We know that there are evil spirits, and that they roam the world -- in great number, as stated by use of the word "legion." We know this starting with the testimony of the Garden as well as Old Testament figures like Job and certainly then through the ministry of Jesus.

We also know it from the saints, from Church tradition. No doubt there. Demons.

But what about other kinds of spirits? Are there others that haunt -- that affect -- us? Specifically: do some souls do their "purgatory" on earth, or find themselves trapped here?

It is a controversial topic, for sure; the Church has little to say about it. Some saints thought so. St. Padre Pio was said to have encountered (and ministered to) many of them. At one famous apparition site, the Blessed Mother was quoted as saying that when it comes to souls, "it happens that God permits them to manifest themselves in different ways, close to their relatives on earth, in order to remind men of the existence of purgatory and to solicit their prayers to come close to God Who is just but good."

It is difficult for many to accept. And yet who has not heard or had an instance of "things that go bump in the night" (of strange happenings)? According to some -- including many priests -- there are also souls who haven't made it from earth to an actual afterlife and are stuck or "earthbound."

It can be purgatory on earth. It can be because they are afraid of the Light. It can be because they don't want to face God's evaluation. It can be through obsession, or because they were not properly mourned (at least according to one Christian psychiatrist, Dr. Kenneth McAll, who wrote extensively on this). It can be because they simply have lost their way.

Mother Nadine Brown, a Catholic deliverance expert from Omaha who has founded a new and rapidly expanding order called Intercessors of the Lamb, says she and her hermits have encountered them.

"They want to go home but they don't know how," asserts the sister. "It may be because of anger, or sin areas, or curses, or bondage. We run into it all the time. It can be from a problem in the family tree, or because the exorcism was omitted from their baptism."

A Marian charismatic, Mother Nadine tells us that prayers of deliverance work to expel evil spirits, but not necessarily earthbound ones (who are not as subject to our commands but rather need Masses said for them, she speculates).

"Their loneliness is terrible," says Mother Nadine, whose order has swelled from a handful in the early 1990s to now seventy sisters and brothers, along with five priests. "When we have pain, we have help, but these souls have no support system. They need Mass. They want to get our attention."

This happens, some believe, when a person is overly attached to an earthly thing, person, place, or emotion, especially if a deed has been committed against the deceased and remains unforgiven. Mother Nadine and others assert (for your discernment) that earthbound spirits are the cause of some "hauntings" (for your discernment), that they plague far more places than we know, and that they can be the hidden source of problems.

Newspapers often carry articles about unexplained noises or photographic images, especially in countries like England. Many cities even have "ghostly tours" -- an unhealthy preoccupation. Through history, "restless souls" have been associated with old buildings or burial sites -- often negatively.

In a book called Return from Tomorrow, Dr. George Ritchie, a psychiatrist who had a famous near-death experience, agreed, saying that Jesus showed him many cases where the dead lingered on earth, often trying to interact with the living.

The danger: a preoccupation with this particular spiritual aspect and an attempt to communicate with deceased can be harmful. In the Catechism, we are warned not to become overly curious in matters of the occult. "All forms of divination are to be rejected," say the Catholic guidelines (2116). "Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums."

We are to pray for the dead. They may send signs, or appear in dreams. We are not to initiate contact with them. Are there cases where the deceased manifest to us spontaneously? Yes; there are even cases accepted by the Church, which, as one bishop pointed out to us recently, has a entire museum in Italy devoted to purgatory -- with signs from those on the other side (including burn marks). Moreover, there has been Church sanction for revelations from a deceased nun (in a book called Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory). Saints themselves have appeared or manifested to countless people through the ages.

In Ohio is a Catholic woman named Mary Ann Winkowski who claims to have the gift of seeing "earthbound" spirits since childhood and consults the show Ghost Whisperer. "Blood may not drip down the walls, and the attic may not be host to swarms of buzzing flies, but the reality is that ghosts are all around us," she writes. "And more often than not, the truth is much more intriguing than fiction." She relates accounts, such as that of a vivacious young girl who suddenly became withdrawn. The youngster was obsessed, says Winkowski, with an invisible "friend" that was actually a disembodied spirit who had died in the house during a fire decades before and remained -- waiting to be redirected to the Light.

Unfortunately, those involved frequently use occult-like techniques or talismans (such as special seeds or the horn necklace) during their "investigations." This is in the realm of superstition.

The only safe recourse: dedicating a Mass for any soul who may be in the area, and in a special way asking the Blessed Mother to clean house.

She certainly knows where the right Light is -- and as far as cleaning, she is, of course, the immaculate one.

[resources: Onward Catholic Soldier and Catholic Warrior]

[Michael Brown retreats, the afterlife: Detroit] 

4/22/09