Exorcism & Demonic Possession

Roman Catholic "Theology on Tap" at the Blue Star Brewery on Feb. 17, 2011!

With San Antonio's legendary Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantú:

"Devil can't make us sin, but he can make us turn away from God, bishop says"

Young Adults (YAs) give us their input:

YA Ms Justine Hernandez from St. Pius X Parish:

"Bishop Cantú ... gave us a lot of information and answered all our questions"

YA Mr. Anthony Alvarado, from St. Leonard Parish:

"I was glad ... he .. discussed the different levels of demonic possession..."


Snippets from Katherine Jass López's sometimes grammatically botched report for Today's Catholic dated Friday, March 11, 2011.


The author tells us "Exorcism is [a Church ritual employed when a victim is suffering from ] a form of demonic possession that is very rare; actually, the more common form of possession [??!!] is temptation."

Happily, we now escape the author's grammatical shambles as she now hands over to Bishop Cantú directly:

"The devil can influence us in various ways, and the main way he does this is through temptation.

"Everyone experiences this, even Jesus.

"There is also diabolical oppression [which] ranges from mild to serious; the devil does not have possession of one's soul but causes external pain to a person's health, life or job.

"There is also diabolical infestation which affects houses [or maybe even the Bracketville, Texas St. Mary Magdalene's crucifix - less Old Church Building? :)], things or animals.

"The rarest form of all of these is demonic possession where the devil takes possession of the person's body and in this case The Rite of Exorcism would be performed.

"The rite, mandated by the Vatican has very specific guidelines and can only be performed by priests with special permission of the bishop.

"It is very serious business when confronting the evil one and that is why the church has such set rules on how exactly is is to be done..."


Now, two Young Adults (YAs) give us their views:


YA Mr.Anthony Alvarado of St. Leonard Parish opined:

'Tonight was very informative.

"The information was in - depth and I was glad he began with how demons came to be and then discussed the different levels of demonic possession."

YA Ms. Justine Hernandez from St. Pius X Parish:

"Bishop Cantú is such a great speaker.

"He gave us a lot of good information and answered all our questions on a very mysterious subject.."

Way to go, great people! :)