Catholic Demon-Making

Professionally and personally, I do know something about exorcism. I even performed an exorcism myself -- albeit under duress. Twenty years ago, I was doing my Ph.D. research among Catholic faith healers in India. I was recording an exchange between a Catholic exorcist and a possessed woman when the exorcist left the room and pointed to me saying, "He'll finish the job." Not knowing what else to do, I laid hands on the woman, who subsequently barked like a dog and then gave me a smile before she left the room.

Of course, I wasn't performing the Roman Rite of Exorcism -- the proper way to exorcise demons that the Vatican is teaching and promoting. And that's part of the reason why the Rome has become more concerned with how exorcism is done. There's been too much freelancing going on, particularly in South Asia and Africa where lay-Catholic exorcists have been at least as prominent as their priestly counter-parts and where Catholic varieties of casting out demons mesh quite nicely with well-established cultural expectations and practices.

As much as exorcism might be about casting out demons, it's really about bringing back the priest.

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