Professionals Needed In The Philippines

[Jollygoodfellow]

Extra help is needed for those who are possessed. Does not mention if any souls are saved though.   :no:

 

Wanted: More exorcists to meet demands in Philippines

 

MANILA, Philippines (CNS) -- So many people have contacted the Archdiocese of Manila about exorcisms that it has begun recruiting new priests.

"These days we have around 80 to 100 cases at any given time," Father Jose Francisco "Jocis" Syquia, chief exorcist at the Archdiocese of Manila Office of Exorcism, told Catholic News Service.

The office has seen a three-fold increase in cases of harassment and possession in the past year, so Manila-based exorcists have been laying the groundwork for a training program that would see their workload spread out more evenly across the Philippines.

Father Syquia said cases from across the country keep being referred to their office. He said many dioceses do not have in-house exorcists, which drives the faithful to seek out "healers and occult practitioners." This only serves to exacerbate the problem, he said, because seeking out the preternatural to receive healing, which he said only God can give, attracts the demonic. By the time the Manila archdiocesan exorcism office sees people, he said, they are in bad shape.

 

Another reason for the bump in cases is that more and more people are learning about what the office does, thanks to a popular national radio program "Light in the Darkness," which airs on the Catholic news-talk station, Radio Veritas.

Apart from performing exorcisms, the Manila team of five takes turns hosting the Saturday night text-in show. But its member priests each have their own full-time duties.

Father Syquia, a Rome-trained exorcist with a background in psychology, teaches at Manila's archdiocesan seminary, goes on exorcism-related speaking engagements and writes books about exorcism. Dominican Father Winston Cabading is secretary-general of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. He also teaches graduate courses at the university and is only available on Saturdays to perform exorcisms. One monsignor's full-time job is attending to retired priests in the archdiocese, while two other priests are each pastors at churches in cities that border Manila.

 

With all their duties plus the bump in cases, the archdiocesan exorcism office appealed to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines early this year to designate at least one priest to perform exorcisms in each of the country's 86 dioceses.

Father Cabading said the conference fully supported the idea, and the response was mostly positive. About a dozen dioceses signed up right away, but he said it did not necessarily bring an immediate feeling of relief.

 

Father Cabading told CNS there was also a concern.

"Because if you have more exorcists, then each exorcist would have his own way of doing things," said Father Cabading said. "And this is the reason why Father Jocis and I and also the AMOE exorcists are of the opinion that we should have a unified way of how we handle things."

They tried one-on-one training but decided it would be more efficient to gather the prospective exorcists all together at one time and teach a course for one week next July. The more the Manila team developed the plan, the stronger people felt that at least two priests in each diocese should be trained exorcists. That opened up the project to creating an institute and the eventual formation of a Philippine Association of Catholic Exorcists, which would help ensure a uniform practice of driving away demons.

Father Cabading said the Manila exorcists are most concerned about the lay volunteers and others that they said are essential help for a lone priest who performs exorcisms. The Manila team wanted to instill a strong discernment process for vetting the volunteers to determine whether they were, in fact, fit to take part in exorcisms.

The office uses a regular rotation of volunteer doctors, psychologists, lawyers and religious and laypeople who are particularly prayerful who all help either to pray during exorcisms or to help in determining the severity of cases.

 

Fathers Cabading and Syquia have added their own prayers to those from the Latin rite of exorcism. Father Cabading said their prayers were borne out of trial and error to find the most effective sets of prayers or combinations of prayers or sets of prayerful words spoken a certain way for whichever situation they found themselves in during particularly difficult exorcisms. They said this would also serve as a guide for the new legion of exorcists they would be forming.

Looking back at the evolution of his simple request for more exorcists to help take a load off, Father Syquia said: "I am at peace with it. It is always better to move carefully because the ministry is delicate, and the program is a pioneer project. With this ministry, quality over quantity (is better) because the cases can be quite complex, and proper Christian presence is the priority.

 

"We also try to follow what God's will manifests to us. It is God's work and we do only what we can honestly accomplish," he said.

 

http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2015/wanted-more-exorcists-to-meet-demands-in-philippines.cfm

 

[Kuya John]

JGF,

It seems that you have merely quoted what was published on this subject.

Have your own forum rules been broken by this? ( reference to the Church selective quote below)

It is a known fact that worldwide, people seek help in that way for whatever reasons they feel the need.

I have heard of cases here in the UK of such practices.

I have just read another article of a similar vein regarding visitations just before death!.......

 

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/most-dying-people-are--visited--by-dead-friends-in-their-last-hours-074707061.html#IGb4WVn

Edited October 28, 2015 by Kuya John

[Kuya John]

Extra help is needed for those who are possessed. Does not mention if any souls are saved though. :no:

[Old55]

JGF,

It seems that you have merely quoted what was published on this subject.

Have your own forum rules been broken by this? ( reference to the Church selective quote below)

It is a known fact that worldwide, people seek help in that way for whatever reasons they feel the need.

I have heard of cases here in the UK of such practices.

I have just read another article of a similar vein regarding visitations just before death!.......

 

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/most-dying-people-are--visited--by-dead-friends-in-their-last-hours-074707061.html#IGb4WVn

 

Forum Rules;

Topics

Topics on this forum are to be Philippine related; religious or political posts are not allowed unless they relate to the Philippines. 

 

I don't see how any forum rule was broken.

Edited October 29, 2015 by Old55

[Dave Hounddriver]

Perhaps JGF did not stop to think that there are practicing Catholics reading this forum who might feel that their faith was being ridiculed by this news article?  I surely would not want this thread to go in that direction.

[Old55]

There have been several local and national TV newscasts that have covered that the Vatican is short of specialist priests who can provide this spiritual service here in the States. I'm not Catholic but truly believe a trained priest is capable of dealing with demonic possession and yes many would scoff or ridicule but to each his own.

There seems to be a number of mass hysteria cases each year in Philippines. And perhaps in some something from out of this world could be the cause.

[Jack Peterson]

I am Certainly not a Religious person and have no real wish either to see this Topic develop into a war of Words but we should Remember this is not a new subject or happening, it has been around since Biblical days. It reared it's  head I understand more in the 15th century & on when people were concerned about this mass Hysteria thing that does seem to happen in the Philippines at times.

 

Jack :unsure:

[Kuya John]

Topics on this forum are to be Philippine related; religious or political posts are not allowed unless they relate to the Philippines. I don't see how any forum rule was broken.

War of words.....not going down that road my Brothers and Sisters  :thumbsup:

regards JB :tiphat:

Edited October 29, 2015 by Kuya John