Thursday, January 30, 2014

Need an Exorcism? Why Do People Call a Catholic Priest?

whispering demonEarlier this week I wrote a blog post of the famous Exorcism that happened in Gary Indiana in 2012.  You can read about it here: The Exorcism of LaToya Ammons.  The part that intrigued me was when the woman tried to get various protestant churches to help her git rid of the evil and demonic influence/possession.  They couldn’t help her.  When LaToya and her family went to the ER with bizarre behavior and the 12 year old child was witness walking up a wall backwards with a weird grin and growling by not only the family but by a psychiatrist, nurse, and social worker.  Who did they call?  They called the hospital chaplain who was a Protestant minister and who did he call?  He called the Catholic Priest who would eventually exorcise the demons out of the family.  I found that all intriguing because our dear protestant brothers and sisters don’t know how to handle true possession. When they witness the evil one at work, 9 out of 10 times they will call a Catholic Priest because they know that the Church is powerful because it is ultimately the yoke of Christ.  When you look at the major exorcism cases throughout the world, in each of the cases, the Catholic Church was ultimately the one that freed the person from being possessed.  Let’s take for example the 1973 ‘The Exorcist’ movie.  Who is called to exorcise the demon?  Was it a protestant minister?  No, it was a Catholic Priest.  Even Hollywood in all it’s evil recognizes the truth and continues to portray exorcisms being done by Catholic Priests.  Let’s look at the movie ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose’. That was a truly terrifying movie, it reflected what the actual exorcism of Anneliese Michel, a german girl who died at the end of her exorcism.  She has been called a victim soul due to her exorcism, meaning that it wasn’t brought on by something she did demonically, it was something God allowed to happen to a good soul in order to bring about a greater good.

I was talking to a Priest recently who told me that in the past 3 months he has had 5-10 protestants knock on his door asking him for help dealing with demonic problems ranging from playing with a ouija board, to a seance, and a woman who turned out to be a 7th generation gypsy who had a tarot and palm reading business out of her home and she had all sorts of problems in her house, but she refused to stop doing her demonic activity because she said that was her livelihood.  I also heard that our diocese now has two new exorcists that have been assigned here in Arlington.  Years ago when I first began to investigate exorcisms and spiritual warfare I read about an exorcism that occurred in 1565 that involved Lutheran ministers and eventually a Catholic Priest.  The demons in the possessed mocked the Lutherans for their inability to rid them of the girl that was in their grip.  I am going to post the story below.  It is quite long, but well worth a read.  Many protestant souls were converted when the girl was freed of her demons.

THE EXORCISM OF NICOLA AUBREY

By Father Michael Muller, C.SS.R.

It is indeed a remarkable fact that, as the devil made use of Luther, an apostate monk, to abolish the Mass and deny the Real Presence; in like manner, God made use of His arch-enemy, the devil, to prove the Real Presence. He repeatedly forced him publicly to profess his firm belief in it, to confound the heretics for their disbelief, and acknowledge himself vanquished by Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. For this purpose, God allowed a certain Mme. Nicola Aubrey, an innocent person, to become possessed by Beelzebub and twenty-nine other evil spirits. The possession took place on the eighth of November, 1565, and lasted until the eighth of February, 1566.

Her parents took her to Father de Motta, a pious priest of Vervins, in order that he might expel the demon by exorcisms of the Church. Father de Motta tried several times to expel the evil spirit by applying the sacred relics of the holy cross, but he could not succeed; Satan would not depart. At last, inspired by the Holy Ghost, he resolved to expel the devil by means of the sacrament of Our Lord’s Body and Blood. Whilst Nicola was lying in a state of unnatural lethargy, Father de Motta placed the Blessed Sacrament upon her lips, and instantly the infernal spell was broken; Nicola was restored to consciousness, and received Holy Communion with every mark of devotion. As soon as Nicola had received the sacred Body of Our Lord, her face became bright and beautiful as the face of an angel, and all who saw her were filled with joy and wonder, and they blessed God from their inmost hearts. With the permission of God, Satan returned and again took possession of Nicola.

As the strange circumstances of Nicola’s possession became known everywhere, several Calvinist preachers came with their followers, to “expose this popish cheat,” as they said. On their entrance, the devil saluted them mockingly, called them by name, and told them that they had come in obedience to him. One of the preachers took his Protestant prayer book, and began to read it with a very solemn face. The devil laughed at him, and putting on a most comical look, he said: “Ho! Ho! My good friend; do you intend to expel me with your prayers and hymns? Do you think that they will cause me any pain? Don’t you know that they are mine? I helped to compose them!”

“I will expel thee in the name of God,” said the preacher, solemnly.

“You!” said the devil mockingly. “You will not expel me either in the name of God, or in the name of the devil. Did you ever hear of one devil driving out another?”

“I am not a devil,” said the preacher, angrily, “I am a servant of Christ.”

“A servant of Christ, indeed!” said Satan, with a sneer. “What! I tell you, you are worse than I am. believe, and you do not want to believe. Do you suppose that you can expel me from the body of this miserable wretch? Ha! Go first and expel all the devils that are in your own heart!”

The preacher took his leave, somewhat discomfited. On going away, he said, turning up the whites of his eyes, “O Lord, I pray thee, assist this poor creature!”

“And I pray Lucifer,” cried the evil spirit, “that he may never leave you, but may always keep you firmly in his power, as he does now. Go about your business, now. You are all mine, and I am your master.”

On the arrival of the priest, several of the Protestants went away – they had seen and heard more than they wanted. Others, however, remained; and great was their terror when they saw how the devil writhed and howled in agony, as soon as the Blessed Sacrament was brought near him. At last the evil spirit departed, leaving Nicola in a state of unnatural trance. While she was in this state, several of the preachers tried to open her eyes, but they found it impossible to do so. The priest then placed the Blessed Sacrament on Nicola’s lips, and instantly she was restored to consciousness. Rev. Father de Motta then turned to the astonished preachers, and said: “Go now, ye preachers of the new Gospel; go and relate everywhere what you have seen and heard. Do not deny any longer that Our Lord Jesus Christ is really and truly present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. Go now, and let not human respect hinder you from confessing the truth.”

During the exorcisms of the following days, the devil was forced to confess that he was not to be expelled at Vervins, and that he had with him twenty-nine devils, among whom were three powerful demons: Cerberus, Astaroth, and Legio. On the third of January, 1566, the bishop arrived at Vervins, and began the exorcism in the church, in the presence of an immense multitude.The True Mass

“I command thee, in the name and by power of the real presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, to depart instantly,” said the bishop to Satan in a solemn voice.

Satan was, at last, expelled the second time by means of the Blessed Sacrament. On leaving, he paralyzed the left arm and right foot of Nicola, and also made her left arm longer than her right; and no power on earth could cure this strange infirmity, until some weeks after, when the devil was at last completely and irrevocably expelled. Nicola was now taken to the celebrated pilgrimage of Our Lady at Liesse, especially since the devil seemed to fear that place so much. Next day Father de Motta began the exorcism in the church of Our Lady at Liesse, in the presence of an immense multitude. He took the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, and, showing it to the demon, he said: “I command thee, in the name of the living God, the great Emmanuel Whom thou seest here present, and in Whom thou believest.”

“Ah, yes!” shrieked the demon, “I believe in Him.” And the devil howled again as he made this confession, for it was wrung from him by the power of Almighty God.

“I command thee, then, in His Name,” said the priest, “to quit this body instantly.”

At these words, and especially at the sight of the Blessed Sacrament, the devil suffered the most frightful torture. At one moment the body of Nicola was rolled up like a ball; then again she became fearfully swollen. At one time her face was unnaturally lengthened, then excessively widened, and sometimes it was as red as scarlet. Her eyes, at times, protruded horribly, and then again sunk deeply into her skull. Her tongue hung down to her chin; it was sometimes black, sometimes red, and sometimes spotted like a toad. The priest still continued to urge and torture Satan. “Accursed spirit!” he cried, “I command thee, in the Name and by the real presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ here in the Blessed Sacrament, to depart instantly from the body of this poor creature.

“Ah, yes!” cried Satan, howling wildly, “twenty-six of my companions shall leave this instant, for they are forced to do so.”

The people in the church now began to pray with great fervor. Suddenly Nicola’s limbs began to crack, as if every bone in her body were breaking; a pestilential vapor came forth from her mouth, and twenty-six devils departed from her, never more to return. Nicola then fell into an unnatural swoon, from which she was aroused only by the Blessed Sacrament. On recovering her senses, and receiving holy communion, Nicola’s face shone like the face of an angel. The priest still continued to urge the demon, and used every means to expel him.

“I will not leave, unless commanded by the bishop of Leon,” answered the demon, angrily.

Nicola was now taken to Pierrepont, where one of the demons, name Legio, was expelled by means of the Blessed Sacrament. Next morning Nicola was brought to the church. Scarcely had she quitted the house, when the devil again took possession of her. The bishop who was requested to exorcise Nicola, prepared himself for this terrible task by prayer and fasting, and other works of penance. On arrival of Nicola in the Church, the exorcism began.

“How many are you in this body?” asked the bishop.

“There are three of us,” answered the evil spirit.

“What are your names?”

“Beelzebub, Cerberus, and Astaroth.”

“What has become of the others?” asked the bishop.

“They have been expelled,” answered Satan.

“Who expelled them?”

“Ha!” cried the devil, gnashing his teeth, “it was He whom you hold in your hand, there on the paten.” The devil meant our dear Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

The bishop then held the Blessed Sacrament near the face of Nicola. The demon writhed and howled in agony. “Ah, yes! I will go, I will go!” he shrieked, “but I shall return.”

Suddenly Nicola became stiff and motionless as marble. The bishop then touched her lips with the Blessed Sacrament, and in an instant she was fully restored to consciousness. She received holy communion, and her countenance now shone with a wondrous, supernatural beauty. Next day Nicola was brought again to the Church, and the exorcism began as usual. The bishop took the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, held it near the face of Nicola, and said:

“I command thee in the name of the living God, and by the real presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ here in the sacrament of the altar, to depart instantly from the body of this creature of God, and never more to return.”

“No! No!” shrieked the devil, “I will not go. My hour is not yet come.”

“I command thee to depart. Go forth, impure, accursed spirit! Go forth!” and the bishop held the Blessed Sacrament close to Nicola’s face.

“Stop! stop!”, shrieked Satan; “let me go! I will depart – but I shall return.” And instantly Nicola fell into the most frightful convulsions. A black smoke was seen issuing from her mouth, and she fell again into a swoon.

During her stay in Leon, Nicola was carefully examined by Catholic and Protestant physicians. Her left arm, which had been paralyzed by the devil, was found entirely without feeling. The doctors cut into the arm with a sharp knife; they burnt it with fire; they drove pins and needles under the nails of the fingers; but Nicola felt not pain; her arm was utterly insensible. Once, while Nicola was lying in a state of unnatural lethargy, the doctors gave her some bread soaked in wine (it was what the Protestants call their communion, or Lord’s Supper); they rubbed her limbs briskly; they threw water in her face; they pierced her tongue until the blood flowed; they tried every possible means to arouse her, but in vain! Nicola remained cold and motionless as marble. At last, the priest touched the lips of Nicola with the Blessed Sacrament, and instantly she was restored to consciousness, and began to praise God.

The miracle was so clear, so palpable, that one of the doctors, who was a bigoted Calvinist, immediately renounced his errors, and became a Catholic. Several times, also, the Protestants touched Nicola’s face with a host which was not consecrated, and which, consequently, was only bread, but Satan was not the least tormented by this. He only ridiculed their efforts.

On the twenty-seventh of January, the bishop, after having walked in solemn procession with the clergy and the faithful, began the exorcism in church, in the presence of a vast multitude of Protestants and Catholics. The bishop now held the Blessed Sacrament close to the face of Nicola. Suddenly a wild, unearthly yell rings through the air — a black, heavy smoke issues from the mouth of Nicola. The demon Astaroth is expelled forever. During the exorcism which took place on the first of February, the bishop said:

“O accursed spirit! Since neither prayer, nor the holy gospels, neither the exorcisms of the Church, nor the holy relics, can compel thee to depart, I will now show thee thy Lord and Master, and by His power I command thee.”

During the exorcism, which took place after Mass, the bishop held the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, and said: “O accursed spirit, arch-enemy of the ever-blessed God! I command thee, by the precious blood of Jesus Christ here present, to depart from this poor woman! Depart accursed, into the everlasting flames of hell!”

At these words, and especially at the sight of the Blessed Sacrament, the demon was so fearfully tormented, and the appearance of Nicola was so hideous and revolting, that the people turned away their eyes in horror. At last a heavy sigh was heard, and a cloud of black smoke issued from the mouth of Nicola. Cerberus was expelled. Again Nicola fell into a death-like swoon, and again she was brought to consciousness only by means of the Blessed Sacrament. During the exorcism which took place on the seventh day of February, the bishop said to Satan:

“Tell me. Why hast thou taken possession of this honest and virtuous Catholic woman?”

“I have done so by permission of God. I have taken possession of her on account of the sins of the people. I have done it to show my Calvinists that there are devils who can take possession of man whenever God permits it. I know they do not want to believe this, but I will show them that I am the devil. I have taken possession of this creature in order to convert them, or to harden them in their sins; and, by the Sacred Blood, I will perform my task.”

This answer filled all who heard it with horror. “Yes,” answered the bishop, solemnly, “God desires to unite all men in the only holy faith. As there is but one God, so there can be but one true religion. A religion like that which the Protestants have invented, is but a hollow mockery. It must fall. The religion established by Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only true one; it alone shall last forever. It is destined to unite all men within its sacred embrace, so that there shall be but one sheepfold and one shepherd. This divine Shepherd is Our Lord Jesus Christ, the invisible head of the holy Roman Catholic Church, whose visible head is our holy Father the Pope, successor of St. Peter.”

The devil was silent – he was put to shame before the entire multitude. He was expelled once more by means of the Blessed Sacrament. In the afternoon of the same day the devil began to cry: “Ah! Ha! You think that you can expel me in this way. You have not the proper attendance of a bishop. Where are the dean and the archdean? Where are the royal judges? Where is the chief magistrate, who was frightened out of his wits that night, in the prison? Where is the procurator of the king? Where are his attorneys and counselors? Where is the clerk of the court?” (The devil mentioned each of these by name.) “I will not depart until all are assembled. Were I to depart now, what proof could you give to the king of all that has happened? Do you think that people will believe you so easily? No! No! There are many who would make objections. The testimony of these common country-people here will have but little weight. It is a torment to me that I must tell you what you have to do. I am forced to do it. Ha! Cursed be the hour in which I first took possession of this vile wretch.

“I find little pleasure in thy prating,” answered the bishop. “There are witnesses enough here. Those whom you have mentioned are not necessary. Depart! then; give glory to God. Depart – go to the flames of hell!”

“Yes, I shall depart, but not today. I know full well that I must depart. My sentence is passed; I am compelled to leave.”

“I care not for thy jabbering,” said the bishop, “I shall expel thee by the power of God: by the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Yes, I must yield to you,” shrieked the demon wildly. “It tortures me that I must give you this honor.”

The bishop now took the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, and held it close to the face of the possessed woman. At last, Satan was compelled to flee once more. The next morning, after the procession was ended, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered up as usual. During the consecration, the possessed woman was twice raised over six feet into the air, and then fell back heavily upon the platform. As the bishop, just before the Pater Noster, took the Sacred Host once more in his hand, and raised it with the chalice, the possessed woman was again whisked into the air, carrying with her the keepers, fifteen in number, at least six feet above the platform; and, after a while, she fell heavily back on the ground.The Blessed Sacrament

At this sight, all present were filled with amazement and terror. A German Protestant named Voske fell on his knees; he burst into tears; he was converted. “Ah!” cried he, “I now believe firmly that the devil really possesses this poor creature. I believe that it is really the body and blood of Jesus Christ which expels him. I believe firmly. I will no longer remain a Protestant.” After Mass, the exorcism began as usual.

“Now, at last,” said the bishop, “thou must depart. Away with thee, evil spirit!”

“Yes,” said Satan, “it is true that I must depart, but not yet. I will not go before the hour is come in which I first took possession of this wretched creature.”

At last the bishop took the Sacred Host in his hand, and said: “In the name of the adorable Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost – in the name of the sacred body of Jesus Christ here present – I command thee, wicked spirit, to depart.”

“Yes, yes, it is true!” shrieked the demon wildly; “It is true. It is the body of God. I must confess it, for I am forced to do so. Ha! It tortures me that I must confess this, but I must. I speak the truth only when I am forced to do it. The truth is not from me. It comes from my Lord and Master. I have entered this body by the permission of God.”

The bishop now held the Blessed Sacrament close to the face of the possessed woman. The demon writhed in fearful agony. He tried in every way to escape from the presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. At length a black smoke was seen issuing from the mouth of Nicola. She fell into a swoon, and was restored to consciousness only by means of the Blessed Sacrament. The eighth of February, the day appointed by God on which Satan was to leave Nicola forever, arrived at last. After the solemn procession, the bishop began the last exorcism.

“I shall not ask thee any longer,” said the bishop to Satan, “when thou intendest to leave, I will expel thee instantly by the power of the living God, and by the precious Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, here present in the Sacrament of the Altar.”

“Ha, yes!” shrieked the demon. “I confess that the Son of God is here really and truly present. He is my Lord and Master. It tortures me to confess it, but I am forced to do so.” Then he repeated several times, with a wild, unearthly howl: “Yes, it is true. I must confess it. I am forced to leave, by the power of God’s body here present. I must – I must depart. It torments me that I must go so soon, and that I must confess this truth. But this truth is not from me; it comes from my Lord and Master, who has sent me hither, and who commands and compels me to confess the truth publicly.”

The bishop then took the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, and, holding it on high, he said, with a solemn voice: “O thou wicked, unclean spirit, Beelzebub! Thou arch-enemy of the eternal God! Behold, here present, the precious Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Lord and Master! I adjure thee, in the name and by the power of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, true God and true man, who is here present; I command thee to depart instantly and forever from this creature of God. Depart to the deepest depth of hell, there to be tormented forever. Go forth, unclean spirit, go forth – behold here thy Lord and Master!”

At these solemn words, and at the sight of our sacramental Lord, the poor possessed woman writhed fearfully. Her limbs cracked as if every bone in her body were breaking. The fifteen strong men who held her, could scarcely keep her back. They staggered from side to side; they were covered with perspiration. Satan tried to escape from the presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The mouth of Nicola was wide open, her tongue hung down below her chin, her face was shockingly swollen and distorted. Her color changed from yellow to green, and became even gray and blue, so that she no longer looked like a human being; it was rather the face of a hideous, incarnate demon. All present trembled with terror, especially when they heard the wild cry of the demon, which sounded like the loud roar of a wild bull. They fell on their knees, and with tears in their eyes, began to cry out: “Jesus, have mercy!”

The bishop continued to urge Satan. At last the evil spirit departed, and Nicola fell back senseless into the arms of her keepers. She still, however, remained shockingly distorted. In this state she was shown to the judges, and to all the people present; she was rolled up like a ball. The bishop now fell on his knees, in order to give her the Blessed Sacrament as usual. But see! Suddenly the demon returns, wild with rage, endeavors to seize the hand of the bishop, and even tries to grasp the Blessed Sacrament itself. The bishop starts back; Nicola is carried into the air and the bishop rises from his knees, trembling with terror and pale as death.

The good bishop takes courage again; he pursues the demon, holding the Blessed Sacrament in his hand, till at length the demon, overcome by the power of Our Lord’s sacred body, goes forth amidst smoke, and lightning, and thunder. Thus was the demon at length expelled forever, on Friday afternoon, at three o’clock, the same day and hour on which Our Lord triumphed over hell by His ever-blessed death.

Nicola was now completely cured; she could move her left arm with the greatest ease. She fell on her knees and thanked God, as well as the good bishop, for all he had done for her. The people wept for joy, and sang hymns of praise and thanksgiving in honor of our dear Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. On all sides were heard the exclamations: “Oh, what a great miracle! Oh, thank God that I witnessed it! Who is there now that can doubt of the real presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar!” Many a Protestant also said: “I believe now in the presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament; I have seen with my eyes! I will remain a Calvinist no longer. Accursed be those who have hitherto kept me in error! Oh, now I can understand what a good thing is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!”

A solemn Te Deum was intoned; the organ pealed forth and the bells rung forth a merry chime. The whole city was filled with joy.

This great triumph of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament over Satan occurred in the presence of more than 150,000 people, in the presence of the ecclesiastical and civil authorities of the city, of Protestants and Catholics alike. I have published a lengthy account of this extraordinary affair in a little volume entitled “Triumph of the Blessed Sacrament.” These facts are well authenticated by the accounts published in various languages – French, Italian, Spanish, and German, as I have shown on pages 13, 14, and 15 of the above-mentioned little volume.

IHS

 


The above was taken from Chapter 5 of the book The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass by Fr. Michael Muller, C.Ss.R. (Imprimatur: Archbishop McClosky, New York – 1884); published byTAN Books.

http://monk2be.com

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Terrifying Exorcism in Gary Indiana – Latoya Ammons

Demon Gary Indiana

Photo Taken by Police Officer Showing Demon in Window

We’ve all heard of some pretty sensational stuff regarding exorcisms or demonically possessed people.  This case is terrifying to read and what is even more scary is that in one of the instances, a boy was seen walking backwards up a wall to the roof by a psychiatrist, social worker, and nurse, as well as the boys family.  It is a case that sounds sensationalized until you hear the interview with the Catholic Exorcist who performed multiple exorcisms on the family.  The Gary police were also involved and many of the officers took photos of the house and images of shadowy people showed up in the photos.  One of the officers heard a voice speaking when he replayed the video he took of the house.  As I did some research on this exorcism, I learned that the activity occurred back in 2012 and that after the mother and the children began to experience scary things in their house.. they invited clairvoyants into their home and carried out an exorcism of the house with the clairvoyants help.  The mother said that it was 3 days after that house blessing that the truly evil things began. What is interesting to note is that in cases of true possession, when the protestants realize they are outmatched, where do they go?  They call a Catholic Priest! Here is the story from the Indianapolis paper:

A woman and three children who claimed to be possessed by demons. A 9-year-old boy walking backward up a wall in the presence of a family case manager and hospital nurse. Gary police Capt. Charles Austin said it was the strangest story he had ever heard. Austin, a 36-year veteran of the Gary Police Department, said he initially thought Indianapolis resident Latoya Ammons and her family concocted an elaborate tale as a way to make money. But after several visits to their home and interviews with witnesses, Austin said simply, “I am a believer.”

Not everyone involved with the family was inclined to believe its incredible story. And many readers will find Ammons’ supernatural claims impossible to accept. But, whatever the cause of the creepy occurrences that befell the family — whether they were seized by a systematic delusion or demonic possession — it led to one of the most unusual cases ever handled by the Department of Child Services. Many of the events are detailed in nearly 800 pages of official records obtained by The Indianapolis Star and recounted in more than a dozen interviews with police, DCS personnel, psychologists, family members and a Catholic priest.  Ammons, who swears by her story, has been unusually open. While she spoke on condition her children not be interviewed or named, she signed releases letting The Star review medical, psychological and official records that are not open to the public — and not always flattering. Furthermore, the family’s story is made only more bizarre because it involves a DCS intervention, a string of psychological evaluations, a police investigation and, ultimately, a series of exorcisms.  It’s a tale, they say, that started with flies.

**

In November 2011, Ammons’ family moved into a rental house on Carolina Street in Gary, a quiet lane lined with small one-story homes. Big black flies suddenly swarmed their screened-in porch in December, despite the winter chill.  ”This is not normal,” Ammons’ mother, Rosa Campbell, remembers thinking. “We killed them and killed them and killed them, but they kept coming back.” There were other strange happenings, too.  After midnight, Campbell and Ammons both said, they occasionally heard the steady clump of footsteps climbing the basement stairs and the creak of the door opening between the basement and kitchen. No one was there.  Even after they locked the door, the noise continued.  Campbell said she awoke one night and saw a shadowy figure of a man pacing her living room. She leaped out of bed to investigate, and found large, wet bootprints.  On March 10, 2012, Campbell said, the family’s unease turned to fear.

**

It was about 2 a.m. Normally, Campbell, Ammons and her children would have been asleep, but they were mourning the death of a loved one with a group of friends.  Ammons, who was in Campbell’s bedroom, startled everyone by screaming, “Mama! Mama!” Campbell said she ran into her bedroom, where her then-12-year-old granddaughter and a friend were staying. Ammons and Campbell said the 12-year-old was levitating above the bed, unconscious. According to their account of events, Ammons and several others surrounded the girl, praying. Campbell said she remembers being terrified. ”I thought, ‘What’s going on?’ ” Campbell said. ” ‘Why is this happening?’ “ Eventually, Campbell said, her granddaughter descended onto the bed. The girl woke up with no memory of what happened, Campbell said. Campbell and Ammons said the people who were visiting that night refused to return.

**

Campbell says she remembers telling her daughter, “We need help. We need to talk to someone who knows how to deal with it.” Campbell and Ammons said they didn’t know exactly what “it” was, but they believed it was something supernatural. They called local churches, but most refused to listen. Eventually, after listening to Campbell and Ammons talk about the house and visiting it, officials at one church told them the Carolina Street house had spirits in it. They recommended the family clean the home with bleach and ammonia, then use oil to draw crosses on every door and window. At the church’s suggestion, Ammons said she poured olive oil on her three children’s hands and feet, then smeared oil in the shape of crosses on their foreheads. Campbell and Ammons also told The Star they reached out to two clairvoyants, who said the family’s home was besieged by more than 200 demons. Their explanation made sense to Campbell and Ammons, they say, because it meshed with their Christian faith. The best thing you can do is move, Ammons remembers the clairvoyants telling her. But moving wasn’t an option for the cash-strapped family.

Instead, Ammons said she took a clairvoyant’s advice and made an altar in the basement. Ammons covered an end table with a white sheet, then placed a white candle and statue of Mary, Joseph and Jesus on it. She opened a Bible to Psalm 91. She said she and another person donned white T-shirts and wound white scarves around their heads. Also on a clairvoyant’s advice, they burned sage and sulfur throughout the house, starting upstairs and working their way down. The smoke was so thick they could hardly breathe. Ammons drew a cross with the smoke. The person she was with read Psalm 91 aloud as they moved through the house:

“You will not fear the terror of night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

nor the plague that destroys at midday.”

Ammons said nothing odd happened for three days. Then, things got worse.  The family said demons possessed Ammons and her children, then ages 7, 9 and 12. The kids’ eyes bulged, evil smiles crossed their faces, and their voices deepened every time it happened, Campbell and Ammons said. The kids’ eyes bulged, evil smiles crossed their faces and their voices deepened every time.  Campbell said the demons didn’t affect her because she was born with protection from evil. She said she, and others like her, have a guardian who protects them.  Ammons said she felt weak, lightheaded and warm when she was possessed. Her body shook, and she said she felt out-of-control.

“You can tell it’s different, something supernatural.”

The youngest boy, then 7, sat in a closet talking to a boy that no one else could see. The other boy was describing what it felt like to be killed. Campbell said the 7-year-old once flew out of the bathroom as if he’d been thrown, and a headboard once smacked into Ammons’ daughter, causing a wound that needed stitches.  The 12-year-old would later tell mental health professionals that she sometimes felt as if she were being choked and held down so she couldn’t speak or move. She said she heard a voice say she’d never see her family again and wouldn’t live another 20 minutes.  Some nights were so bad the family slept at a hotel.

Finally, in desperation, they went to their family physician, Dr. Geoffrey Onyeukwu, on April 19, 2012. Ammons said she told him what they were going through, hoping he might understand.  Onyeukwu told The Star it was “bizarre.”  ”Twenty years, and I’ve never heard anything like that in my life,” he said. “I was scared myself when I walked into the room.” He said he would not speak in more detail unless Ammons had “psychiatric clearance” for the waiver of confidentiality she had signed. In his medical notes about the visit, Onyeukwu wrote “delusions of ghost in home” and “hallucinations.” He also wrote “history of ghost at home” and “delusional.” What Ammons and Campbell say happened next also was detailed in a DCS report of a family case manager’s interviews with medical staff.  Chaos erupted.

**

Campbell said Ammons’ sons cursed Onyeukwu in demonic voices, raging at him. Medical staff said the youngest boy was “lifted and thrown into the wall with nobody touching him,” according to a DCS report. The boys abruptly passed out and wouldn’t come to, Campbell added. She cradled one boy in her arms; Ammons held the other.  Someone from the doctor’s office called 911. Onyeukwu said seven or eight police officers and multiple ambulances showed up.  ”Everybody was … they couldn’t figure out exactly what was happening,” he recalled.  Police and emergency personnel took the boys to Methodist Hospital’s campus in Gary.  Ammons said hospital personnel laughed at her desire to anoint her sons in olive oil.  ”I couldn’t talk to them,” she said, “so I talked to God.” The boys woke up in the hospital. The older boy, then 9, acted rationally, but the youngest screamed and thrashed, Campbell said.  She said it took five men to hold him down.

Meanwhile, someone called DCS and asked the agency to investigate Ammons for possible child abuse or neglect. The caller, who is not named in the DCS report, speculated that Ammons might have a mental illness. The person believed the children were performing for Ammons, and she was encouraging their behavior. DCS family case manager Valerie Washington was asked to handle the initial investigation. She gave the following account to police and in her intake officer’s report: Hospital personnel examined Ammons and her children and found them to be healthy and free of marks or bruises. A hospital psychiatrist evaluated Ammons and determined she was of “sound mind.” Washington interviewed the family in the hospital. While she spoke with Ammons, the 7-year-old boy started growling with his teeth showing. His eyes rolled back in his head. The boy locked his hands around his older brother’s throat and refused to let go until adults pried his hands open. Later that evening, Washington and registered nurse Willie Lee Walker brought the two boys into a small exam room for an interview. Campbell joined them. The 7-year-old stared into his brother’s eyes and began to growl again. ”It’s time to die,” the boy said in a deep, unnatural voice. “I will kill you.” While the youngest boy spoke, the older brother started head-butting Campbell in the stomach. Campbell grabbed her grandson’s hands and started praying. What happened next would rattle the witnesses, and to some it would offer not only evidence but proof of paranormal activity.

“It’s time to die,” the boy said in a deep, unnatural voice. “I will kill you.”

According to Washington’s original DCS report — an account corroborated by Walker, the nurse — the 9-year-old had a “weird grin” and walked backward up a wall to the ceiling. He then flipped over Campbell, landing on his feet. He never let go of his grandmother’s hand.

“He walked up the wall, flipped over her and stood there,” Walker told The Star. “There’s no way he could’ve done that.” Later, police asked Washington whether the boy had run up the wall, as though performing an acrobatic trick. No, Washington told them. She said the boy “glided backward on the floor, wall and ceiling,” according to a police report. Washington did not respond to The Star’s requests for comment. But she told police she was scared when it happened and ran out of the room. As for Walker, Washington said, “he ran out of the room with me.”

“We didn’t know what was going on,” Walker told The Star. “That was crazy. I was like, ‘Everybody gotta go.’” According to Washington’s report, they told a doctor what happened. The doctor, who did not believe them, asked the boy to walk up the wall again.  Walker said he told the doctor he doubted the boy could repeat the feat. “This kid was not himself when he did that,” Walker said. The boy said he didn’t remember what happened and couldn’t do it, according to Washington’s report. Walker, who said he previously believed in demons and spirits, thought the boy’s behavior had “some demonic spirit to it” but also was the result of a mental illness. A police report quoted Washington saying she believed there could be an “evil influence” affecting the family.

**

Ammons said she spent the night at the hospital with her 7-year-old son while Campbell took Ammons’ daughter and older son to a relative’s home in Gary. The next day was Ammons’ youngest son’s eighth birthday. Ammons said DCS officials asked Campbell to bring the older children back to the hospital, presumably to talk more about what happened. The family celebrated the boy’s birthday by singing and eating a miniature cake. Then, Ammons said Washington told them the children wouldn’t be going home. DCS took the emergency step of taking custody of the children without a court order. ”All of the children were expericing (sic) spiritual and emotional distress,” Washington wrote in the DCS form. Ammons told The Star she and her children cried because they didn’t want to be separated. ”We’d already been through so much and fought so hard for our lives,” she recalled. “It was obvious we were a team, and we were beating it — whatever we were fighting. We made it through together as a team, and they separated us.”

**

The Rev. Michael Maginot was leading Bible study in his living room the morning of April 20, 2012, when he received a call from a hospital chaplain. Maginot had been the priest at St. Stephen, Martyr Parish, in Merrillville for more than 10 years but had never received a request like this one — the chaplain asked him to perform an exorcism on Ammons’ 9-year-old son. Maginot agreed to interview the family after Sunday Mass a few days later. The first step, Maginot said, was ruling out natural causes for what Ammons and her family said they were experiencing. He visited Ammons and Campbell in the Carolina Street home April 22, 2012. For two hours, Ammons and Campbell detailed the phenomena for him. Then, Campbell interrupted the interview to point out a flickering bathroom light. The flickering stopped each time Maginot walked over to investigate — which he attributed to a demonic presence.

“It must be scared of me,” he later told The Star he had thought. The interview was interrupted again when Campbell pointed out Venetian blinds in the kitchen swinging even though there was no air current. Maginot said he also saw wet footprints throughout the living room. Ammons complained about having a headache. Maginot said she convulsed when he placed a crucifix against her head.  After a four-hour interview, Maginot said he was convinced the family was being tormented by demons. He said he also believed there were ghosts in the house.  Maginot blessed the house before he left — praying, reading from the Bible and sprinkling holy water in each room. He told Ammons and Campbell to leave because it wasn’t safe. They temporarily moved in with a relative.

**

But less than a week later, the two women were back on Carolina Street to let Washington, the DCS family case manager, check the condition of the home. Washington asked a Lake County police officer to come with her.  Two other officers, one each from Gary and Hammond police departments, asked to join them out of “professional curiosity.” Ammons refused to go inside, but Campbell agreed to accompany the group. Ammons’ kids still were in DCS custody. The main floor had three bedrooms, a living room, one bathroom, hardwood floors and a small, open-style kitchen. A door in the kitchen led to a basement with concrete floors. Directly under the stairs was a dirt floor. The concrete around it was jagged, as though it had been broken. The makeshift altar Ammons had created was still in place, along with rings of salt she had poured against the basement walls to “dissuade the demons,” according to aHammond Police Department report. Campbell told officers that demons seemed to emanate from beneath the stairs. Austin, the Gary police captain, was one of those officers. He later told The Star he believed in ghosts and the supernatural but said he didn’t believe in demons. Austin said he changed his mind after visiting the Carolina Street house.

During the interview with Campbell, one of the officer’s audio recorders malfunctioned, according to Austin and Hammond police records. The power light flashed to indicate the batteries were dying, even though the officer had placed fresh batteries in the recorder earlier that day. Another officer recorded audio and, when he played it back later, heard an unknown voice whisper “hey,” according to Lake County police records. That officer also took photos of the house. In one photo of the basement stairs, there was a cloudy white image in the upper right-hand corner. When an officer enlarged the photo, that cloud appeared to resemble a face, Lake County police records state. The enlargement also revealed a second, green image that police say looked like a female. Austin said photos he snapped with his iPhone also seemed to have strange silhouettes in them. The radio in his police-issued Ford malfunctioned on the way home.  Later, Austin said the garage at his Gary home refused to open, even though the power was on everywhere else.

Austin said the driver’s seat in his personal 2005 Infiniti also started moving backward and forward on its own. He said he had the car checked at a dealership, and the mechanic told him the motor on the driver’s seat was broken, which the mechanic said could have caused a distraction leading to an accident. Austin said he found himself starting to believe Ammons’ claims of paranormal activity. But the mental health professionals evaluating Ammons and her children remained skeptical.

**

In April 2012, DCS petitioned Lake Juvenile Court for temporary wardship of the three children. The request was granted. DCS found that Ammons neglected her children’s education by not having them in school regularly. The agency made the same finding in 2009, its records show. Ammons told Washington there were times she could not send the kids to school because “the spirits would make them sick, or they would be up all night without sleep.” DCS temporarily placed her daughter and older son at St. Joseph’s Carmelite Home in East Chicago. Ammons’ youngest son was sent to Christian Haven in Wheatfield for a psychiatric evaluation. Clinical psychologist Stacy Wright, who evaluated Ammons’ youngest son, said the boy tended to act possessed when he was challenged, redirected or asked questions he didn’t want to answer. In her evaluation, Wright wrote that he seemed coherent and logical except when he talked about demons. It was then that the 8-year-old’s stories became “bizarre, fragmented and illogical,” Wright said. His stories changed each time he told them. He also changed the subject, quizzing Wright on math problems and asking her about outer space.

“Can you die if you go to space?” he asked. “How do you get to space? Do you have to wear a helmet and suit?” Wright believed the 8-year-old did not suffer from a true psychotic disorder. ”This appears to be an unfortunate and sad case of a child who has been induced into a delusional system perpetuated by his mother and potentially reinforced” by other relatives, she wrote in her psychological evaluation. Clinical psychologist Joel Schwartz, who evaluated Ammons’ daughter and older son, came to a similar conclusion. ”There also appears to be a need to assess the extent to which (Ammons’ daughter) may have been unduly influenced by her mother’s concerns that the family was exposed to paranormal experiences,” Schwartz wrote.  Ammons’ daughter told Schwartz that she saw shadowy figures in the Carolina Street home. She also said she twice went into trances. Ammons’ older son told Schwartz that “doors would slam and stuff started moving around.”

Ammons also was examined several times by psychologists, who said she was “guarded,” but did not seem to be “experiencing symptoms of psychosis or thought disorder.” One psychologist recommended Ammons be assessed to “determine whether her religiosity may be masking underlying delusional ideations or perceptual disturbances.” Ammons — and all three kids — continued to insist they were possessed by demons. DCS set goals for the family. One of them stipulated that the children “not discuss demons and being possessed and … take responsibility for their actions.” They also needed to participate in therapy to address past behavior. While DCS officials credited Ammons for sharing a “close bond” with her children, the agency also said she needed to use “alternate forms of discipline not directly related to religion and demon possession,” according to DCS’ case plan. Appropriate discipline included encouragement, rules and withholding privileges. She could work on those goals during supervised visits with the children. Ammons also had to find a job and appropriate housing “due to the paranormal activity” at the house on Carolina Street. While Ammons worked on meeting those objectives, police and DCS officials continued to investigate strange happenings in the house.

**

The group was a bit larger this time. Campbell, Ammons, Austin and the two other police officers from the initial visit went back to the Carolina Street home on the afternoon of May 10, 2012. The police officers visited after work hours. They were joined by Maginot, two Lake County officers with a police dog and DCS family case manager Samantha Ilic. Ilic, who was there in an official capacity, told The Star she volunteered to go in Washington’s place because Washington didn’t want to go back to the house.  A county officer took his police dog around the home, but the dog didn’t show interest in any particular area, according to Lake County police records. Everyone else headed into the basement. Ilic touched some strange liquid she saw dripping in the basement, and said it felt slippery yet sticky between her fingers. Maginot told police he wanted to check the dirt under the stairs for a pentagram or personal objects that might have been cursed. He said a pentagram might indicate a demonic presence and possible portal to hell, according to a Lake County police report.

Or if someone had died in the house and was buried under the stairs, it could explain paranormal activity, Maginot added. One of the police officers dug a 4-foot by 3-foot hole beneath the stairs, unearthing a pink press-on fingernail, a white pair of panties, a political shirt pin, a lid for a small cooking pan, socks with the bottoms cut off below the ankles, candy wrappers and a heavy metal object that looked like a weight for a drapery cord, police records state. Finding nothing else, the officer replaced the dirt and raked over it. Maginot blessed some salt, which he said is a barrier to evil, and spread it under the stairs and throughout the basement.  Ilic said she was later standing in the living room with the rest of the group when her left pinky finger started to tingle and whiten. She complained it felt broken. Less than 10 minutes later, Ilic said she felt as if she was having a panic attack. She couldn’t breathe, so she walked outside to wait for the group.

When the priest started questioning Ammons inside the house, she complained of a headache and shoulder pain, according to police records. She joined Ilic outside. Austin said he left the house at nightfall. Austin — who has been shot at and has investigated murders, rapes and armed robberies during his more than three decades on the force — said he wasn’t staying in the house past dark. The other officers continued to walk through the home. On the main floor, they noticed an oil-like substance dripping from venetian blinds in a bedroom but couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, police records state.  To make sure Campbell or Ammons hadn’t poured oil on the blinds, two of the officers used paper towels to clean it off. The officers sealed the room for 25 minutes and stood nearby so no one could walk in. When they went back in, the oil had reappeared, according to police records.  Maginot told police the liquid was a manifestation of a paranormal or demonic presence.  He wrote a report detailing his findings and asked Bishop Dale Melczek’s permission to perform an exorcism on Ammons.

**

Maginot said Melczek had never authorized an exorcism in 21 years (This is a BIG Problem.. Bishops who don’t believe in the devil or believe exorcism are outdated!!) as bishop of the Diocese of Gary. Debbie Bosak, director of communications for the diocese, said she cannot comment on whether Melczek has ever approved an exorcism for confidentiality reasons. In general, she said, such an action would require a bishop’s approval.  Melczek initially denied Maginot’s request to do a church-sanctioned exorcism, Maginot said. The bishop told Maginot to contact other priests who have performed exorcisms.  Maginot said he needed other priests to give him the ritual for a minor exorcism, which does not require church approval. The priests he consulted told him to look it up on the Internet. (Another bad thing.. no exorcist in the diocese, no one with experience for this problem) He said he did an “intense blessing” on the Carolina Street home to expel bad spirits.

That same day, Maginot performed a minor exorcism on Ammons. The ritual consisted of prayers, statements and appeals to cast out demons. Two police officers and Ilic, the DCS family case manager, attended the ritual.  Ilic said she left believing that something was going on, although she wouldn’t go as far as saying it was demonic. She said she got chills during the nearly two-hour rite. ”We felt like someone was in the room with you, someone breathing down your neck.” Ilic said she had a string of medical problems after visiting the home. A week after she visited the house for the last time, Ilic said she got third-degree burns from a motorcycle. Within 30 days, she also broke three ribs Jet Skiing, broke a hand when she hit a table, then broke an ankle running in flip-flops. ”I had friends who wouldn’t talk to me because they believed that something had attached itself to me,” Ilic said. Her joking response: “I’m already evil. They try to find something that’s not evil and corrupt it. They wouldn’t waste their time on me.”  “We felt like someone was in the room with you, someone breathing down your neck.”

**

After the minor ritual, Maginot told Ammons to look up the names of demons that were tormenting her. Each demon has a name and personality, Maginot said. A name has power, the priest added, and he planned to use those names to fight the demons during the exorcisms.  Ammons said she and a friend looked up the demons’ names online by searching for demons that represented the problems the family had been having. The computer kept shutting down. She said she felt sick, lightheaded.  But she said they found names that fit.  One such name was Beelzebub, lord of the flies, Ammons said. She said they also found names of demons that torture and hurt kids, which she felt explained what happened in the Carolina Street house.  Ammons said other high-ranking demons also were assigned to her, including lieutenants and sergeants.  After the minor rite, Maginot said Bishop Melczek gave him permission to exorcise Ammons. The ritual is the same as the minor exorcism but more powerful because it has the backing of the Catholic Church, Maginot said.

Maginot ultimately performed three major exorcisms on Ammons – two in English, and the last one in Latin – in June 2012 at his Merrillville church. During each, Maginot said, he praised God and condemned the devil. He pressed a crucifix against Ammons’ head as he spoke.

I cast you out, unclean spirit,

along with every Satanic power of the enemy,

every spectre from hell,

and all your fell companions;

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Maginot said his voice continued to get louder and more forceful until the demon weakened. He said he could tell how strong the demon was by how much Ammons convulsed. Two police officers, who had kept in touch with Maginot since the home investigation, stood nearby in case Ammons needed to be restrained. Ammons said she prayed with Maginot until it became too painful.  She said she felt as if something inside her was trying to hold on and inflict pain at the same time. She said it was different from a natural pain but felt as intense as giving birth.  ”I was hurting all over from the inside out,” she remembered. “I’m trying to do my best and be strong.”  Eventually, Maginot said, Ammons fell asleep. She said that was the demon’s way of lessening the ritual’s effect.

**

In between the second and third exorcisms, Maginot said he went on a retreat. A woman who assisted Maginot with some of the exorcisms helped set up a backup plan in case Ammons had problems while Maginot was gone. The woman wrote a long demon name — Maginot said he can’t remember which one it was — on a piece of paper and tucked it in an envelope, then she surrounded it with blessed salt.  If Ammons had problems, the woman would burn the envelope, Maginot said. By this time, Ammons and her mother had moved to Indianapolis, but they drove back for the exorcisms and court hearings, as her children were still in DCS’ care.  Maginot said he blessed the family’s new home to prevent more problems.  But Ammons called while Maginot was on his retreat, complaining of bad dreams, so the woman burned the envelope. She saved the ashes to burn later in a church bonfire. After that, Ammons said, her nightmares ended.

**

In the final exorcism at the end of June 2012, Maginot said he prayed and berated the demons in Latin, rather than English.  Police officers did not attend, so Maginot said his brother stood guard. Maginot said Ammons convulsed while he condemned the demons but did not convulse during prayer. When she fell asleep, he said words of thanksgiving. It would be the last time Ammons saw Maginot. She and her mother drove back to Indianapolis, where they say they now live without fear. Ammons’ old home on Carolina Street became an object of local curiosity — so much so that the owner and landlord, Charles Reed, called the Gary Police Department to ask officers to stop driving by the house because it was scaring his new tenant.

He said there were no problems in the home before or after Ammons and her family lived there. ”I thought I heard it all,” said Reed, who’s been a landlord for 33 years. “This was a new one to me. My belief system has a hard time jumping over that bridge.” When told of the Catholic Church’s involvement in the situation, however, Reed said that made him “less skeptical.” Ammons regained custody of her three children in November 2012, about six months after they’d been removed. DCS continued to check in on the children and make sure they were going to school until the case was closed last February. Ammons called her children’s return the happiest day of her life. She said they screamed and jumped up and down when she picked them up from the DCS office in Gary. ”It was just awesome,” Ammons said. “I hadn’t been that happy in God knows how long.”

http://monk2be.com

Sr. Megan Rice SHCJ facing Life in Prison – LCWR

sr. megan rice SHCJA year ago I wrote about a crazy religious sister who had broken into a nuclear weapons plant to splatter her own blood on the building, graffiti the premises with peace signs and anti-war signs, and to try and hammer into the wall.  The sister is Sr. Megan Rice, she and two other strange men were arrested and have been serving in jail since their incarceration.  The judge has refused thus far to let them go on bail until the trial and they are now petitioning for clemency.  You can read my original article here: Blood Splattered Nuclear Silos

Today I opened up the news and saw a new report.  The sister is up for sentencing and she is facing life in prison. Considering her advanced age of 83 years old any sentence could be longer than what the good Lord has given her.

The article below has been taken from Catholic News USA:

Sister Megan Rice is one of three Catholic peace activists convicted of sabotage last year after they broke into the nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Sentencing for all three is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday at U.S. District Court in Knoxville.

The government has recommended sentences of about six to nine years each for Rice, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed. It also is seeking restitution of nearly $53,000 for damage incurred when the three cut through fences and painted slogans on the outside wall of the uranium processing plant. The protesters also splattered blood and hammered on the wall.

The activists are asking for leniency. They say their actions at the Y-12 National Security Complex were symbolic and meant to draw attention to America’s stockpile of nuclear weapons, which they call immoral and illegal.

When I did some research on Sister Megan Rice I found her religious order.  She belongs to the Society of the Holy Child Jesus.  The order was founded in 1846 by Venerable Cornelia Connelly.  The foundress must be devastated at the sight of her order today.  The order was founded to be a teaching order and to take care of the sick and dying.  It wasn’t founded to break into nuclear plants, damage other peoples property, promote new age movements and it certainly wasn’t founded to be an order filled to the brim with old ladies not living out their vocations.  The orders average age is now around 70 yrs old if that tells you anything about the wonderful work they are doing to enrich their own lives.  I found a great picture of the sisters soon after their founding and spliced it together with a current image of Sister Megan Rice.  Tell me what you see is different.

Sr. Megan Rice SHCJ

People can’t have it both ways.. you are either peace loving and kind or your not.  You can’t say that you are promoting peace and then justify breaking into a govt facility to pour vials of your own blood on nuclear silos.  Is this really what Venerable Cornelia had in mind when she created the order?  I remember many years ago, some liberal Bishops were trying to seize the reigns of EWTN and Mother Angelica when asked about them taking control she said “I’ll burn the damn thing down before I let them have it”.  I think Venerable Cornelia would say the same thing in this case if she knew that the liberal facist LCWR nutty women were one day going to rule her beautiful order and destroy it along with the souls of countless others all in the name of social justice.

Pray for Sister Megan Rice.. pray for her conversion.

God Love & God Bless,

Michael

http://monk2be.com

Friday, January 24, 2014

Penny Lord – Obituary

penny lord obituary

Please pray for her soul! 

In Loving Memory of Penny Lord

Originally seen on: Penny Lord Obituary

Penny Lord was born Pauline Eve Macaluso on September 23, 1928. Her father said she brought about the Depression.

She grew up in a faith-filled Italian home in Brooklyn, New York. Her Father was a civil servant. Her mother worked on a sewing machine in one of the many clothing factories in New York. She had two brothers who were both older than she. They both considered her the brat of the family. Not true; not true.

She attended a local public school in Brooklyn, and when the family moved to Richmond Hills in Queens County, she went to Richmond Hills High School. She excelled in that school, was a member of the Arista Society, which were all the brains, an honor she took very seriously all her life. When she graduated, she received as many awards possible for one student that year.
She had plans to attend a University in Chicago to study law, but because she graduated in mid-year, January, she went to Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia for six months.

She met Bob Lord on her birthday, September 23. She has always said it was her best birthday present. They were both in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She was playing a role made famous by Penny Singleton. Our Penny liked the name, and took it as her own. They fill in love, married, and were best friends and lovers for the rest of their lives.

The suffered the death of their son in 1971, from an overdose of drugs. They were both angry with God for letting this happen. After all, they were good Catholics; they all went to Church on Sunday. He went to a good Jesuit High School. They had embraced a group of juvenile delinquents in the Malibu Hills of California, who may have introduced their son to drugs. They left the Church after his death for four years. On January 1, 1975, Feast of the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Spirit inspired Bob to go back to Church. Penny was still angry with Jesus, but she went back with Bob because that’s what they always did, follow each other. On May 23, 1975, they went on a Marriage Encounter weekend in Santa Barbara, California, that’s when their lives changed forever. Penny reconciled with Jesus. Bob and Penny found a new way of life through the Church.

As a part of their newfound love for the Church, the Lord directed them to take a pilgrimage the Holy Land and Europe. It was more like a tour of holy places, but put in their hearts a great desire to seek out and venerate the various shrines of the Catholic Church, especially ones that had to do with Miracles of the Eucharist.

They started bringing their own pilgrimages overseas; it was very successful. Penny provided the love and Bob was the eternal tour guide. It was very successful until terrorism broke out in the Middle guide. People stayed away from the pilgrimage places, especially the Holy Land. They had invested all their savings into a Travel Agency, Catalogs, and advertising. Things looked bad.

Penny said the Lord told them not to worry. They had a treasure. Bob responded with “Will you ask him what the treasure is? We can’t make our mortgage payment.” She insisted they had a treasure. Shortly thereafter, she told him the Lord wanted Bob to write a book on the Miracles of the Eucharist. They had never written or published anything before. Penny locked Bob in a cubby hole in their office and told him to write. He could only come out for meals and potty breaks. She and their daughter Luz Elena fought off the bill collectors with one hand, and sought out potential publishers for the book they were writing. She became the editor from Hell!
The book was very successful, but it never would have happened without Penny. So in effect, she began her writing career with that first book that they really co-wrote. After that, they co-wrote 25 books on the Catholic Faith over a period of 26years. It was that first book that brought them to the attention of Catholic Television through Mother Angelica and the Eternal Word Television Network in Birmingham, Alabama. They had their first interview with Mother Angelica in December of 1986, and the following year began making television series on their books. They have been on the network 5 days a week for the last 26 years, and continued to be shown, the closing message “We Love You” came from Penny.

During her career, she co-hosted over 200 television programs which are shown on EWTN to this day. It has been said that on their programs and lectures, Penny said all things of the heart. Bob was always involved in the facts of a program of subject. This carried out throughout their entire career as authors, lecturers and television hosts. That was the way she was. Bob always considered Penny his showcase.

In the year 2000, the Lord inspired her to build Holy Family Mission in Morrilton, Arkansas, on 83 acres of land donated by Marie and William Freyaldenhoven. They have added a replica of the Holy House of Loreto and a Retreat Center on the property.

Penny always wanted to write books about meaningful subjects, their life together in the early days of their writing, in We Came Back to Jesus and The Journey and the Dream, and their last book together, Heroes- Popes in Hard Times, which dealt with enemies like Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini and the like. These books were very important to Penny. They dealt with her life with her husband Bob, and the heart of our Church.
In 2004, Penny and Bob were inducted into Who’s Who in America. Penny and Bob were given the prestigious Poverello Award, the highest award given by Franciscan University at Steubenville, in September, 2001. They were also given a special award by the Polish Film Festival for a documentary they did on St. Maxmillian Kolbe.

Penny is survived by her husband of 55 years, Bob, her Grandson Rob Ziminsky and his wife Andrea, and their two children Matthew and Mark of Illinois, her daughter Clare Parker, her husband Bobby, and daughter Christiana of South Carolina and her adopted son and daughter, Luz Elena Sandoval-Lord and Raymond Joseph (Brother Joseph) Freyaldenhoven of Holy Family Mission in Morrilton, Arkansas.

Funeral Mass: 10:00 a.m. Monday, January 27, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church with Father Jack Harris officiating. Burial will be at Holy Family Mission Cemetery by Harris Funeral Home of Morrilton. Rosary will be Sunday, January 26, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. with visitation to follow until 8:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

http://monk2be.com

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Moving Server

Hey,

I just wanted to put out a quick note.  Due to a server over load today I am moving my site to a different server on my hosting account. I’ve purchased a VPS and will be moving the site shortly.  While the move is ongoing, the site will be live.  But due to the high traffic right now from the Penny Lord post earlier today, the site will be sporadic.

Thanks for your patience!

God Bless!

Michael



http://monk2be.com

Penny Lord Has Died – Her Final Journey Home

penny lordFor any Catholic or non Catholic Christian who has watched EWTN over the years you have seen the iconic Bob & Penny Lord series.  Bob and Penny Lord were world renowned travelers that brought the secrets, joys, and wonders of Catholicism to the living rooms of millions of people during their lives.  Estimates of the number of souls that they redeemed and saved through their ministry is likely in the tens of thousands or more.  I just received news that Penny Lord has passed away.  She died last night January 21st at 8:32pm.  She suffered from a long illness that brought about her holy death last night.  I for one loved all her and Bob’s books.  She was a light in the darkness to many and she will be missed.

Penny was always solid in her theology and understanding of Church teaching.  If you haven’t read any of her books or watched her videos.  You need to get your hands on some of her awe inspiring literature. You can find her works here: Penny Lord For a time in the lives of Bob & Penny they had left the Church after the untimely death of their son, only to return at the beckoning call of Our Lord.  They were two dearly devoted people who spent their lives serving God and converting souls.  I pray that Penny receives her just award in heaven.  May the angels guide her into the arms our Jesus.

I will update my blog as I hear more news on her death. Eternal rest grant unto Penny Lord O’ God and may perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace.

God Love & God Bless,

Michael

http://monk2be.com

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Why Did Medjugorje Commission Take So Long to Complete? Verdict?

I just saw this great post from the blog: http://ift.tt/Kvyer9 Please take some time to soak in all the good info and pray for a swift judgement from Holy Mother Church concerning this 30+ year ongoing confusion that has sent many souls on a mad journey of seeking miracles and visions and creating rampant disobedience to the Church and her authority.  

Preface: Pray for truth and rejoice carefully!

I believe the Holy See is concerned with seeking the truth on Medjugorje, not an outcome that appeals to one group or another. Truth cannot co-exist with untruth. Co-workers of truth seek it no matter where it leads and regardless of the pain it may cause. When truth prevails, there are no losers among truth-seekers; rather, there are some people disappointed that what they hoped was true, was deemed untrue.  Therefore, our prayer should not be for approval or disapproval, but for truth to be found and for truth to be conveyed by the Holy See.

I think it is worth mentioning something else. When the Holy Father answers the question of Medjugorje, some will be very happy and some will be very unhappy.  It is contrary to virtue to rejoice in the suffering of others (Proverbs 24:17, Obadiah 1:12).  No matter where you stand on this, please keep that in mind when the Holy Father speaks.  Faithful Catholics on both sides of the divide have a great love for the Blessed Virgin Mary, and for the Church.  The disagreement is whether it is Mother of Our Lord who is appearing to anyone associated with Medjugorje.

Why so long?

The alleged apparitions in Medjugorje began in June of 1981, so why has it taken so long for the Church to get to the eve of answering the question of Medjugorje?  You will see variations of that question in online discussions whenever the topic is at hand.

I cannot read the minds of the hierarchy, but there are some things I’ve taken into consideration that may be useful to others. We are now waiting on the findings of the international commission of inquiry on Medjugorje to make its way from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) to the Holy Father. There has been no mention as to how long the CDF will keep it, or whether any part of it will be released to the public.  One thing I do hope for is that a certain amount of catechesis will accompany any statements.

Here are those considerations on why I believe it has taken so long:

  1. The visions are ongoing
  2. War and the break-up of the former Yugoslav Bishops Conference (YBC)
  3. The aftermath of the war
  4. There is more than Medjugorje of concern to Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) bishops

In addition, a few words on these subjects

  • The Diocese of Mostar-Duvno is a valid source for information
  • Names and faces of the bishops of Bosnia-Herzegovina

1. The visions are ongoing

Many will say that the Church has let this go for so long because the visions are still ongoing. In fact, this is almost a sole reason we see people put forth.  They might even argue that no definitive judgement can be made until the visions are done.  But, we know this is not true because many alleged apparitions have been judged as not supernatural while they were still happening. So negative judgments can come any time for the good of the faithful.  On the other hand, an alleged apparition would never be approved while ongoing because if the entity began talking about a “fourth person” of the Trinity, after such approval, the credibility of the Church would suffer great harm.

Sometimes the Church cannot affirm supernaturality, but also does not have sufficient evidence to determine that there is fraud, or diabolical involvement.  Because the question is open, historically – at least until Medjugorje – bishops have been careful not to do anything that could lend credibility, especially giving visionaries a platform on Church property. This was a point made recently to US bishops by the CDF.

Of course, if the Church does find evidence of fraud or diabolical involvement, or other explanation, the Holy See technically could not allow it to continue, even if some good was coming from it (Veritatis Splendor 75).  Moreover, to continue on in the face of any manifestations of falsehood is to participate in a lie, which is no less harmful, even if it comes through omission.  Here again, truth and untruth cannot co-exist.

Not wanting to feed solely on low-hanging fruit, let’s look at some other considerations.

2. War and the break-up of the former YBC

In 1987, the third commission making an inquiry into the events in Medjugorje began, at the level of the bishops conference of the former Yugoslavia, which represented all 23 dioceses.  The reason was given in a joint statement by the president of the YBC, Archbishop Franjo Kuharić and the local ordinary, Bishop Pavao Žanić

On April 10, 1991, the YBC issued the Zadar Declaration, with 19 voting in favor, one abstention, and three absentees, which said:

On the bas[is] of studies made so far, it cannot be affirmed that these matters concern supernatural apparitions or revelations.

In his book, Medjugorje Revisited, Donal Anthony Foley, points out an interesting predicament that surely had been on the minds of the bishops with what was bubbling in the background as they met:

Source

Around the same time that the statement of the Yugoslav Bishops’ Conference was issued, the political situation in the country began to come to a climax. Franjo Tudjman and Slobodan Milosevic met in early 1991, and decided between them that they would partition Bosnia-Herzegovina, with the Croats to take the northwestern section, the Serbs the southeastern section, with a Muslim buffer zone in the middle. On 25 June 1991, almost exactly ten years after Medjugorje began, both Croatia and Slovenia declared independence. The result of these declarations was that the Yugoslav army, essentially a Serb-run military, invaded Slovenia, thus initiating full-scale hostilities.

Foley, Donal Anthony (2011-10-27). Medjugorje Revisited: 30 Years of Visions or Religious Fraud? (Kindle Locations 4866-4871). Theotokos Books. Kindle Edition.

The war ended in 1995.  I think we can all understand why there was no action from anyone at any level of the Church with regards to answering the question of Medjugorje during this time.  Many churches and monasteries were left in ruins. The cathedral and the bishop’s palace in Mostar were not spared, nor was a library of over 50,000 books housed there. And, that was just the tip of a very big iceberg.

3. The aftermath of the war

Things do not just go back to, “normal,” after a war.  Even today, the ruins are still seen in places by those who travel to the region.  View it through the lens of a Fulbright Scholar living in Mostar.  
A boy runs through Mostar in 1995,
grenades still being lobbed.
Source

Consider what the four bishops of BiH were facing in 1995: Dead people, displaced people, hungry and cold people, people in tension, the maimed, the orphans, those with the invisible scars on their minds and in their spirits.    The economy was devastated, and it suffers still today with heavy unemployment. There will probably always be some tensions because of the way the nation was divided between three ethnic and religious groups.   This says nothing of an increase in radical islamists entering the region since the war.  When I lived there in 1980-83, I was unaware of any radical elements in the Muslim community.  This2002 interview with Cardinal Puljić sheds some light on what happened. Have things changed since then? This is a question for journalists to ask.

Just as fighting and tensions don’t just abruptly cease with war ending agreements, the effects of any war can linger for many years, even decades.
I would humbly suggest that during that 10-15 year period after the war, the bishops of Bosnia and Herzegovina were overwhelmed with things much more important than discerning the authenticity of Medjugorje. For those of us abroad, that often seems to be a singular focus of our interest in what goes on there.  I suspect Pope Benedict felt it was best to let things remain as they were for the time being, as well,  rather than put those people through the rigors of what will be a painful decision for some no matter which way it goes.
 4. There is more than Medjugorje of concern to BiH bishops
Question: How much news do you find in English or Italian press about BiH that doesn’t involve Medjugorje? 

I ask this question because we put the Medjugorje lens on without looking at what else is happening in that region.  Cardinal Puljić said he was tired, after all these years, of spending countless hours going through information.  Now, some might think he is tired of Medjugorje, and that may very well be the case.  But the most charitable explanation is that the volume of work associated with it has been taking time away from other things he needs to work on, or making his days much longer.  I count myself among those who believe this commission was wrapping up it’s work about the time Pope Benedict XVI abdicated the throne.  What else could the Holy See do but delay completion?

I think the bishops of that nation have a story to tell about life there - one that is different from neighboring Croatia because of how it has been divided between the ethnic and religious groups.  I would love for journalists to talk to the bishops and enlighten us in English and Italian Catholic press.  Do Catholics suffer persecution there? If so, how?  How has the population of Catholics changed there since the war and what has happened with local sacramental life? How are priests and religious treated?  Do young Catholics feel they have a future there, or are they migrating to Croatia? There is much more in Croatian media, and the language barrier doesn’t help. but most bishops know a second language or can find interpreters. All of this news is largely hidden behind Medjugorje.

Also, hidden behind the news about Medjugorje, is a situation no bishop would ever want to be faced with: Members of a local religious order in open rebellion with the diocese and the Holy See itself and the numbers are not insignificant.  Yet another set of invalid “confirmations” was held last year at a parish usurped in the late 1990′s, by now former Francisans (since suspended a divinis, and removed from the Order of Friars Minor).  See my report on this from April of 2013.  Hopefully it is clear that Medjugorje is not the only thing the Holy See is concerned with in that region.

Is this connected with Medjugorje?  Perhaps it is not not directly connected, but you will find opinion pieces on many pro-Medjugorje sites, saying the bishop is at odds with the Franciscans, or persecuting them, rather than the Franciscans being at odds with a decision of the Holy See (some in open rebellion.)  Aside from that, one ought to wonder how hundreds, if not thousands of invalid sacraments, can be happening a stone’s throw from Medjugorje, and the “gospa” says nothing?

Incidentally, the Holy See document at the heart of the conflict – the 1975 decree, Romanis Pontificibus -  comes from the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, on which I believe Cardinal Puljić still serves. There is a great deal of history and catechesis in the first part of that decree.

The Diocese of Mostar-Duvno is a valid source for information

One of the open wounds in the Church today – one that I hope is bandaged by Pope Francis, is the utter contempt some have for the local bishop of Mostar.  The contempt on some pro-Medjugorje sites ranges from overt, to passive-aggressive.

There is a lot of information detailing the problems the diocese has had with regards to Medjugorje, in English; and in Italian for those who don’t dismiss this as a valid source for information.  With regards to information about the rebellion of some Franciscans in the Herzegovina province, there is an entire page devoted to that at the diocese – all of it worked out with the OFM in Rome and the Holy See.   Scrolling down you will see a list of nine men dismissed from the OFM’s; and, another 18 who remain without faculties for refusing to sign a declaration of obedience to which the Franciscan Minister General and local bishop agreed, and the Holy See confirmed.  It should be noted that the majority of Franciscans in that province have cooperated.

Names and faces of the bishops of Bosnia – Herzegovina

To reporters and journalists: These are the men who lead the Church in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Got questions? Ask them.  Are there conflicts with what you find elsewhere on the web with what they say? Take your questions to the appropriate congregation at the Holy See if you doubt what they tell you, then tell us what you learn. 
The bishops of Bosnia-Herzegovina with Apostolic Nuncio from left to right: Bishop Pero Sudar (auxiliary – Sarajevo); Bishop Ratko Perić (Mostar-Duvno/Trebinje); former Nuncio, Alessandro D’Errico; Cardinal Vinko Puljić, Sarajevo; Bishop Franjo Komarica (Banja Luka); Bishop Bishop Tomo Vukšić (Military Ordinariate of BiH); Bishop Marko Semren, OFM (auxiliary – Banja Luka)

The Bishops’ Conference of BiH has grown with the addition of the auxiliary bishops in recent years, and with the establishment of a Military Ordinariate in February of 2011.

Also noteworthy is that when Bishop Marko Semren, OFM was consecrated he became the first Franciscan bishop in the dioceses making up BiH in about 40 years.  He hails from the Bosnia Franciscan Province (there are separate provinces for Herzegovina and Bosnia). Bishop Semren is an expert on Franciscan history in the region, something that may be helpful in cutting through the stories you will find on some websites.   See my coverage here and the rather interesting homily by the Apostolic Nuncio here.

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