Exorcism, Satanic panic, and a sex scandal involving a Catholic exorcist and anti-abortion activist

Given the popularity of the latest exorcism movie The Rite, and given all the talk about how the exorcism trend is scaring people back into the Catholic Church, I've written several posts about exorcism and related topics on various blogs:

• Exorcism and religious intolerance, Talk To Action, February 1, 2011


• Catholic exorcism and NYPD “experts on occult crimes”???, LiveJournal, February 6, 2011


• The Catholic exorcism trend and Italy’s Satanic panic, Wordpress, February 9, 2011.


• Bill Donohue boasts: exorcism now mainstream, LiveJournal, February 11, 2011


• Preliminary response to Michael Cuneo on exorcism, Wordpress, February 12, 2011

Neo-pentecostal exorcism of "homosexual demons"

What does the Devil mean to those Christians who most fervently believe in the Devil? An interesting example can be found in the news story Apparent Gay Exorcism in Conn. Church Causes Outrage by Andrew Ramos, WPIX, via the Los Angeles Times, June 24, 2009. Some excerpts:

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WPIX) -- A video which shows an exorcism of a teen to drive out apparent "homosexual demons" has sparked outrage among several gay rights activists.

The video, which was posted on YouTube, features church elders from the Manifested Glory Ministries Church in Bridgeport performing the exorcism on the boy who is said to be 16-years-old.

...

Although the exorcism appears to be the first one of its kind captured on video, advocacy groups for gay youths say the practice happens all the time.

"I think it's horrifying," Robin McHaelen, executive director of True Colors, told the Associated Press, referring to the video posted by Manifested Glory's now-defunct YouTube page. "What saddens me is the people that are doing this think they are doing something in the kid's best interests, when in fact they're murdering his spirit."

Complete story here.

How they'll clean up after you at a Maltese hospital

A little comic relief, from the Times of Malta:

Illum says that claims that a birth at Mater Dei Hospital had satanic connections have lead to the blessing with holy water of all places where the mother was before, during and after the birth. Sources told the paper that during her stay in hospital, the woman often spoke on satanism and asked the priest who was giving Holy Communion to stay away.

- Malta and international press digest, Times of Malta, Malta - May 10, 2008.

Blaming "Satanists" for Catholic clergy sex scandals???

The recent flurry of Italian Catholic public pronouncements about "Satanism" might be, in part, a response to an October 2007 sex scandal involving a Vatican official, Monsignor Tommaso Stenico, director of one of three Vatican departments that make up the Congregation for the Clergy, the Vatican “ministry” for the clergy.

An undercover TV reporter caught Msgr. Stenico, on video, propositioning a young man. When confronted, he tried to excuse himself by claiming that he himself was really just doing another undercover investigation. He claimed he was investigating an alleged conspiracy of "Satanists" who were out to seduce clergy.

More details, plus links to news stories, in a post Blaming "Satanists" for Catholic clergy sex scandals??? on my LiveJournal blog.