Indiana Exorcism

I have been following the case of demonic possession and the ensuing exorcism that happened in 2012 in Gary, Indiana. The story has only come to light now, first reported in detail in an Indianapolis Star feature article.  I saw a brief clip of an interview with the article's author, Marisa Kwiatkowski, who remained perfectly objective, never betraying her own opinion, while maintaining that she had no reason to believe that the principals involved were lying (in other words she's not going to say if these things happened or not, but everyone from the police chief to state employees believe that they saw what they saw; so judge for yourself).

I've lined to the article above, and am also linking to a commentary by Fr. Dwight Longnecker that's pretty interesting. 

A few scattered thoughts of my own.

It is a pleasant surprise to see a story like this taken seriously. I don't expect the Indianapolis Star, or any secular news outlet, to come on out and simply endorse the account. Ms. Kwiatkowski didn't actually see these events; she's dependent of the veracity of the witnesses she's interviewing and of the official reports she's read.  That they all passed the "smell test" to the point that she doesn't think they are lying is important. Stories of exorcisms and "hauntings" are either treated in an overly dramatic, sensationalistic manner, or else with total incredulity on the part of those covering the story.  Here it was treated soberly and matter-of-factly, which is how it should be when so much of the objective evidence points in one direction.

But secular journalists are not the only skeptics on matters supernatural out there.  We are living in a time when even those who are religious, especially in intellectual circles, are content to treat the Scriptures like they would a work by Shakespeare or Dickens.  The Bible is complex, and the tools of literary criticism are useful in helping to understand the text.  We shouldn't read Genesis (especially the first eleven chapters) the same way we read the Gospel of Mark, or either one the same way we read Revelation.  Jesus used parables filled with metaphor and simile, there is no reason to expect that the Spirit wouldn't inspire the human authors to do the same.  Our Lord also spoke quite plainly of spiritual realities.  If the fundamentalist errs in stopping at the literal, many on the Catholic-Protestant Mainline side err in making the whole of Scripture an appendix to Aesop's Fables.  

Jesus talks clearly about Satan and his minions.  He does so in parables and in plain speech.  When he explains the parable of the sower (MK. 4:1-20) he explains to the disciples that the birds who snatch the seeds sown on the path represent Satan who seeks to rob us of God's Word.  Is it possible that He would explain a metaphor with another metaphor? If so He wouldn't have been a very good teacher.  Jesus cures illnesses and expels demons, and even sees a connection between illness, sin and the demonic.  A complex problem not easily understood. But our lack of understanding shouldn't lead us to extremes of fundamentalism or hyper-rationalization. We need to accept the mystery that sometimes Jesus is speaking to us in direct and unambiguous ways that nonetheless leave us in wonder, defying a "reasonable" explanation.



At times it seems like these attempted rational explanations are used to nullify the power of Jesus' words.  Rather than allowing Christ to challenge us we try to make, what Fr. Barron calls a Domesticated Jesus who is easy to follow.  Both those who think of themselves as progressives and as traditionalists do it in one way or another, and it is in truth a danger for all of us.  Traditionalist tend to gloss over the social justice aspects of the Gospel message, progressives can sometimes do the same on issues of personal morality, particularly in the area of sexuality.  A main trend in scriptural criticism over the last century and a half has been to deny the supernatural accounts in the Bible as being reflections of the pre-scientific cultural milieu in which they were written.  Jesus is thus reduced to an ethical-moral teacher who can be seen in the same line as the Buddha or Confucius.  All these are attempts to make a reasonable Jesus, but one who is not Lord, and can make no special claim on our souls.  But I do not believe that an honest reading of the Gospels backs this up.  He forces us to make a choice for Him, and to take his words seriously, if we find them "reasonable" or not. 

So yes, seeing that I think it's unlikely Jesus would explain a metaphor with another metaphor, I take His words on the topic at face value. If demons are real then we really are in the midst of a spiritual combat. While he did use parables, as I said, which in turn are filled with literary devises, we know also then that not everything that came from his mouth was meant to be taken on the level of symbol. If demons are real, and they perceive that the Eucharistic Bread is not ordinary bread, as I have come to understand, why do we act so often as if the Blessed Sacrament were merely a symbol? If invoking St. Michael makes demons enraged (not to mention calling on the Blessed Mother), and blessed olive oil applied by an exorcist to a possessed person's hands binds them to chairs, and appeals to the minister's baptism, confirmation or holy orders compels them to obey his or her commands when done in Christ's name, how can we live as if Jesus is simply one of many ways we can follow, that the Sacraments are common memorials, sacramentals are superstition, or that His concerns were limited to the material sphere?

We rail against Phariseeism, which is only right. Pharisees believed in things like the resurrection and angels, but sought doctrinal purity to the exclusion of mercy and separation from the gentiles, particularly from the Romans.  Their name is synonymous today with hypocrisy (which is a little unfair to the historical Pharisees).   But today we are also infected with Sadduceeism.  Sadducees denied the supernatural and sought accommodation with the Romans.  Today we have those who focus on the social political implications of the Gospel at the expense of the spiritual. They are exacting in their own way as to how Scripture should be interpreted and the Liturgy celebrated, but both are robbed of Grace and power in a attempt to fit into the contemporary scene and gain human acceptance. These two impulses, that of the Pharisee and of the Sadducee, are with us, and both rob the Gospel of its power.  But here I am focusing on the latter.

Social justice is important, nay essential to the Gospel message. But the preaching of social doctrine without an understanding of the supernatural reality it is grounded in reduces the Catholic Church to one of dozens of political parties that can be taken or left, or worse yet manipulated to fit the human agenda of the moment.  A focusing on the supernatural divorced from the realities of the everyday life of the polis is an opiate.  The both must be together, like our Lord's divine and human natures, for the whole Gospel to present.

As for the curious case from Gary, IN, it is the latest in a series of such happenings I've been hearing about lately. Phenomena like levitation and walking up walls is rare. Most exorcists will tell you these things happen in like one in a hundred cases, if that frequently, and demonic manifestations are rare to begin with.  But I agree with Fr. Longnecker that we are entering a dark time.  People are abandoning traditional religion but can't escape the basic human impulse to seek God and the spiritual. Many are looking in the wrong places, opening up doors to evil often without even knowing it. For our part we need to stay grounded in the Lord, follow the entire Gospel, and make the Eucharist and Reconciliation the center of our spiritual life.