You know, I truly despise talking about this subject now, but I also realize that it's my duty to do so.  I know that it will probably be my duty for quite some time.  Some of the stuff I will say in this "blog" will be a little strong, so be warned if you're uber-religious.

The demonic stuff is very scary indeed.  No doubts about it.  I fear society is on the very brink of a demonic epidemic.  And where is the Roman Catholic Church in all of this?

If you go through a demonic haunting, you're probably going to come out the other end finding everything demonic and conspiracy-like.  You need to realize this and get a grasp on whatever reality you have left in your life.

It took me a good while to get stable again.  I withdrew from college the very semester I was supposed to graduate, left a lot of my friends hanging and was completely unhealthy for a 22-year-old.  When I meet other priests and "adults" who've done this work and I tell them what I've done, many of them become infuriated over the fact that I was invited to do this to begin with.  Well, let me say that if I were 40-years-old and a 22-year-old told me the same thing, I'd be angry as well.  But these are the cards I've been dealt and there's nothing I can do about it now.

Does it infuriate me to some extent?  Oh yes, the Roman Catholic Church makes me very angry indeed.  They are hypocritical and ignorant in many regards, and I say this not because I'm a silly young adult who’s joining the fad of questioning authority.  I say this because I've experienced the ignorance first-hand.  In fact, I'm still working with the Church on occasion, and all the same, some part of the Church still manages to piss me off on a regular basis.  Trust me, my book will go into some detail about this.

My take on the Church has been sore ever since I got involved with them in the first place.  Let me say for the record that there are some priests within the Church, to whom I still work with, that I admire and appreciate very much.  I also consider myself a practicing Catholic.  But the Church is unknowingly causing problems for many out there.

The trouble came when suddenly I was being told from multiple sides that I shouldn't be doing this work.  Their reasons?  Because I was too young, because I didn't have enough faith, because I wasn't leading a good Catholic life, because I wasn't following canon law and yadda yadda.  The only person I want to hear say I shouldn't be doing this work - and trust me, I'll listen - is from God, whom I'd like to argue picked me in the first place.
 
I have a very interesting story that will show you where I'm coming from.  A family whom felt that their house was infested by demons called us.  They even contacted their local Catholic Church who referred them to a Deliverance minister/priest.  This priest turned them down, and later, another priest actually recommended PRS!  I was quite surprised.  To this day, I still get contacts from people who said they went to the Church and someone discreetly told them to contact PRS.  How bizarre, but that's not the point.  Later, when this case turned out to be, in my best guess, demonic, I handed it over to a Deliverance minister who happened to be the same man who turned it away at the beginning.  This man whooped and hollered at my involvement and felt that I put this woman in grave danger and if it weren't for him and his crew, this family wouldn't have been saved.  I made the point to this priest that he and his team turned the couple down to begin with, to which he never confirmed nor denied nor defended.

Now, is it logical to say that a priest should be doing this work more so than a 22-year-old man?  Absolutely.  I don’t deny that priests should be doing this work.  The problem comes when families are turned away.  You want to know how many people contacted me and, when we tell them that they should consult religious clergy, they tell me in frustration that they already did and they turned them away?  A lot.  This is what’s frustrating to me.  If the Catholic Church and other religious organizations cannot do their job, then who is left to pick up the slack?

We are.  Organizations like PRS are, and people like me are.  The Catholic Church leaves it to us “ill-prepared, non-Catholic abiding” citizens to go out there and do what is every priests’ duty.  One man whom I agree highly with is Father Gabriel Amorth, who feels that almost every priest out there is failing in their duty of the cloth to pick up their Holy Water and fight the forces of darkness that attack the living.  I know that if I ever meet him and tell him my tales, Father Amorth’s eyes will probably bulge out of his sockets and he would probably try to excommunicate me from the Church, but that’s okay.  I still believe Amorth is right for giving every priest a beating for their incompetence. 

During this same case, I ran to a Church late at night to try and get some Holy Water and a rosary for protection.  The priest looked at me in his comfortable pajamas and said, “Do you know what you’re getting yourself in to?”  I then invited him to come with us, to which he declined.  Well, the question you need to ask yourself father is, do you know what you’re ignoring?  Do you know what you’re leaving us “common folk” to deal with?  It’d give me much pleasure to not have to tackle on a demonic case again, but I know I’m going to have to.  Because people don’t know where to turn.

Sure, we’re living in an age of medicine, space travel and psychology.  But we still have priests.  And if we continue to believe in the forces of darkness, and if we continue to witness the growing threat of something dark creeping up into the hearts of men, women and children, at times controlling them and making their loved ones despair, then these priests need to do what they’re called to do.  And it’s only when they don’t take up on their responsibilities that we find others doing so.  I'm not saying that a priest needs to throw reason and science out the window.  I'm also not saying that priests need to stop all of their other priestly duties in order to focus on the demonic.  I'm angry and frustrated with the priests who do NOTHING when the opportunity, or calling, rather, comes for them to perform their priestly duties.

And I’m certainly not condoning just anyone to go out there with some Holy Water and a crucifix.  In fact, after the past year, I’m more in agreement with these priests that it should be left to religious specialists.  And I’ll easily admit that I’m far from saintly, but I’m also not a godless heathen, either.  But again, the only problem is that these specialists aren’t pulling through.  I’ll pull myself out of the trenches as soon as the Church sends a replacement.  But that has yet to happen.

So, for all the priests out there condemning paranormal investigators and rogue deliverance ministers: spend less time yapping and more time doing.  We’re not going anywhere until either Hell freezes over or until you’re capable of reclaiming the load that many of you have dropped and abandoned.

Edit: I welcome any member of the parish, or anyone else who is performing Deliverance work or similar, to respond to this editorial.  I will gladly post your responses as long as they are valid, fair (you’re not making senseless ramblings) and coherent.