| Question Title | Posted By | Question Date |
|---|---|---|
| lay person leading prayers in the church | andrea | Monday, December 13, 2010 |
Question: Our priest has been sick for a few weeks and unable to do daily mass, he always does sunday mass with great discomfort. Today after the weekday (mon-friday) communion service a man invited all to stay to pray for our priest, a few of us stayed. The man witnessed his healing came after a womans public confession, he than stated that our priest was sick because we where holding grudes against other people, at that time the man said "in Jesus's name I command the spirit of unforgivness to leave, he then went on saying something about a grudge that he had with our priest, at that time myself and all but 2 people got off our knees and left our church without saying a word to anyone. I am bothered as this "prayer" group that commanded spirits was held inside out church and without our priest's knowledge or permission. I want to pray for our priest however I believe that only a priest can command a spirit. I have been troubled that I took part in this I am not a cradle Catholic and do not know is what I saw today in keeping with the teaching of the Catholic church? Or could me and many others have some evil about us? Is this something that I should discuss with my priest? My priest is in need of prayers , he is suffering from the same illness that recently his sister died from and he is very sick , I do not want to burden him if not needed. |
||
| Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r)
Dear Andrea: It sounds to me that this "group" is a Charismatic group. The charismatics often overstep their bounds and approach things from a point-of-view that is more Pentecostal than Catholic. See the article, Charism Gifts Building Up the Church, which details the pros and cons of the Charismatic Renewal. For these people to say that the Priest is sick because of "their" unforgiveness is rather presumptuous to say the least. It is those who do not forgive who are more likely to get sick in spiritual, in emotions and mind, and, as recent scientific studies have shown, even in physical health. As for commanding demons, laity may do that. Jesus called all people, clergy and laity, to pray against demons. The restriction upon laity given by the Church is that laity may not perform a Solemn Exorcism (the rite of exorcism), but they may pray Deliverance Prayers. In addition, in praying deliverance prayers the laity are not to engage in conversation with demons to ascertain information such as their names. Instead, the laity can refer to demons by their attributes, such as the "spirit of unforgiveness", "spirit of bitterness", "spirit of lust", etc. There was nothing wrong with man saying "in Jesus's name I command the spirit of unforgiveness to leave", but to suggest that the Priest is sick because of unforgiveness among the parishioners is a little much. If the priest is very sick, I would not bother him at this time. If there is more of this suggestion that the priest is sick because of the sins of the parishioners, I would suggest talking to another priest about it. God Bless, Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum
|
||