That there is a thread of hostility and distortion against modern Pagan faiths within Catholicism is well documented. My own journey in exploring this murky territory started in 2006 when Catholic pilgrims attacked and threatened Pagans in Glastonbury<\/a>, leading me to wonder what exactly is being taught to Catholic youth about our faiths<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMaya Pinder, the owner of the shop, said: \u201cWe\u2019ve had to hear comments such as \u2018burn the witches\u2019, we\u2019ve had salt thrown in our faces and at our shop, people were openly saying they were \u2018cleansing Glastonbury of paganism\u2019.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I truly thought this was just an isolated, ugly, incident. A few bad apples who took the whole \u201ccrusader\u201d bit a tad too seriously and thought that cursing and throwing salt on innocent people was a laugh. However, over time I realized that this incident didn\u2019t happen in a vacuum, and that the Catholic Church was becoming radicalized around the notion of \u201coccult\u201d practices<\/a> through the process of reviving exorcisms<\/a>. The idea of demonic possession, and that it can be caused by\u00a0involvement\u00a0with modern Pagan religions, has been re-mainstreamed within Catholic thought<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe second level of demonic influence is obsession. At this level, there is still no sign of anything paranormal happening. The person starts to give in to the temptation. He may become reclusive and secretive as he becomes obsessed with the evil that he is entertaining.\u00a0This evil may be in the form of occult activity, violent video games or movies, pornography, drug abuse, sexual perversion, sexual promiscuity, or obsession with power and violence.<\/strong>\u201c<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n That\u2019s\u00a0\u00a0Fr. Dwight Longenecker, and he wrote that for Patheos<\/a>. Which, I am assured, is a rather mainstream and prominent site for religion coverage.<\/p>\n But perhaps I\u2019m overstating my case? I don\u2019t want to be accused of sensationalism, or raising a question over phantoms and rumor, so let\u2019s turn to an article in today\u2019s National Catholic Register<\/a>,\u00a0\u00a0the oldest national Catholic newspaper in the United States, owned by a popular Catholic television network<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cEvil has not fallen out of fashion. Exorcism is a rite developed \u2014 and promulgated \u2014 to meet a need that still exists, due to more people delving into New Age and occult practices<\/strong>.\u00a0And, yes, satanic worshippers are a reality.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n That, folks, is the opening paragraph. This is a Catholic reporter writing for a Catholic audience, and we start with how \u201cNew Age and occult practices\u201d<\/em> are tied to evil, and by extension Satanic worship. Then, after a completely\u00a0unsubstantiated aside about how Satanists are routinely stealing the host (blessed wafer) from churches to use in their diabolic rites, they trot out their expert witness<\/a>.<\/p>\n httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3dxj4RRi2ps<\/p>\n \u201cThe Rite was one of a handful of movies about exorcism released in the last two years, and a short-lived television series on the subject also launched. But that\u2019s far from the point, says Father Thomas.\u00a0\u201cThere is a greater need for exorcism because there is a greater frequency of the practices of the occult, New Age and Satanism, both on the part of Catholics and other people alike,\u201d<\/strong> he said. Conference speakers explained that \u00a0people begin experimenting with other traditions and rituals, often simply out of curiosity. They don\u2019t realize that they are, at the same time, losing their spiritual center and turning away from God.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n That\u2019s Catholic exorcist\u00a0Father Gary Thomas,\u00a0a Catholic exorcist who was featured in the book\u00a0\u201cThe Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist\u201d<\/a>\u00a0(adapted into\u00a0a feature film starring Anthony Hopkins<\/a>). He\u2019s probably the most famous Catholic exorcist currently making the rounds.\u00a0Thomas is also believer in Ritual Satanic Abuse<\/a>, despite the fact that the moral panic that held sway during the 1980s and 90s\u00a0produced no credible proof of a underground network of Satanic abusers<\/a>.<\/p>\n So what is the problem if some Catholics think we\u2019re demon-haunted dupes who need a good old \u201cpower of Christ\u00a0compels\u00a0you\u201d<\/a> moment? Isn\u2019t this just Catholics talking to other Catholics, using exorcism as a form of boundary\u00a0maintenance\u00a0of their own traditions? The problem is that rhetoric has consequences, and we don\u2019t live in a world populated only by Catholics. When we are framed as evil and demonic, tensions can arise in the real world<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo very different cultures met on one large open field and it led to some tense moments Saturday afternoon.\u00a0For the fourteenth year in a row, Broad Ripple Park was home to the annual Pagan Pride Day, an all-day event that started early this morning to commemorate the autumnal equinox.\u00a0Saturday was also a cross country meet for the Catholic Youth Organization which involved hundreds of kids and parents. It turns out the festival rented the field for the day and the CYO participants had to run around the festival.\u00a0\u201cThey can do it someplace else. It is inappropriate here. It is embarrassing. I was outraged by it,\u201d<\/strong> said one parent.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This was in Indiana, after a Catholic event ran long, overlapping with a scheduled Pagan Pride event. According to one source, it was the Catholics, not the Pagans, who called the local news to complain about the incident<\/a>. The Pagans, on the other hand, went through all proper channels to hold their event, and worked with organizers of the Catholic youth event to\u00a0accommodate\u00a0their event running long. The about-to-be-launched Pagan Newswire Collective Indiana bureau<\/a> is currently writing up the story (their first) and I\u2019ll feature it here once it\u2019s up. It\u2019s hard to read about this story and not think about the National Catholic Register piece posted today. It seems increasingly improbable that these two events exist in universes entirely unconnected. You can\u2019t have an ongoing stream of rhetoric and anti-Pagan propaganda emerging from the clergy, and not expect it influence the laity.<\/p>\n If people who hold spiritual and religious power say something is bad often enough, people will listen. It saddens me that no prominent Catholics (that I know of) will step forward and say \u201cenough\u201d to this propaganda\u00a0masquerading\u00a0as a spiritual technology. I can only hope that cooler heads will prevail as Pagans and Catholics\u00a0increasingly cross paths in our secular world.\u00a0\u00a0Otherwise, the risk of families being torn apart, and tensions rising to the levels of Glastonbury in 2006, will continue to increase to the detriment of all involved. This demonic possession narrative has got to stop<\/a>.<\/p>\n