First, Fr. Z kudos to Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield in Illinois.
Bishop Paprocki reacted to the evil decision in Illinois in the way that a Catholic bishop can and ought to react: he prayed. He fought back against the Enemy.
The “father of lies”, Satan, is surely behind the human agents working for the distortion of the natural order in the promotion of same-sex “marriage”.
Bp. Paprocki’s full sermon, HERE.
Here is one secular outlet’s coverage of what Bishop Paprocki did with the story.
Catholic bishop performs ‘exorcism’ with armed officers over Illinois same sex marriage [Not too subtle. The mention of the “armed” officers… in headline.]
Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas John Paprocki kept his promise on Wednesday and performed an “exorcism” on the state of Illinois after Gov. Pat Quinn (D) signed a bill legalizing same sex marriage.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Paprocki kicked off his exorcism service only 30 minutes after Quinn’s bill-signing ceremony had ended. [Good! Why waste time. More bishops should do this.]
“In an unusual use of public services, [What an unusual thing to say. Why is this an “unusual use”? I would say this is a “usual” use. What is unusual is that more bishops don’t fight evil in this way more often. This is what they are supposed to do.] the exorcism included two armed Springfield police officers stationed inside the church vestibule where parishioners entered from the street,” the Sun-Times noted. “At one point during the service, one of the officers strode to the front of the church, though his purpose was unclear. There were no disruptions during the hourlong event.” [What the Sun-Times and this outlet are doing is try to paint Bp. Paprocki as being menacing, threatening. What I suspect is really the case is that the bishop’s office received threats of violence if he opened his mouth in public against the signing of the bill. The officers were more there for the safety of the congregation than anything else.]
In front of 500 followers, Paprocki asked God to “deliver us from evil” caused by same sex marriage.
“I exorcise you, every unclean spirit, every power of darkness, every incursion of the infernal enemy, every diabolical legion, cohort, and faction, in the name and power of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “Be uprooted and put to flight from the Church of God from souls created in the image of God and redeemed by the precious blood of the divine lamb.
“Dare no more, oh cunning serpent, to deceive the human race, to persecute the church of God, to shake the chosen of God and sift them like wheat.”
“Be gone Satan, father of lies, enemy of human salvation,” Paprocki said at the conclusion of the exorcism. “Give way to Christ, in whom you found no trace of your works. Give way to the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic church, which Christ himself won by his blood.”
Although no cameras were allowed in the church, the bishop spoke to WICD following the service.
“I’m not just singling out any one issue here, but it could be. It depends again on your intention, why are you voting for that person and if you’re, in a sense, voting for someone precisely because you are — you have the intention of trying to promote something that is gravely sinful,” he explained. “Well then, you are putting your salvation in jeopardy.”
Again, Fr. Z kudos to Bp. Paprocki.
Here is a video.
Bp. Paprocki fought back against the Devil and you can bet that the Devil didn’t like it very much. Watch for an increase in attacks on both him and his brother bishops. The enemy will seek to intimidate them into either silence or more happy-gas talk. We have to support our bishops so that they have the courage to fight the Devil with spiritual weapons in the public square.
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The very term “homosexual” is a contradiction in terms, an unnatural invention; homo (Greek) = the same, sex (Latin) = different, from “secare” = cut off, separate. How can two things which are different be the same? The only real “sex” is the one we have ALWAYS known, the natural union of men and women.
Maybe there should be a special session of the USCCB and all the Bishop united as one should perform a massive exorcism over our nation.
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Thank you, Fr. Z, for this post. I read the Bishop’s homily – it was very moving and powerful, in fact, I saved it for further reference. You see, this topic hits home to me, because the man I married 40 yrs ago has been living with same-sex partners for nearly 30 yrs, and is currently in what is probably a same-sex marriage. Neither of us were Catholic when we were married, and certainly during all these years, I was no saint, but fortunately the Lord brought me into His Church and into conversion, almost simultaneously.
We have one daughter, who is now in her thirties and married – she and her husband have a young daughter. My daughter, who is not Catholic and leans towards a liberal viewpoint, however vehemently holds the view that it is a tremendous burden for a child to have a homosexual parent. She suffered greatly, and the issue still impacts our lives.
I attempted fraternal correction in this case a few years ago, which was not at all appreciated – no surprise there. It was very gratifying to see that the Bishop’s homily echoed the same advice which was given to me by a FSSP priest, that “tough love” in this situation is required. By the grace of God, I have followed this advice, and know that it is right. I pray that more priests and bishops will be encouraged to speak the truth.
A massive exorcism over our nation is a great idea! How excruciatingly painful that would be for satan and his minions. God bless our priests and religious! I pray everyday that I do not leave this world without the grace of a good confession and last rights! And did I mention we need much prayer and fasting?!?
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit fills more of our bishops with the courage shown by Bp. Paprocki. We live in very dangerous times. Therefore we need to use every weapon in our spiritual arsenal. There have been instances in which Priests reciting the Rite while outside of abortion mills have had positive results. This kind of thing should be done more often. As for the armed police, it is unfortunate but there was probably a threat called in. Also, let’s keep in mind Bp. Papocki knows first hand how violent the militant element can be. https://wdtprs.com/2013/07/mary-stachowicz-murdered-by-gay-man-a-martyr-for-the-faith-says-bp-paprocki/
Fr. Z, I disagree with you sometimes, but I think the time has come for all Catholics to truly band together and fight the real Enemy. Things are way too dire right now to waste energy on debating each other. Let us unite to defeat Satan and all his works. God bless you Father!
Thank God for Bishop Paprocki. St. Michael the Archangel, Pray for us!!!
God bless Bishop Paprocki! And when will that other prelate I so admire, Cardinal George, take a page from Archbishop Rummel and excommunicate Governor Quinn?
Or perhaps it is Paprocki himself who has jurisdiction over the Governor. In any case, I don’t see how his action can be construed as political given that it was announced after the law had been enacted.
IPadre,
Better yet, all bishops and priests.
Let GOD arise,
Let His enemies be scattered;
Let all who hate Him flee before His Holy Face.
~Psalm 67
I wish all of our Bishop’s were more like Bishop Paprocki. Please pray for the bishops, they need it terribly. We should all be praying for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael they are the protectors of the Church. We should also know a good exorcism prayer that goes through our family lines. Ask our Savior Jesus Christ to take any unclean spirits from us and as Fr. Z says: make regular confessions.”Keep your hearts free, my beloved, from poisonous lies inspired by the devil.”~Pope St. Leo the Great
Thank you for the post Fr. Z.
May the power of the Father govern and protect you!
May the wisdom of the Son teach and enlighten you!
May the influence of the Holy Ghost renew and quicken you!
May the blessing of the All-Holy Ghost, be with you, now and for evermore.
Amen!
God bless Bishop Paprocki!
May God bless and strengthen Bishop Paprocki. He truly cares for the well being of souls. If only we had more bishops who were as courageous. St. Michael, pray for His Excellency, Bishop Paprocki.
I don’t understand why Bp Paporcki doesn’t bar these people from communion. I mean they do spend quite a bit of time in his diocese when at the state capital. 15 out of the 35 yes-voters in the senate are professed Catholics (including a former seminarian). Our governor, a professed catholic, who even quoted 1 Cor 13:4-7 (love is patient…) immediately before signing the bill into law. I haven’t had time to look at which of the 61 yes-voters in the house are Catholic, but I would imagine a similar proportion. How can he not ban them when he has said, “Since the legal redefinition of marriage is contrary to God’s plan, those who contract civil same-sex marriage are culpable of serious sin. Politicians responsible for enacting civil same-sex marriage legislation are morally complicit as co-operators in facilitating this grave sin.” (Homily) and, “It is scandalous that so many Catholic politicians are responsible for enabling the passage of this legislation and even twisting the words of the pope to rationalize their actions despite the clear teaching of the church.” (http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fbreaking%2Fchi-springfield-bishop-to-perform-exorcism-on-day-samesex-marriage-becomes-law-20131114%2C0%2C6035686.story&h=uAQH_X0g5)
The Bishop certainly has the authority and right to perform exorcisms as he sees fit. I wouldn’t question that.
I do have a couple of other questions:
Exorcisms are supposed to be performed as discretely as possible and not publically without calling attention to it. The way it was handled doesn’t sound like it met this requirement, although it is possible the Bishop kept it under wraps but in the age of the Internet it leaked and went viral.
The Bishop chose an issue for exorcism which the Pope has explicitly commanded Bishops to stop obsessing over. Has he performed exorcisms for other issues, like corporate greed, executive compensation, cancelling workers’ pensions, wall street bailouts by main street, etc?
I would love to see this Bishop or any Bishop or even a priest strolling down Wall Street throwing Holy Water and praying for Satan and his fallen angels to leave that place.
MarkG – there are different kinds of exorcisms, and different standard operating procedures for different kinds. A private, discreet exorcism is the norm for the rare case of personal possession, but many exorcisms are intended and designed to be public, e.g., at a baptism or confirmation, or, say, the general exorcism we all may take part in every year at the Easter Vigil.
I heard Bp. Paprocki give a fantastic talk just a couple of weeks ago at an event outside of Chicago. He is a blessing to have here in the liberal worker’s utopia that is Illinois.
My boy got his demons exorcised three times yesterday. Quite publicly.
(and he’s no longer an infant pagan)