Occultism as a threat to the contemporary Church WT-P-FW-O

The issue of the occult from a pastoral point of view is very important, so the lecture will show what the occult is, highlight its pernicious consequences and the problems that a person involved in the occult will face, and present the pastoral response of the Church as carried out by clergy who encounter this type of person in their parish work. In this way, the lecture becomes a 'scholarly reflection on the Church's activity in the contemporary world' that pastoral theology brings to the theological sciences in an attempt to help those 'wounded' by the experience of the occult.
Although the theological and pastoral literature on the occult and its dangers has been abundant in the last two decades, as a result of the great worldwide popularity of the books of Fr. Gabriel Amorth's books worldwide, it is, however, difficult to find a book that both presents the occult sufficiently and at the same time provides a good pastoral response to the problem. We should mention the very important scientific and popular positions of scholars such as Fr. A. Posacki and Fr. A. Zwoliński who have dealt extensively with the issue of the occult in their Lexicons of Spiritual Dangers, but they lack a clear pastoral answer. On the other hand, there are authors who are very competent and pastorally experienced in this field, such as Fr. G. Amorth, Fr. Joseph Verlinde, Fr. Matteo La Grua, Fr. Raula Salvucci or Fr. R. Chenesseau, but there is a lack of a broader and scientific view of the occult in their published works. For this reason, this lecture aims to synthesise both a scientific presentation of the issue of occultism and a pastoral response to the topic posed.
The aim of this lecture is to provide some assistance in pastoral ministry to clergy and laity encountering people who manifest syndromes of demonic torment resulting from occult practices. Another aim is to make both clergy and laity aware of the spiritual dangers that occur as a consequence of contact with occult realities. The increasing number of people affected by this suffering is forcing us to create a more organised, specialised pastoral care. The lecture can also assist the few pastoral workers dealing with the theoretical approach of theology to this issue. In addition, it is a real help for people living and working with people suffering after contact with the occult, encouraging the cooperation of numerous clergy and laity in this field. Such help stems both from love of neighbour, the power that flows from our faith, the sacraments and the consecration of the clergy. This lecture is also intended to encourage specialists in other scientific fields, such as medicine, psychology or psychiatry, to form interdisciplinary groups to competently help those suffering from demonic torment.
The lecture will address three main issues. The first part will focus on occultism, what it is, its brief history and how it manifests itself in the modern world. Therefore, in detail issues such as:
- Magical practices, with a particular distinction between white and black magic. The basis of magical practices will be shown here, which is the desire for power, possession and pleasure, and rebellion against one's Creator. Some magical rituals will also be presented their history, their origin and their consequences.
- Spiritism, which is always a contact with the demonic reality. The issue of modern forms of spiritism, such as channeling, will also appear here.
- Divination. In this paragraph, some of the most common behaviours of divination will be shown. As the interest in these practices is constantly growing and their variety is enormous, the author will limit himself to describing only a few of the most common occult practices with a divination background. - Astrology, cartomancy, radiesthesia and numerology will be described here.
- Occult medicine. This sub-section will cover those forms of medical therapies that base their healing action not only on the practices of academic medicine, but enter into spiritual and occult realities. This medicine, based on a holistic-energetic vision of the world, without having a scientific basis for its influence, tries not only to claim its alleged scientific basis, but by giving people false hopes for health, through its occult connotations, often leads to enslavements on the spiritual level.
- Eastern practices. This paragraph will describe the most common yoga and transcendental meditation exercises in the Western world with their true spiritual message and consequent impact on the spiritual life of Christians. Martial arts with an occult background and their philosophical background based on the manipulation of Chi energy will also be covered.
- Other practices. This section will describe the Silva method and Bert Hellinger's family therapy, their occult background and the dangers they bring with them.
This section will also present the history of the different practices and the teaching of the Church relating to the issue presented. The lecture will show the destructive impact of the individual occult practices on the lives of people both on a psychological, bodily, material and especially on a spiritual level. In the second part of the lecture, using literature from the fields of sociology, ethnology of religion and anthropology of religion, the influence of social conditions on the development of occult practices will be presented. This will be followed by a closer look at the New Age movement and its influence and the threat it poses, and the fact that it is this type of new spirituality that is the main promoter of occult behaviour in the modern Western world. This section will also show the Church's teaching on demonology. The essence of personal Evil, its effect on man in the ordinary and extraordinary form of Satan's action, and the issue of sin will be addressed. This part will conclude with the issue of Satanism as the greatest threat to pastoral activity.
The third part is a pastoral response to the issue of the occult taken up earlier. It will present in a synthetic way the actions that the pastor and lay faithful can take in working with those affected by spiritual enslavement due to occult practices. An example of how to carry out an initial discernment will be presented, in order to be able to properly assess the spiritual state in which the person seeking help is, and consequently the actions to be taken, such as prayer for release or exorcism. The role of lay people and professionals from other professions in interdisciplinary cooperation will also be shown. The lecture presents the current state of research on the issue in question, referring to the teaching of the Church's Magisterium and making use of supporting literature. The criterion for the selection of the literature on the subject was as follows:
- the correspondence of the content of the items analysed with Scripture and the Tradition of the Church
- the content was presented with great clarity and knowledge of the issues dealt with
- great pastoral experience of the authors
- complementarity of the content of the subject under discussion.