Haunted Houses and Traditional Blessing?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Madaglan
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Madaglan

Guest
I watched an episode of A Haunting earlier today. In the episode a Catholic priest says Mass inside a haunted home, with the family. The spirits dont go away, so the priest brings a psychic! Later, the priest leads everyone in a general exorcism, which stops things a few months but ultimately does not remove the spirits /put them back where they belong.

What is the traditional Catholic treatment of a haunted house? Does the priest bless the house by sprinkling holy water in all rooms? Does he say a Low Mass on site? Just wondering.
 
Madaglan said:
I watched an episode of A Haunting earlier today.
Click to expand...
A TV show. Great. Like that is going to be accurate in any way, shape or form as it pertains to the Catholic faith.
Madaglan said:
In the episode a Catholic priest says Mass inside a haunted home, with the family. The spirits dont go away, so the priest brings a psychic! Later, the priest leads everyone in a general exorcism, which stops things a few months but ultimately does not remove the spirits /put them back where they belong.
Click to expand...
This is highly suspect. IOW, I doubt the veracity of this TV show.
Madaglan said:
What is the traditional Catholic treatment of a haunted house?
Click to expand...
Seriously?

There’s no such thing as a Catholic liturgy for a haunted house.

Demons are real, “ghosts” are not. If someone believes they are being attacked by demonic forces, they should contact their priest who will work with someone who is trained to deal with demonic possession or phenomenon.
Madaglan said:
Does the priest bless the house by sprinkling holy water in all rooms? Does he say a Low Mass on site? Just wondering.
Click to expand...
Yes, a person can have their home blessed by a priest. There are standard prayers for blessing objects in the Book of Blessings. But this is a standard home blessing, nothing related to “haunted houses”.

No, typically, a Mass should not be said in a private home.
 
Your’re entitled to and have every right as a person to believe ghosts are not real. However, don’t tell me or others ghosts are not real when you have never seen or experienced them before. Ghosts and demons are real, in my personal opinion. To say demons are real and ghosts are not sounds really silly to me. Despite that, I respect your opinions.

If a good Catholic feels their house and / or property is haunted, than I would recommened that they contact their local paranormal investigation organization, and if they do find something paranormal going on, than that is when you should contact your local Catholic parish.

Peace
 
I would be very wary of anything espicially of that nature that is shown on TV… The messages are confusing at best… and worse… could be dangerous… I would question the validity of any Catholic Priest who would bring a psychic to an exorcism… The Bible is very explicit about dealings with so called psychics and mediums… Deut 18

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…
St Michael the Arch Angel…
 
QUOTE by Jimmy Akin from www.catecheticsonline.com

“Ghost” is simply the German-derived equivalent of the Latin-derived word “Spirit.” That’s why the Holy Spirit is sometimes referred to as the Holy Ghost. Originally in English “ghost” and “spirit” referred to the same thing. Indeed, in German the word for “spirit” is still “geist.” Rather than get hung up on semantics, we may wish to analyze claims about ghosts in terms of what we know about spirits.

First, spirits exist. This is a truth of the faith.

Second, spirits can sometimes manifest themselves to those in this life, as in the apparitions of the saints.”
Code: 
The following paragraphs are from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future.48 Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another's credulity.
 
1ke said:
No, typically, a Mass should not be said in a private home.
Click to expand...
Though I agree with most of your post, I’d have to disagree with you on this part. Masses can be said at private homes. One example is for an Enthronement Ceremony to the Sacred Heart. catholictradition.org/Two-Hearts/enthronement-3.htm
We had this done at our home and it was very beautiful.

Another would be a Mass on a Rogation Day, which generally takes place on a farm of one of the parishioners from the church.

Of course, you did use the qualifier “typically”, so I concede that you may have already been aware of these. 🙂
 
Madaglan said:
I watched an episode of A Haunting earlier today. In the episode a Catholic priest says Mass inside a haunted home, with the family. The spirits dont go away, so the priest brings a psychic! Later, the priest leads everyone in a general exorcism, which stops things a few months but ultimately does not remove the spirits /put them back where they belong.

What is the traditional Catholic treatment of a haunted house? Does the priest bless the house by sprinkling holy water in all rooms? Does he say a Low Mass on site? Just wondering.
Click to expand...
The Discovery Channel series A Haunting is not a good source of information about this topic, and many of the things portrayed on the shoes are inaccurate. It’s a entertainment spook show “supposedly” based on “real” stories. Unfortunately, they are not, and many of the shows are based on the case files of the Warrens.

The series is antagonistic to the church and always portrays Catholic exorcisms being virtually ineffective, while portraying non-catholic and psychic “ghost removals” as effective. In short, if you’re not knowledgeable on this subject, then the show can present an obstacle to your faith.
 
Generally as a rule a demon will not go until the source of why it is there has been discovered and remedied in the correct manner. Exorcist priest normally will have lay people working along them who have the gift of spiritual discernment - these people are normally very devote Catholics.

Now I am not sure if this ‘psychic’ was a gifted lay person or if the word has been used because the general public understands this term. I haven’t watched this program.

Not all exorcisms work completely and many exorcists will continue to work with the person for many years after. Regular (yearly) house blessings are common in these situations. Holding a mass in the home in no unheard of either.
 
TheHolyTrinity said:
Now I am not sure if this ‘psychic’ was a gifted lay person or if the word has been used because the general public understands this term. I haven’t watched this program.
Click to expand...
I have seen these shows myself. I watched them to compare with my studies on the subject of Spiritual Warfare. They are most likely not using the word “psychic” to mean “sensitive” or “charismatic”. Many of the episodes come from the case book of the Warren’s. They were the people involved in promoting the Amytiville Hoax. The information in the Discovery Channel series is highly inaccurate. It is not to be trusted.

If people emulate what they see on this show, they could end up in real spiritual trouble (the kind that leads to having to seek out an exorcist).
 
Didn’t Jesus himself admit that ghosts exist when he said to his deciples in Luke 24:39, “See by my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has no flesh and bones as you can see I have.”
 
Sonic said:
If people emulate what they see on this show, they could end up in real spiritual trouble (the kind that leads to having to seek out an exorcist).
Click to expand...
People are doing this sort of thing on their own already. Most do not have strong religious ties or a strong believe system and do not think to seek the assistance of the Church.
 
I get a kick out of that show, but keep in mind it’s a dramatization, and they use creative license when telling the stories. I would not trust that one to be accurate where the church is concerned.
Other ghost series I have seen have used priests in a much more realistic way. They have counseled and blessed the paranormal investigators to help them rid themselves of evil spirits, but that was an extreme case. In another show, the priest did do an exorcism and house cleansing, and it worked.

There are different types of hauntings. Beside the demonic, which should be only handled by the Church, there are intelligent and residual hauntings. Residual are just slivers of time being replayed, and nothing to worry about. Intelligent are those spirits that are actually here, whether because of a traumatic death, sudden death, fear of what’s to come, or some other reason. They are humans like us, but just confused, or angry, or loving. It’s hard to put labels on them. They are as individual as living humans.
If in doubt as to what situation you have, contact your local Church.
 
cjsull said:
There are different types of hauntings. Beside the demonic, which should be only handled by the Church, there are intelligent and residual hauntings. Residual are just slivers of time being replayed, and nothing to worry about. Intelligent are those spirits that are actually here, whether because of a traumatic death, sudden death, fear of what’s to come, or some other reason. They are humans like us, but just confused, or angry, or loving. It’s hard to put labels on them. They are as individual as living humans.
Click to expand...
Hauntings are either the result of souls from purgatory, demonic activity, or human manifested paranormal activity (as in the case of some poltergeist cases). “Intelligent” hauntings should be applied to cases where the haunting exhibits evidence of an intelligent being at work and should not having anything to do with the mode of death. Places where evil has happened does attract demons. It is possible a soul may be serving their purgatorial time in the place of their demise, but that is by no means a standard: only one of many possibilities. The jury is still out concerning the hypothesis of residual hauntings.

The thing is that your chosen description is one that might be expected from television shows on the paranormal. I wouldn’t call it accurate, and it is a prime example as to why someone should not be taking television documentaries as a source of information.

Fr. Ripperger’s Seminar on Spiritual Warfare is on this page. This is a nice crash course for the uninformed.

sensustraditionis.org/multimedia.html

For more information see my list of resources concerning exorcists, which I’ve posted here at CAF in the past. The list is in these these individual forum posts.You’ll find several EWTN audio programs to listen to on the subject.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8051732&postcount=7
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8052879&postcount=10
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8054013&postcount=11
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8054425&postcount=13
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=8058891&postcount=16

I’m constantly adding to my library of information. One book I’ve just run across is Renewal and the Powers of Darkness by Cardinal Suenens. I have not read this yet, but I thought I’d mention it anyway. The foreword for the book was written by Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Ratzinger).

Also, there is a book mentioned in the audio program by Fr. Groeschel, which would be valuable if you can find a copy of it. The book is called Satanby Fr. Bruno de Jésus-Marie (père, O.C.D.). The book is now rare, but I was able to track down the name and publisher from an old Time magazine article.

Purgatory: Explained by the Lives of the Saints by Fr. F.X. Shouppe, S.J. is another good reference resource.

This should get anyone started. There are many excellent resources on the subject. You just have to dig through reliable Catholic resources to find them.
 
I came on this looking for GHOSTS.
There are demons and there are ghosts.
I am eastern rite catholic and we DO believe in ghosts.
It is our tradition that on the Feast of Jordan when the priest blesses holy water, he comes and blesses everyone’s home.
When a person dies, we celebrate his entrance into heaven 40 days after the death with mass and some who can have huge parties.
I have seen and spoken with the ghost of my father. 4 years after he died.
My sons house was haunted but once we found out who it was, (another Ukrainian woman…for some reason Ukrainian women don’t want to leave their houses…joke) all was fine.
How many saints, like my favorite Faustina, saw ghosts. All they want are prayers.

This always confuses me, Roman Catholics seem to believe in demons and angels but not in between. They say they believe in life after death then say they don’t.

NO I am not bashing and NO I am not crazy.
 
We also believe, having had many experiences with the paranormal. In fact, I have a picture with a spirit next to me taken at a house in Gettysburg, PA. And yes, I do believe that they are there because of the way they died, or the trauma of war, or fear of moving on.

Other experiences have been with lost loved ones, and one with the previous owner of a house we lived in that had died in Vietnam (my dad knew him when he was alive, so my mom knew who he was when she saw his spirit).

But people have different opinions as to the "why"s of hauntings, and I don’t know if we will know the whole truth until we are in the same position ourselves.

I found it a great comfort to have contact with a loved one trying to bring comfort and support.
 
cjsull said:
We also believe, having had many experiences with the paranormal. In fact, I have a picture with a spirit next to me taken at a house in Gettysburg, PA. And yes, I do believe that they are there because of the way they died, or the trauma of war, or fear of moving on.
Click to expand...
A soul does not linger due to trauma or fear of moving on. That contradicts church teaching concerning last things. A soul is judged after death and either goes to heaven, purgatory, or eternal damnation. It does not need assistance from the living to move on to it’s eternal reward as many “psychics” and “ghost hunters” claim. If a soul is found to be present in a place or near a person, then it does so through express permission from God alone (either to ask for prayers for deliverance from purgatory or to perform so task from God). Even demonic presences exist through permission from God.

All these so-called claims about “Spirits” have been thoroughly investigated for centuries. Here is a prime example for those wishing to explore excellent logical refutations of much of the malarkey being passed on as truth about ghosts and other phenomena:

The Phantom World: The History and Philosophy of Spirits and Apparitions by the theologian Fr. Augustin Calmet.

Look him up in the Catholic Encyclopedia if you don’t know who he is.

books.google.com/books?id=Z1GqcY9ow3QC&printsec=frontcover&dq=augustin+calmet&source=gbs_similarbooks_s&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Catholic Encyclopedia article:

oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Augustin_Calmet

As for the so-called “spirit” photograph, I doubt it’s a real “spirit”. Such things are easily misinterpreted by the subjective imagination, and many times the result of human or demonic trickery.
 
Well, I see what you are saying. We don’t really know why some would stick around.

I might check that stuff out sometime.

But as for the picture. LOL well, I agree that most of them are fake. The one my husband took of me with a face next to mine? Frankly, I don’t think I have two heads, one of them a reddish glow, and that looks like an old man with a beard, sunken cheeks, and a receding hairline. I’m a little better looking than that. 😛
But hey, to each his own.
I just don’t think that being a Catholic means that I’m not allowed to believe in ghosts.
Have a great day!
🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top