CASE STORY: When New Age Techniques contaminate Catholic Religious Life and open the door for the demonic

Consecrated men and women offer their life in prayer, ministry, and service. What happens when they fall under the power of the evil one?

We at AMOE have ministered to several consecrated women and men, who devoted themselves really to service to God and neighbor, but had the unfortunate event of being held in the devils sway. The demons latching in their lives enter through various means. But in most of the cases that we have ministered to, the major opening is due to emotional trauma. With women religious, it would be abuse in the family especially if they came from very poor families with very little educational formation. They entered the religious life in order to escape primarily poverty and the sorry situation they find themselves in. And since they came from rural and remote areas, it is not seldom that they too are contaminated with occult practices either in their own family or that they were brought to occult practitioners for healing.

Now upon entering religious life, where they have more time for prayer and reflection, they would at times be awakened by the memory of the trauma they have experienced. If the trauma was sexual in nature like incest or rape of which they never told anyone in their family for fear of rejection, the memory would haunt them, and their sexual desires awakened by the experience of the past. Of course in these cases professional help is needed to assess the damage and to facilitate healing. However, in many religious congregations, the professional help themselves are members of the congregation. So the afflicted is brought to them. This would certainly be ideal provided that everything is done scientifically and in a sound manner. But since the 1980's other things, which are truly, foreign to Catholic spirituality and formation started to come in and be integrated into the religious formation. These things which are borrowed from the New Age Movement include the enneagram, pranic healing, reparenting the child within, the ying-yang, the chakra, crystal healing, energy healing all started to be enmeshed in the life of the religious. So mixing western psychological methods with esoteric ones, opened the door for the demonic to take hold of the religious. No one involved in this kind of techniques would ever admit that this have been instrumental in the entry of the demonic in the life of the candidate. But our experience at AMOE will prove otherwise. We have seen the disastrous effects of these New Age in the life of religious men and women.

 

Consider this case:

There is this case of a young novice who was sexually abused by a relative when she was still in her pre-teen years. The father was irresponsible and has spent his life in drinking and gambling. The mother brought the daughter to a close relative. Then the mother left. Although the relative took the child in, she was never considered as a family member and was treated as a servant. This is where the abuse came in. She never told anyone about it for fear of being sent away or misunderstood or judged. When she came of age, she decided to enter a convent. One would immediately already see possible impure motives there. While in the convent, she was struggling with chastity as the sexual abuse experience left her scarred. It was her first sexual experience and hence her dreams centered on that experience. Up to that time she never had any resentments with the mother that left her because she knew that she could not give her a decent future. She never had resentments as well with the relative who took her in even if she was treated as a domestic helper. She was grateful in fact that she was given the opportunity to go to school and finish up until high school.

She entered a convent of sisters and began her formation. She recounted her traumatic experience to the mistress of novices who referred her to one of the sisters who is a psychologist. That would have helped a lot except that this psychologist is also a believer and practitioner in the esoteric arts of pranic healing, crystal healing, enneagram, and the reparenting the child within exercise. In one of the sessions with her, the psychologist-sister instructed her on how to go about the reparenting the child within which is a return-to-the-womb exercise. Now what is this technique all about? It is like a self-hypnosis thing where one imagines of going back into the womb of the mother in order to discover what are the baggages one has received since conception.

The young novice, did as instructed. The procedure was done inside the chapel. The psychologist-sister left the room to give the novice time and space. While she meanwhile attends to other things. Well, this is a very delicate and risky procedure. Many things can happen. It is not wise to leave a person all alone because catharsis might occur in the process and the experience of very intense negative emotions. So the novice was, according to the narrative she submitted to AMOE, able to go back to the womb. And there she heard the very heated arguments between her mother and father related to the pregnancy. The father wanted the pregnancy to be terminated as they could not afford another child. The mother meanwhile pleaded that the pregnancy be allowed to continue. And if they could not really raise funds to assure a decent future for the child, then they can send her for adoption. The father agreed.

However, as the pregnancy was advancing, the father left the house and never returned. Meanwhile, the mother was left on her own with the help of some close family relatives to finally deliver the baby. When the child was already weaned from the mother, she was entrusted to a relative who promised to take care of the child. All these she heard and saw while apparently in that state. Whether this is really scientifically plausible, we allow science to judge.

Illustration taken from https://mytruthsetsmefree.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/innerchildwounded-2.jpg?w=300

What was significant to the case was what happened after she returned from the hypnotic state. Suddenly she felt deep hatred towards the father who left the mother, and anger against the mother who left her to the relative. She also developed anger against the relative who took her in. And to the other relative that took advantage of her vulnerability she has only curse words reserve for him. She never had those feelings before. And every time she would remember, her passions would flare up. At the same time she became also psychically sensitive. She started to see things, ghastly apparitions, terrible nightmares. She developed an  "evil eye", where those who displeased her become ill by her simply looking at them with anger and hatred. Due to this, her co-novices became afraid of her. Even her friends started to avoid her so as not to be an object of her displeasure. She became secluded in a life where community life is of vital importance. The novice mistress tolerated her, perhaps moved with compassion, but when she too became ill because of her evil eye, then she was sent out.

How she was able to seek help from AMOE is another story. But it suffices to say that the introduction of New Age techniques in religious life do more harm to the soul than good. And any apparent good it would bring is simply a deception as the evil would strike back at the most unexpected moment.