![\"20210311T1030-EXORCISM-PRIEST-1166491\"](\"https:\/\/www.catholicnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/custom\/20210311T1030-EXORCISM-PRIEST-1166491.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFrom U.S. Bishops: Catholic News Service:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Father Vincent Lampert has traveled to the ends of the earth in his ministry fighting the devil as an exorcist.<\/p>\n
From South Africa to Alaska and points in between, the pastor of St. Michael Parish in Brookville and St. Peter Parish in Franklin County has carried out this ministry since 2005.<\/p>\n
When Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein appointed him to this ministry 16 years ago, there were only 12 priests in the U.S. who were exorcists. Today, there are 125.<\/p>\n
Now, one of the senior exorcists in the U.S., Father Lampert is often called upon to mentor priests newly appointed to the ministry, or sometimes to perform exorcisms in far-flung locales.<\/p>\n
In 2019, he traveled to Alaska to help a newly appointed exorcist with a special case.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were in an Eskimo village about 300 miles west of Anchorage,\u201d Father Lampert said. \u201cA small, little village. And there we were in the church doing an exorcism.\u201d<\/p>\n
The priest shared some of his experiences in his book, \u201cExorcism: The Battle Against Satan and His Demons,\u201d published last fall by Emmaus Road Publishing.<\/p>\n
In the book, he compared exorcists to medical specialists who travel and consult far and wide to help people with their specialized knowledge.<\/p>\n
He wrote that Catholics, with the help of their parish priests, can fend off the devil through their ordinary life of faith.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, it\u2019s the very normal aspects of our faith that protect us from evil: going to Mass, celebrating the sacraments, praying, reading Scripture,\u201d Father Lampert said. \u201cIt\u2019s the ordinary aspects of our faith that will protect us from the evil one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The priest was appointed to serve as the archdiocese\u2019s exorcist after the death of his predecessor, Msgr. John Ryan, who had been discreet in his ministry, not speaking about it publicly.<\/p>\n
Because of that, and because there were so few exorcists in the United States in 2005, Father Lampert was unsure how to learn about this ministry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was nobody I could turn to,\u201d he recalled. \u201cThe knowledge of Msgr. Ryan had died with him,\u201d he told The Criterion, archdiocesan newspaper of Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
While on a sabbatical in Rome soon after being appointed as an exorcist, he was mentored by a Franciscan priest there who had been trained as an exorcist by Passionist Father Candido Amantini, the chief exorcist of the Diocese of Rome for decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe church says the best way to become an exorcist is the apprenticeship model,\u201d Father Lampert said.<\/p>\n
Observing his mentor perform exorcisms, though, was shocking at times, the priest wrote, saying his mentor never flinched, even when an afflicted person started levitating.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the demon laughed hysterically and began to levitate, the priest put his hand on the person\u2019s head and pushed the manifesting demon back into the chair, all the while never pausing with the exorcism prayer of the church,\u201d Father Lampert wrote. \u201cI must say at that moment I thought, \u2018What has my bishop gotten me into?’\u201d<\/p>\n
Years later and with experience under his belt, Father Lampert isn\u2019t taken aback by the manifestation of demons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not interested in seeing the theatrics of the devil,\u201d he said. \u201cThe focus should be on the power of God and what God is doing in the lives of people who are afflicted.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is happy to see the growth in the ministry of exorcists in the U.S. and credits this in part to attention drawn to exorcism by recent popes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the church isn\u2019t prepared to help people who turn to her and who believe that they\u2019re dealing with demonic influence, then they\u2019ll turn elsewhere,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd where they turn elsewhere may not necessarily bring them the help that they need. It may actually fracture and break them even further.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the growth also could be from the openness of speaking about this ministry, which he has done around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore people today are fascinated by the devil than they are with the power of God,\u201d Father Lampert said. \u201cWe should never believe that God and the devil are on the same playing field. The devil is still a creature.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auxiliary Bishop Jeffrey S. Grob of Chicago was appointed exorcist for his archdiocese in 2006. He and Father Lampert have known each other for decades, having been seminarians together before they were ordained in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n
Bishop Grob appreciates Father Lampert\u2019s willingness to speak publicly about the ministry of exorcism.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a handful of guys who are more out there, trying to build a healthy balance in the understanding of it,\u201d the bishop said. \u201cThere are so many skewed understandings of the ministry. Father Lampert is a very solidly grounded guy in his faith, his practice of the faith and his teaching of the faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has good discernment. He looks at a situation and sees what it is and what it\u2019s not,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Father Lampert said the church\u2019s approach to demonic activity takes a healthy middle ground between two more extreme views.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are people who don\u2019t believe in the reality of a personified evil,\u201d he said. \u201cThey would say that evil is nothing more than humanity\u2019s inhumane treatment of one another. \u2026 Then there\u2019s the flip side of that where you have people that see the devil behind everything and that we\u2019re all poor victims of what the devil is trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his book, Father Lampert said that while he affirms the reality of the devil and of demons afflicting people, he is \u201ctrained to be a skeptic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI should be the last one to believe that someone is possessed,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI must exhaust all reasonable explanations for what is taking place in the person. Therefore, experts in the medical and psychiatric sciences are always consulted.\u201d<\/p>\n
When those explanations are exhausted, he is willing to use the spiritual means the church provides.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, it takes a long time for the ministry of an exorcist to have the desired effect. In his book, he describes ministering for more than a year to a woman possessed by seven demons.<\/p>\n
Not being caught up in the \u201ctheatrics of the devil,\u201d when she was finally free of the demons, Father Lampert took his success as another day at the office. He celebrated by getting a chocolate milkshake at a nearby Dairy Queen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe place was crowded and as I waited in line to place my order,\u201d he wrote, \u201cI thought to myself that if these people knew where I had just come from I would be like Moses parting the Red Sea.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the reasons Father Lampert is so successful in his ministry is that he views it as part of his priestly vocation.<\/p>\n
\u201cA vocation is a calling from God,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause there are fewer priests, we wear so many hats and are pulled in so many directions, there\u2019s the danger of seeing the priesthood as an occupation. As a vocation, though, you\u2019re a priest 24\/7. As an occupation, you do your thing and you\u2019re done and go on to the next thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also feels strongly about the positive impact of his ministry.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, everything the devil does plays into the hands of God. I believe that wholeheartedly. And, because of that, I always have hope and joy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n
Gallagher is a reporter at The Criterion, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
From U.S. Bishops: Catholic News Service: Father Vincent Lampert has traveled to the ends of the earth in his ministry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-45592","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-church","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}