Dear Anthony:

A number of years ago I had the occasion to discuss this point with Fr. Maurice Levesque who ran the Catholic Doors ministry at the time.

I agreed with him in many of his points. Unfortunately many charismatic types approach the Generational Healing as if people inherited a demon the way we inherit genes. This is not the case.

I explained to Father Levesque that while I agreed with him on this and other points that this errant approach, which is not Catholic, is not the only approach to the idea of Ancestral demonization.

Fr. Levesque told me that while I might be correct on this that the errant ideas of Generational healing (Healing of the Family Tree) are so pervasive and dangerous that he was going to leave the Catholic Doors article the way it was. I told him that I thought that his position was "throwing the baby out with the bath water" but he disagreed.

In my opinion we need to offer the truth, the whole truth, and not just part of it. I understand Father's concern in that the whole subject of Generational Healing is so misunderstood that he wishes to focus on warning people about it without proviso. I think that it is better to warn people about the errant views while at the same time defining the correct views.

Although I do not know for sure, I suspect that Father Levesque does not have any actual experience in deliverance or exorcism. If he had then he might understand the need to split hairs here and acknowledge the correct notions of this subject while warning about the errant notions.

In the ministry of spiritual warfare we do not have the luxury of philosophical debates and notions -- we have to deal with issues that are presented before us in reality. The reality is that ancestral demonization is one of the most common forms of demonization.

This fact does not do violence to the Sacrament of Baptism as Father Levesque suggests. It simply recognizes the reality of the demonic strategies the devil uses.

The "inheriting a demon" from previous generations is nonsense, as Father Levesque suggests. The Sacrament of Baptism would remove any demons attached to the child. I agree with all that.

But, the issue of Ancestral demonization is not about a "inherited demon" in that fashion at all. This is about our ancestors doing something that causes the devil to place the family on his radar. As such the family line, for several generations, is noticed by the devil and perhaps exploited by the devil.

Individuals do not inherit a demon, but demons may hang around the family from generation to generation. As such, some individuals of a generation may be attacked and others not. Some generations may even be passed over for harassment.

This is not about a heredity, it is about a bondage attached to a family line, not an individual.

As Catholics we know that a sin may be forgiven but the consequences of the sin remain. Baptism removes the sin, but not the consequences. If Baptism removed the consequences then we would never die since sickness and death is a consequence of original sin. Baptism wipes away original sin, but not its consequence.

The consequence in situations of generational demonization is that our ancestors allow demons to attach to the family for whatever reasons. They may have repented and been forgiven of their actions. Baptism of the babies in succeeding generations, with its simple exorcism, will remove any demon that tries to attach itself to the infant by virtue of birth into the family. But, this does not mean that demons cannot hang around a family line ready to pounce on the vulnerable and unsuspecting. 

Praying a prayer to renounce Ancestral Sins and to Reclaim Ground from those sins is, therefore, about closing the doors that allow those consequences into the current generation. It is removing the consequences and taking back the ground that the devil stole from the family. The devil will use any excuse to harass us. The prayer we have published on this shuts the door that the devil will use as an excuse to bother us. It patches the holes that ancestors punched into the fence of protection that God places around us.

This concept is seen in many other ways. A house may be passed on from generation to generation run down by the neglect (sins) of our ancestors. It was not our doing that caused the house to be run down (that was a consequence of our ancestors neglect), but we have the house in the family. Now that we are stuck with the house, we can fix it up and remodel it. As new problems are discovered about the house, we fix them.

The prayers to renounce Ancestral Sins is liken to the decision to stop the consequence of ancestors neglect of the house and to fix it up. To reclaim the ground lost from ancestral sins is liken to remodeling the house and maintaining the house from now on.

That is not a very good analogy, I guess, but it is the best I can do at the moment.

Anyway, I hope this helps to explain a little.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary