There Are Hundreds of Practicing Exorcists in the U.S.
A recent survey of modern exorcists reveals a surprising lack of drama in the business of casting out demons.
This Halloween, just shy of the 40th anniversary of the movie The Exorcist, has seen the novel’s author and the movie’s producer, William Peter Blatty, get an extra dollop of the attention he sees around this holiday. Not that people aren’t already obsessed by the subject—The Exorcist remains, in inflation adjusted box office, the most popular R-rated film ever.
At my own Catholic high school, the Christian Brother teachers (yeah, the brandy guys) could be remarkably post-Vatican II flip and modern about most things doctrinal, but they got sober really fast about not messing around with demon-y things. Their sudden seriousness always made me wonder if they knew something. Every once in a while, I still wonder about that.
I’m not the only one. Writing last year in The Journal of Christian Ministry, University of Kentucky psychometrician Kenneth D. Royal described his survey of modern American exorcists.
Those last three words, outside of Hollywood, might sound like an oxymoron. Beside the odd story about some loony parents whose child dies while the ham-handed cast out demons, surely any instance of demonic possession is just a certain kind of psychological malady, and exorcism just a ridiculous exercise. If somebody’s better after an exorcism, light a candle to Saint Placebo. Plus, garden-variety evil seems to be doing a damned good job without extra-curricular shenanigans.
In such cases good communication with priests is recommended, but we are surprised that in 21st century and in Europe, there are still experts and clerics who believe that some types of schizophrenia are due to demonic possession. Our intention was to ask an expert cleric from the Madrid archdiocese to try to convince the patient that her symptoms were due to a mental disorder, in an effort to improve her insight. To our surprise, clerics assumed that the patient&apos;s psychotic symptoms were due to a malign presence.
In the U.S., exorcism takes on a mostly Christian cast, although evennon-Abrahamic religions recognize the practice. The bias here is probably because culturally we’re mostly Christian and the New Testament is chock full of demons being cast out, usually by Jesus but sometimes by his followers in his name. But there are demons in the Old Testament, too, and in Jesus’ day casting them out was a recognized job in the Jewish community. Professional exorcists also were acknowledged in the early days of the Christian church.
Two millennia later, in 1972, Pope Paul VI abolished the minor order of exorcist, but that was more of a human resources reshuffling of roles (porter and catechist also got the papal boot) than a statement that exorcism was passé. Nonetheless, in 1999 the Vatican updated its 300-plus-year-old exorcism regulations and said an allegedly possessed person should be given a thorough medical and psychological exam before phoning the Jesuit hotline.
Between talking with Christian leaders, authors of texts on exorcism, and an Internet posting, Royal was able to reach out to 316 (!) American exorcists. Some 170 answered his survey. Fifteen of these 170 took part in an additional personal interview. Most of the larger set were men, most were Protestant (all the big denominations, including the so-called mainline ones, were represented), and most had “set demonized people free” between 11 and 1,000 times.
Furthermore, most practicing exorcists (but not Catholic ones) believe that “any mature Christian” has the necessary authority to cast out demons.
Nonetheless, fasting, along with being patient and humble, were seen as necessary or at least useful preparations for the casting out. “Satan," One interviewee told Royal, "has no equipment to fight humility.” That might be a useful prescription for fighting any sort of devil these days.
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