NEW BOOK: On The Demonic by Archbp. Fulton Sheen. BONUS: Wherein Fr. Z rants.

I bring to you attention a new book published by Emmaus Press, a branch of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.

This title will be released on July 17, 2024.  PRE-ORDER

On The Demonic by Archbp. Fulton J. Sheen.

US HERE – UK HERE (not yet)

The forward explains that, toward the end of his life, Sheen was ever more convinced that we are living in a demonic age and that we may be seeing the “first cells of the Anti-Christ”.

He wrote that he wanted to write a book about the demonic, but he passed away before he could accomplish it.   The editor of this book has gone through all of Sheen’s material and collated what he found about the topic.

The volume includes not only excerpts from known published works but also from Sheen’s own handwritten notes, kept in his archive, for conferences, etc.

This book is

the closest thing the world will ever see to the long-lost book that Fulton Sheen promised to write on the demonic, all in Sheen’s own words.

The editor stays true to what Sheen wrote adding, “I’m a purist. I don’t even like the addition of the designated hitter in baseball.”

DITTO!

Hence, while he includes helpful explanatory footnotes, he does not over edit.  He includes,

Commenting on Jesus’ intellect and ability to learn, St. Thomas Aquinas argues that there is a direct correspondence between higher forms of learning and the amount effort one has to put into obtaining such knowledge.

I can attest that that is true from my frustrating study of chess openings.  And that’s just chess.   But, as the editor says,

“There’s grace in wrestling with thoughts.”

Click for Z-Swag

This could be applied to the issue of our sacred liturgical worship since the Council’s reforms. 

The constant effort with the Novus Ordo has been to make everything immediately apparent, visible, audible, comprehensible.  One could say, it has been dumbed down.  The reformers and liturgists now have made it unnecessary to  “work”, contrary to the fact that the very word “liturgy” means “work” (Greek leitos from laos (people) and ergon (work, service)).  Moreover, it means “work for the people”, not “by the people”.  Apply that to overrun sanctuaries and versus populum misorientation.  Also, “hard” concepts like sin, guilt, and propitiation were systematically edited out of the orations in favor of emphasizing eschatological joy.  If you change the way people pray, over time you change what they believe and how they live – Lex Orandi – Lex Credendi.  Much of what we see going on in the Church today is a result of the erosion of our Catholic identity, resting on the foundation of liturgical worship (which is doctrine!).  Loss of identity creates an ever widening spiral of erosion which carries over to the influence of the Church in the public square.  If we don’t know who we are and what we believe, if we are not longer able or willing to enunciate it clearly and manifest it in life, then why should the wider world pay any attention to us at all, unless to mock or persecute.  The consequences of making everything easy in our worship has been devastating, leaving little or no opportunity for people to have a transformational encounter with mystery, the transcendent.

Also, the editor, a priest, at the beginning of the Forward gives a caveat about being overly interested in things demonic.  At the end he pens,

I ask that you do not read this book like some novel, just for entertainment.  I also ask that you do not read it like a school-book, just for information.  This book should be read in prayer, with your eyes on Jesus.

Do I hear an “Amen!”?

This would be a good book for priests and for bishops.  Especially for bishops, since they are truly the chief exorcists of their dioceses.   However, all priests can perform the minor exorcisms without additional permissions, including, privately, Ch. 3 of Title XI in the Roman Ritual.