The Exorcist Iv: The Church Gives Up The Ghost

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday January 15, 2002

Margaret Rice.

With Harry Potter opening the gates to Satanism, Australia finds itself undefended, reports Margaret Rice.

THE person with the role of explaining Catholic thinking to the public of Sydney, the church's official spokesman, Father Brian Lucas, could be heard groaning at the other end of the phone. ``Does anyone really take this sort of thing seriously?" he asked.

``This sort of thing" was a statement from Rome's official chief exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, warning parents that J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books could promote Satanism. Amorth, who is the president of the International Association of Exorcists, told the Italian ANSA news agency: ``Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil." Amorth said that Rowling's books attempted to make a false distinction between black and white magic when in fact the distinction ``does not exist, because magic is always a turn to the devil".

Amorth's statement was distributed last week by the Australian Catholic news outlet, Catholic Telecommunications, under the heading ``Catholic News".

``But," Lucas said, ``they're a news service that picks up all sorts of odd little news stories from all throughout the world they don't carry the authority of the Catholic Church.

``The trouble is, there's always going to be somebody out there who takes an extreme point of view. And just because Amorth is the president of the International Association of Exorcists doesn't mean that he speaks on behalf of the Catholic Church.

``That little story should be judged on its merits. Most people including spokespeople for the Catholic Church are not going around talking about banning Harry Potter.

``There are more than 1 billion Catholics in the world and that means you're going to get more than 1 billion points of view on Harry Potter."

The official line, then at least in Sydney is that Harry Potter is safe. He won't be banned from Catholic school libraries and, no, there won't be any frenzied sermons warning the faithful against the tomes on the basis of their sinfulness something the church has done in the past, for example, with the drug movie Easy Rider, The Little Red School Book and the nudie movie Alvin Purple.

So OK, we've been officially reassured that Harry Potter is not a threat. But what about that far scarier figure, the chief exorcist? Why do such people still exist, even have their own association?

Lucas said the Catholic Church in Australia did not really go in for exorcism these days. Exorcism is the use of special incantations and rites to drive evil spirits out of a person. The practice was made famous in the film The Exorcist, made in 1973, and revived recently.

``There was a priest who was the official and only exorcist for the Catholic Church in Australia, until he died a few years ago," Lucas said. ``But he hasn't been replaced and he never did one exorcism.

``As far as I'm aware, there has been no genuine exorcism performed in Australia, at least in recent times."

To believe in the need for exorcism, a society needs to believe that evil can be embodied in a real, tangible figure. In primitive cultures it is often believed that a bad spirit can come into the home and perform an evil act.

More sophisticated cultures seek scientific explanations for painful events and consider that evil comes from within ourselves, that even good people can do bad things. This explains why exorcism is alien to a country such as Australia, Lucas said. But this didn't mean the Catholic Church in Australia didn't have to deal with the concept.

He said that sometimes Pentecostal religious leaders, managing a member of their congregation who was ``hearing voices", would perform their own version of an exorcism. When it inevitably failed, the person had often developed a belief that they needed another exorcism attempt, even if the Pentecostal healer had moved on. The sufferer then came back to the original source of the exorcism rite, the Catholic Church.

``At that point I find myself having a long conversation with the person concerned, encouraging them to get back in touch with their doctor to discuss their medication," Lucas said.

So did this mean exorcism is total baloney? Lucas pointed out that The Exorcist was based on true events. ``It was a very famous exorcism case which happened in the United States," he said.

So did that mean that there was a devil, that he was not just a metaphor for evil? ``That's right," Lucas said. ``Most mainstream Christian opinion would say that it is not satisfactory simply to say he is a metaphor."

And this meant, technically, that the devil could possess someone, even here in Australia? ``It's possible," he said.

If this occurred, someone in Australia could be found to do the job.

``But before it was even possible to begin thinking about it, the most thorough of thorough psychiatric assessments would be required," Lucas said.