Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@garage.att.com (Joseph H Buehler) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Exorcism on 20/20 tonight, Friday 5 May 1991 Message-ID: Date: 14 Apr 91 02:49:43 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 24 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article bobv@hprnd.rose.hp.com (Bob Vaughan) writes: I also found it interesting that they implied that this is a fairly recent thing after centuries of non-practise. Perhaps this is true in the Catholic church, but outside the Catholic church it has been constantly going on for a long time. I didn't see the show, so can't comment in detail on what they said. I've read accounts of several exorcisms in this century, however, all in the U.S., performed by Catholic priests. I had never heard that levitation was a common occurence so much so that the RC church uses it as one of their four criteria in determining if a person is demon possessed. Are there any scriptural examples of this? Does anyone have a copy of the Roman ritual? It has the major signs in the back. In an account of an exorcism that happened in the Midwest in the 1920's or so, the person being exorcised flew off the bed up to the ceiling. One of the more somber things that occurs to me on this subject is that there are priests who specialize in this. The drain on them, from coming into such close contact with such tremendous evil, must be tremendous.