I make suggestions at the end.
At the top, Fr. Z kudos to Bp. Boyea!
From Aleteia:
Catholic Parish Solves Two Problems with One Lease
Catholic Parish, 1; Abortionist, 0.
After years of prayer, a Catholic parish in Lansing, Michigan found a way to get rid of an abortion clinic in their neighborhood: They leased an entire floor of the building that housed the clinic, forcing the doctor who committed abortions there to move out.
Father Steve Mattson, pastor of the Church of the Resurrection, explained in an interview that members of the parish had been praying for years in front of WomanCare, the only remaining dedicated abortion clinic in Lansing. Five times, the 40 Days for Life campaign gathered to pray on the sidewalk in front of the clinic. Abortion opponents even raised funds to rent a billboard across the street, using the sign to offer assistance to women facing unplanned pregnancies. [God bless these people.]
“God’s timing is perfect,” said Father Steve. In a letter to parishioners, he explained that this year, the parish is planning to welcome four sisters from the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. The sisters will teach at the parish school and at Lansing Catholic High School. They would need a convent; and as he considered the options, the space that seemed most appropriate for their needs was already occupied by his residence and the parish offices.
With the goal of finding new office space close to the church, Fr. Steve considered re-purposing an existing space, such as the parish hall. But that, too, was needed. He set out to explore other options, and then it seemed the Holy Spirit took control. As he explained on the parish website:
“As time passed, the Lord made clear that our need for temporary office space and our parish commitment to pray and fast to end abortion might come together providentially. Encouraged by the prayers of the faithful at our parish, we began to explore whether the owners of the building that housed WomanCare would consider leasing the space to the Church of the Resurrection instead of the abortionist. Their openness to the discussion led to further praying, fasting, and ongoing discussion with lay leaders of the parish and pro-life leaders in our community.” [What popped into my mind just now? Horace P. Bogardus.]
[…]
With that in mind, Bishop Earl Boyea, bishop of Lansing, has signed a 33-month lease on two suites totaling 4,100 square feet on the first floor of 1601 E. Grand River. Plans call for the south suite, where the abortionist has operated his business, to become the parish offices. The north suite will house a chapel and a new pro-life center. Father Steve announced the move to his parishioners on August 1. The parish will begin occupancy on October 1.
As they wait to move into their new parish offices, parishioners of the Church of the Resurrection is praying that this will be the end to abortion in the parish boundaries. The abortionist, Dr. Roumell, is 78 years old. Father Steve is hopeful that Roumell will retire [and repent] instead of seeking a new location for his practice
A blessing is being planned for the October 1 move-in date to rededicate the space that had been the setting of bloodshed and death. I will instead be dedicated to God’s purposes.
[…]
Read the rest there.
Never underestimate the power of fasting with prayer.
I suspect there are folks in the Diocese of Lansing reading this. I applaud you. But do not rest on your laurels. Do you remember what the Lord said about cleaning something out and then the devil attacking more fiercely afterward?
And when an unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith: I will return into my house from whence I came out. And coming he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is made worse than the first. So shall it be also to this wicked generation. Matthew 12:43-45
Continue to pray and to fast and make reparation.
Also, if I may be so bold as to offer a suggestion to Bp. Boyea. While it is unclear what is mean, in the story above, by a “blessing”, may I recommend the use of the pre-Conciliar Rituale Romanum? In the section on exorcism, in Chapter III, there is a rite of “Exorcismus in Satanam et Angelos Apostaticos… Exorcism of Satan and the Fallen Angels”. This is used for places. The rite can be used by bishops or by priests who have permission. I wouldn’t fool around with anything from the Book of Blessings.
Use the older Rituale Romanum.
Moreover, I would do it more than once, or have priests repeat the process.
Go into every nook and cranny of the place, omitting not a single one. Sprinkle every corner and crack abundantly with Holy Water, also blessed with the older Rituale. If I were doing this, I would even use blessed salt around the perimeter of the whole place, the corners of the rooms, and over the floors before laying new carpet, perhaps also with medals.
In such a place, where so much evil has taken place, the clutch of the Enemy will be strong indeed.
Do not use half measures. Nuke the place.
Thank you Father Z for posting this, it has been remarkable here watching it unfold! The Dominican sisters coming are a great blessing! AND they have already caused a miracle, before they have even come ashore, so-to-speak.
The rollout of the red carpet for the nuns, I think, is a leap of faith by our Pastor, to encourage a Lansing branch of their OVERCROWDED convent (in Ann Arbor)! ALLELUIA!
On a more personal note, i have sown tears of sorrow on those sidewalks in front of that facility and prayed for Theodore. I have also worked at one of the local crisis pregnancy centers and know that it is not over without prayer. Many of the women we saw at that center consulted with the local Planned Parenthood office, who does not have abortion facilities here but refers out-of-town. They are very divided, in their forces, fortunately, and never would refer to the WomanCare facility.
However, the heartbreak of Abortion will continue to harm women from this area, if we do not prevail on our knees (so to speak).
I do know that Father Steve has expressed in the past to our Associate pastor, at the time, Father Mark, that he is a believer in the exorcism prayer in the original Latin, I don’t know what version however. I expect he and the Bishop and our new associate will be very thorough.
Bishop Boyea once filled in on a Sunday to say the old mass at St. Josaphat’s in Detroit. That was about six or seven years ago. There was no to-do, no announcement, he just filled-in like so many other priests would do at that parish. Since I was new to the faith back then I thought it was normal. Cool, but normal. He’s a great bishop.
The Bells of St. Mary’s! Good old Horace.
Nuke ’em. It’s the only way we can be sure.” Aliens 2
I’m one of Fr. Steve’s classmates from Mundelein, and first of all I’d like to say… congratulations! Great work!
The second thing I’d offer is that, let’s suppose there’s 162 hours in a week and two suites? Presuming the local bishop’s permission and delegation to do so, I would certainly drive 500 miles round trip to come, offer my priestly services to do an exorcism on one of the suites, to celebrate Mass, and fill out the hour with Eucharistic adoration, before giving up the space for one of my brothers to do the same in the next hour. I bet that (162 x 2) – 1 = 323 of my buddies from all over the country would agree to do the same, every hour and ’round the clock, for a week in order to cleanse the place, celebrate the demise of an abortion clinic, do some fitting worship to God, and get the space on the right foot for a new use. How’s that for a nuclear option?
Whoa.
If the information from the EWTN web site is accurate, it appears that the Rite of Exorcism contained in the Book of Blessings is the same as that from the 1952 Rituale Romanum. Whether the Book of Blessings contains the Latin could be an issue.
WOW Carpe, I am now praying that your challenge is answered! WOO HOO!!
I love your articles. I began my religious education in 1970, need I say more? This article is great and I agree that nothing should be left to chance. Nuke the place! Is the most appropriate plan of action. Could you please suggest to your readers that the same strength, prayer, fasting, penance and reparation is needed to fight the extermination of Christians going on in Iraq and around the world? Today’s gospel gave me great comfort to keep my eyes on Jesus among the storms of the world. Most of all to have faith in God alone.
What fantastic news! I totally agree about the “nuking” suggestion. Abortion is directly the work of the devil and his minions and the building will need a complete spiritual cleansing. I wish more priests would use blessed salt and the full Latin exorcism which would be so helpful and appropriate in many situations these days. The devil hates Latin just as he hates the sound of the pipe organ (not the electronic version).
CarpeNoctem; what a great offer ! I hope it is taken up and carried out!
Wonderful news on an otherwise bleak news day.
“A blessing is being planned for the October 1 move-in date to rededicate the space that had been the setting of bloodshed and death. I will instead be dedicated to God’s purposes.”
I hope they don’t just bless it, but considering the former occupants, I hope they exorcize it.
Obviously I can’t do my math any more… there would be 168 hours in a full week, not 162. That means we’d have to come up with 336 priestly buddies (minus the one hour I’m taking) which would result in 335 hours to go.
Now a ‘nuclear’ project like this would take major, major organization and sharp logistics to do right– not only to sequence the action in the actual space, but also all the gear and texts and such needs to be set up, there should be a little bit of hospitality for overnight travelers (I’d even get a quick nap in a quiet, dark gym or rec room if that were available), the press angle needs to be handled correctly, someone needs to check that there aren’t any gotchas like zoning rules prohibiting religious services in such a facility (yeah, I’ve run into that with my travels), security, oh, and the bishop’s ok too, etc. While Fr. Steve is a most skilled and talented priest, he has to do his thing running the parish and being the ‘face’ of all of this and probably doesn’t need the extra workload of dreamers like us. What would be needed would be a kind soul to be a field marshal and take such a project under his or her wing… that is, if it were to go anywhere…
I agree RE the spiritual nuking. Those places have a palpable evil. I’d also be invoking the Holy Souls , the Holy Innocents and/or all the souls of the babies who died there, to help protect and purify the place.
COMPLETELY AMAZING
Great post on the needed Exorcism and the Bells of St. Mary’s quote!
St Benedict crucifix should be used and blessed St Benedict medals placed in cracks, nooks and crannies.
Bishop Boyea definitely needs to dub this place the Holy Innocents Office Center.
When an abortion mill in Grand Rapids was taken over by a pro-life group, this was around 2007 or so, they did an exorcism, and in the building where the abortions themselves took place, there was a door that lead out to an alley. The second that exorcism finished, that locked door SLAMMED open. Something wanted out FAST.
I just want to add my kudos to Father Steve. He was the “chaplain” for our group when we went on pilgrimage to New York during Pope Benedict’s visit. An absolutely rock-solid, unabashed Catholic priest. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him as a bishop someday. :)
Thank you for mentioning the importance of the pre-conciliar ritual for exorcism of places. The gravity of evil in that place and consequence therefrom cannot be over-emphasized. I was spoiled some years back by having an active traditional priest-exorcist for a pastor and I learned that most, if not all exorcists all use the pre-conciliar ritual because they know the modern form simply doesn’t work. He said something to the effect that demons are expert lawyers and unless you get the language perfectly correct, they don’t have to obey (or at least not in the way you might expect).
It is not from distrust of the older form that I hope they repeat the procedure, quite the contrary, but in my personal contact with my former pastor, over a matter that involved his particular experience, he shared with me a startling discovery: he said prior to Vatican-II typical exorcism cases (of people) took maybe 1 or 2 sessions to eradicate their problem. But then something happened at some point before the close of the council that caused the same cases using the same ritual (no change in language) to suddenly take weeks, months or years to resolve. Something, he intimated, had happened to staunch the flow of grace. I’ve often wondered what that something was, because whatever it was, it wasn’t the Council itself, which was itself a consequence of something far more grave. Exorcists could probably figure it out; they record everything, including the dates, so it wouldn’t take much to identify the ground-zero point, the before and after line. But maybe with places it is not so difficult to clean them up. Even so, why take chances?
Even though it’s not my home parish, I attend Resurrection often; mostly because they offer Confession every day. Great things are happening there under Father Steve’s direction. This is wonderful news.
My six and seven year old boys have volunteered their ‘big squirt’ water bazookas to administer the holy water :)
I can send them some Epiphany Holy Water I have if they want to use that when they “bless” the new place (hopefully along with Father Z’s suggestion of an exorcism rather than a blessing). It’s more powerful than the standard holy water they would probably end up using.
Thank you, Fr. Z, and everyone who commented, for your attention to this important spiritual battle. As Pastor of the Church of the Resurrection, I am grateful that Bishop Boyea will be taking personal responsibility for the blessing/exorcism of the building. He will of course use Holy Water and Blessed Salt. In matters such as this, as in all things, it is a great blessing to be Catholic! Though I must admit we won’t be using “Super Soakers” or “Water Bazookas,” we will liberally apply Holy Water throughout the space as soon as we are able to gain access. As we anticipate this blessing, cleansing, and purging of any evil spirits from this (currently) unholy place, it is a great comfort to know that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. As we anticipate our taking over the space, I am very grateful that Bishop Boyea has given permission to have a chapel there, at which I will gladly offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for reparation and healing of our nation and especially for those who died there and those who wrongly believed that abortion could ever be a “solution.” Lord, heal our Land! Come, Holy Spirit!
Pingback: How to exorcise a former abortion facility - Jill Stanek