The Archbishop of Wellington, John Dew, has responded to yet another wave of the media’s perennial fascination with exorcists and exorcism by saying Wellington does not have an appointed exorcist, and as far as he knew, the Wellington Catholic Archdiocese had never needed one.
Exorcisms in New Zealand are rare, but they do happen – and Catholic Education Office chief executive Pat Lynch said canon law made it obligatory for a bishop to have someone able to perform an exorcism.
“These things, they are not in the realm of fantasy,” he said.
He remembered a house, near where he lived in Auckland in the 1970s, where “some sort of black magic was taking place”.
“People were getting in touch with the Underworld”.
The story was that a one-metre hole would open up in the side of a wall, leaving scorch marks around it.
While parts of the story may have been embellished, a priest with exorcism credentials was brought in to perform the ritual as described in the canon for exorcising spirits.
The ritual apparently worked, he said.
“I have no reason to disbelieve it”.
Source
- Stuff.co.nz
- Image: i152.photobucket.com
