who teaches that possession is very rare would make this statement. The closest mention that I am aware of is that Satan uses people in the party.
 
Never met him, don’t have any particular opinion on him. I do find his legions of fans who say “Father Ripperger says…” as though it’s the voice of God to be annoying.
 
MtnDwellar said:
Please provide a reference. It seems odd that a person who teaches that possession is very rare would make this statement. The closest mention that I am aware of is that Satan uses people in the party.
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The primary source is an interview that Fr. Ripperger gave on Fr. Heilman’s regular podcast/ video series. The actual video is here, and there are direct references to the election and to Trump etc in the first half hour.


A summary of it was published by The Sun. I realize The Sun is a tabloid, but I have also been following Fr. Heilman as a member of US Grace Force for about 2-3 years now, prayed most of the novenas, etc. and lately the entire focus of his page and all his content is the US Election and that Trump/ Republicans are “good” and Biden/ Democrats are “evil” or “demonic”. He is a big supporter of Fr. Altman as well. Lately Fr. Heilman’s pages have really gone overboard with politics and conspiracy theories (about both the election and COVID), so the Sun’s summary is basically correct and is understood in that light by Fr. Heilman’s followers. I read the Grace Force Facebook page regularly and see this first hand.

 
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I agree they made it sound very tabloid-ish. Fr. Ripperger and Fr. Heilman are both more careful, and less rash, than Fr. Altman. I also don’t doubt that both of them may have conversed with their bishops about how best to discuss these topics.

However, the gist of what Fr. Ripperger said is clear, and Fr. Heilman has been promoting that novena prayer as basically praying for Trump to win the election - that’s how his entire group understands it.

I did like the part about 40 minutes in where Fr. Heilman and Fr. Ripperger both stressed the point that Catholic laypeople should NOT be calling out demons themselves. They consistently stress this point, even though we have had a number of laypeople posting on this forum claiming they can use Fr. Ripperger’s prayer book to cast demons out themselves.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
However, the gist of what Fr. Ripperger said is clear, and Fr. Heilman has been promoting that novena prayer as basically praying for Trump to win the election - that’s how his entire group understands it.
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Is this reply intended as a criticism? Praying for what one wants is exactly what Christ told us to do. I expect that Joe Biden’s supporters are praying for him, although I’m not aware of any priests or organizations encouraging it.
Tis_Bearself said:
They consistently stress this point, even though we have had a number of laypeople posting on this forum claiming they can use Fr. Ripperger’s prayer book to cast demons out themselves.
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Casting out demons would be the wrong phraseology. Deliverance from demonic influence is more appropriate.
 
The persons to which I refer were not simply praying for deliverance or in support of the exorcist. However, they are not on this thread, and I intended my comment on that to be a compliment to Fr. Ripperger.

As for praying for the election result, I don’t object to it, and have done my own share of praying, but I also think it needs to be tempered with a healthy dose of “Thy will be Done” as opposed to “My/ Our will be Done” and I am not always seeing that from the USGF contingent based on the daily social media posts by Fr. Heilman. I also do not like the demonization or near-demonization of people who do not agree with conservative political views. I agree that actual rioting and destructive acts are sinful and like all sins are motivated by the Devil, but in the context of Fr. Altman’s videos and many of the other USGF posts, it’s clear that they are going way beyond that in what they consider “demonic”. If you like that type of thinking or approve of it, fine. I don’t find it spiritually beneficial to me.

I’ll be stepping off this discussion now as I think the OP’s original question has been sufficiently answered, and much of this is just a rehash of things already discussed on other threads.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
I think the OP’s original question has been sufficiently answered, and much of this is just a rehash of things already discussed on other threads
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Actually, I don’t think anyone answered the OP’s original question…

Has anyone ever met the exorcist/theologian Fr. Chad Ripperger?
 
Never met him, don’t have any particular opinion on him. I do find his legions of fans who say “Father Ripperger says…” as though it’s the voice of God to be annoying.
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Lol, its precisely because i kept encountering that mentality, i started to ask “who is this guy?”
 
I’ve met Fr. Ripperger. We talked about exorcism and fishing. I can’t make any assessments.
 
The Chaldean Catholic Church definitely uses the explicit words of consecration. The controversy is over the limited inter-communion agreement Rome reached with the Assyrian Church of the East, as they do have one anaphora that, as you say, doesn’t explicitly include the words of the Institution Narrative… but it’s there implicitly and by intent, and the CDF deemed it valid on account of its antiquity.
 
A sincere question… I don’t want to get into a debate about Trump’s character as that has been debated a million times here… but these super political priests who are on the “Trump = heaven” and “Biden = hell” bandwagon… do they hold Trump up as a holy leader Christians should turn to and follow? I’m really curious… because that’s totally how Archbishop Vigano’s letter reads… a champion of God raised up to save all Christendom…
Or is it simply “he’s a flawed sinful non-Catholic politician who we need to support because the alternative is so much worse”? I’ve seen both views in general, but am curious which side the Uber political conservative priests tend towards.
 
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I haven’t but some priests I know are in contact with him.

He is probably the most well educated priest I know of on the internet. His phylosophy (classical thomism) and his theology and catechism (pre V-II) are solid, he has a deep understanding of human psychology, he is very clear when explaining and his sense of humor is sharp. I really can’t find a point to criticize him about, except maybe being more careful with who he hangs out with
 
Could you list all the forums that were mentioned as alternatives? I only know of Catholic Common Sense, but not sure of others.
 
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