Dear Bee:

There is no Catholic who understands Marian theology and devotion who would disparage Consecration to our Blessed Mother nor disparage one of the greatest Marian Saints in history such as St. Louis de Monfort. To disparage any saint in whom their experiences have been well documented and are not legend, such as St John Vianney is also a mark to consider.

This Consecration Vows website does not appear to be a loyal and orthodox site. At best the secret owner of this site is one very disturbed and ignorant Catholic. At worse, this site is run by a wolf in sheep's clothing. Liberal Catholics tend to disparage the devotional Church. Such rebels against the faith think that the "devotional" Church is a "throw-back" to a time they wish to eradicate from history. This is a hallmark of the progressive. Liberal Catholics (and Ultra-traditional Catholics) are essentially anti-Catholic in that they think their opinions outrank the official Church. The author of this website may be a liberal, who knows, since he keeps himself secret. He keeps his name secret even in the doman records database. But, in doing a background check on the doman name he is listed as living in Lakewood, Colorado.

It is also possible that the owner of that website is not Catholic at all, but just a covert anti-Catholic trying to subvert the Faith.

One of the very noticeable concerns about this site, besides the slander against great Saints and the misrepresentation of Church teaching, is the fact that the owner of the site apparently keeps his identity secret. This person even sells books but does not reveal the author's name.

The secrecy of this website begs the question of its legitimacy. Hiding under the cloak of darkness (secrecy) is what wolves do to capture an unsuspecting prey.

My advice is to stay away from this site, and his sister sites, and ignore what he says as it is very problematic and not even Catholic in some parts.

The Consecration of your children to our Blessed Mother is a great thing. The Catechism states about Marian devotion at 963-975, 2673-26782. Here are a few excerpts:

971 "All generations will call me blessed": "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship." The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs. . . . This very special devotion . . . differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration." The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.

2679 Mary is the perfect Orans (pray-er), a figure of the Church. When we pray to her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father, who sends his Son to save all men. Like the beloved disciple we welcome Jesus' mother into our homes, for she has become the mother of all the living. We can pray with and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary and united with it in hope.

2682 Because of Mary's singular cooperation with the action of the Holy Spirit, the Church loves to pray in communion with the Virgin Mary, to magnify with her the great things the Lord has done for her, and to entrust supplications and praises to her.

As for the Catholic Warriors website, it is the website of a person who does identify himself, Robert Abel. The list of spiritual warfare prayers includes, I see in the footnotes, reference to prayers written by Loomis/Wickes. The names sound familiar, but without finding a source I cannot say who these two people are, and unfortunately Mr. Abel does not give a proper footnote.

The two prayers on the list written by Loomis/Wickes are "Prayer for a Spiritual Canopy" and "Prayer for Trafficking People". The first prayer looks okay. The second prayer, however, I is a little odd. I'd have to think about that one for awhile.

As to whether or not Mr. Abel is qualified to speak on spiritual warfare, I do not know. Much of the information on Spiritual Warfare is academic for which anyone can learn. The details and nuances, however, usually come from experience which cannot be found in the usual books.

I question Mr. Abel's discernment and prudence in his linking to the Unhealthy Devotions website, which is run by the same secret person as the Consecration Vows mentioned in your question. Mr. Abel is not wise in doing this.

In general, the topic of Spiritual Warfare is a popular one. Everyone likes to think of themselves as an expert in this field. From my experience over the past thirty some years, first as a Protestant exorcist and now as a Catholic Deliverance counselor, that fewer than 10-20% of the people who write books, give speeches, or construct websites on the subject of Spiritual Warfare actually know what they are talking about, at least beyond the common academic material.

When it comes to the topic of Spiritual Warfare, buyer beware. By that I mean, be careful for there are lot of people who are not really qualified to speak on this subject beyond the standard academic material. Many are not even qualified to do that much.

For example, I know a Lutheran Deliverance Counselor in Des Moines who thinks that demons can be saved and he actually tries to do that when he is doing a deliverance. He says he feels sorry for the demons.

I know a Catholic Deliverance Counselor in Missouri who proposes the heresy that if one... well, let me quote him: "Little known fact, if you flat-line and die, you need to be re-baptized..." Such a statement coming from a Catholic is beyond ignorance, it is dangerous and idiotic.

Another common example is there are many so-called Deliverance Counselors who think that Christians cannot be possessed, or even demonized. This is nonsense. Christians most certainly can be demonized and even possessed. Another common error is that possessed people will go to hell. Not true. A possessed person can be in a state of grace.

And then we have all the contamination from the nonsense of Ed and Lorraine Warren. They purported to be Catholic yet used psychics, séances, and an excommunicated bishop to do their thing. Nearly every single "ghost hunting" group in the United States, and all of the ghost hunting groups on T.V. have learned errors from the Warrens and propagate those errors to others. A lot of the Deliverance Counselors, even if they do not "ghost hunt", buy into some or all of the nonsense theories and approaches of the Warrens. The bottomline is that any deliverance counselor who uses the Warrens as a reference for their knowledge about spiritual warfare should be avoided like the plague.

Thus, you are correct, there are many misleading voices out there.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary