Exorcism

[GeneChing]

This is rather dated but an echo of it popped up on my newsfeed randomly and so I chased down the source. This is the earliest I found.

Yoga is the work of the devil, says Vatican's chief exorcist (and he doesn't like Harry Potter much either)
And you'll never guess what his favourite film is...
By Nick Pisa for MailOnline
UPDATED: 12:50 EST, 25 November 2011


Outspoken: Don Gabriele Amorth, the Chief Exorcist for the Vatican for the past 25 years, spoke of his dislikes at a fringe event of the Umbria Film Festival

Father Gabriel Amorth has carried out more than 70,000 exorcisms in his capacity as Chief Exorcist at the Vatican.

The 85-year-old can boast 25 years in the post after being appointed by the late Pope John Paul II.

At a conference today, he surprised the delegates by revealing some of his greatest dislikes - yoga and Harry Potter.

Father Amorth, a colourful and often outspoken personality, said:'Practising yoga brings evil as does reading Harry Potter. They may both seem innocuous but they both deal with magic and that leads to evil.'

He added:'Yoga is the Devil's work. You thing you are doing it for stretching your mind and body but it leads to Hinduism. All these oriental religions are based on the false belief of reincarnation.'

Father Amorth, speaking on the subject of People And Religion at a fringe event at the Umbria Film Festival in Terni, spoke of his distaste for JK Rowling's young wizard.

He said:'People think it is an innocuous book for children but it's about magic and that leads to evil. In Harry Potter the Devil is at work in a cunning and crafty way, he is using his extraordinary powers of magic and evil.


Twin terrors: Yoga turns devotees towards Hinduism, believes Father Amorth - while

'Satan is always hidden and the thing he desires more than anything is for people to believe he does not exist. He studies each and everyone of us and our tendencies towards good and evil and then he tempts us.

'My advice to young people would be to watch out for nightclubs because the path is always the same: alcohol, sex, drugs and Satanic sects.'

It is not the first time that Father Amorth has raised eyebrows with his forthright views - last year he said that the ongoing child sex scandals rocking the Catholic Church were evidence that 'the Devil was at work in the Vatican.'

'Satan studies each and everyone of us and our tendencies towards good and evil and then he tempts us'

While in 2006, Father Amorth, who was ordained a priest in 1954, gave an interview to Vatican Radio in which he said that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and Russian dictator Josef Stalin were both possessed by the Devil.

According to secret Vatican documents recently released the then wartime Pope Pius XII attempted a 'long distance exorcism' of Hitler but it failed to have any effect.

It is also not the first time that Father Amorth, who is president of the International Association of Exorcists, has spoken out against Harry Potter saying in the past that it opens children's minds to dabbling with the occult and black magic.


Horrific: Satan at work in the 1973 film starring Linda Blair which is perhaps unsurprisingly Father Amorth's favourite film

Today Vanda Vanni, of the Italian Yoga Association, said:'A Satanic practice? Pardon the pun but that is an accusation that is neither in Heaven or on earth. Father Amorth's accusation is completely without foundation.

'It is an outrageous thing to say - yoga is not a religion but a spiritual discipline. It is about freedom and a search to find one's inner self. It does not touch religion and has nothing to do with Satanic sects nor does it encourage people to join them.

Giorgio Furlan, who runs the Yoga Academy in Rome, said`:'There are some paths of yoga which do lead towards Hinduism but other paths are more philosophical but their is no direct link with religion and certainly no link with Satanism.

'To say such things shows you have no idea of what you are talking about - yoga controls violent impulses of the nervous system and subconscious - to be honest with me it had the effect of bringing me closer to Christianity and in particular the Catholic Church which I had abandoned as a youngster.

THREAD: Yoga
THREAD: Exorcism
THREAD: Harry Potter

[Jimbo]

It sounds to me like that Father Amorth needs an exorcism himself (is he even still alive anymore?). Those who are religiously self-righteous and point the finger at others as 'in league with the devil' never consider that three of their own fingers are pointing right back at themselves. If he sees 'the devil' behind every bush, around every corner and within every person with an opinion or belief system that is different from his own, then the problem is within himself, and he really needs to look in the mirror.

[GeneChing]

They should offer an online course.

Vatican to hold exorcist training course after 'rise in possessions'
Critics warn exorcism can be a form of spiritual abuse as priests report jump in possession claims
Harriet Sherwood
@harrietsherwood
Fri 30 Mar 2018 09.00 EDT Last modified on Fri 30 Mar 2018 10.46 EDT


A still from the 1973 film The Exorcist. A Christian thinktank said exorcisms were a ‘booming industry’ in the UK, particularly among Pentecostal churches. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

The Vatican is to hold a training course for priests in exorcism next month amid claims that demands for deliverance from demonic possession have greatly increased across the the world.

The Vatican-backed International Association of Exorcists, which represents more than 200 Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox priests, said the increase represented a “pastoral emergency”.

According to a priest from Sicily, the number of people in Italy claiming to be possessed had tripled to 500,000 a year, and an Irish priest has said demand for exorcisms has “risen exponentially”.

Last year, the Christian thinktank Theos reported that exorcisms were a “booming industry” in the UK, particularly among Pentecostal churches.

But some warn that “deliverance ministry” can be a form of spiritual abuse. Critics also say LGBT people and those with mental health issues are targeted for deliverance in the belief that their sexuality or psychiatric problems are the result of demonic possession.

The Vatican training course, which will be held at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome between 16-21 April, will focus on exorcism and the prayer of liberation, a prayer commonly used for deliverance from possession.

“The fight against the evil one started at the origin of the world, and is destined to last until the end of the world,” Fr Cesare Truqui, one of the speakers, told Vatican News.

“But today we are at a stage crucial in history: many Christians no longer believe in [the devil’s] existence, few exorcists are appointed and there are no more young priests willing to learn the doctrine and practice of liberation of souls.”

Fr Benigno Palilla, an exorcist from Sicily who reported a tripling of demonic possession cases on the island, acknowledged the issue was controversial, but added: “The demoniacs … suffer a lot.”

Training in deliverance was essential, he told Vatican Radio. “A self-taught exorcist certainly makes errors. I will say more: it would also take a period of apprenticeship, as happens for many professionals.”

In Ireland, Fr Pat Collins said he had been inundated, almost daily, with people seeking help to deal with what they believed to be demonic possession and other evil, and called for more training in exorcism.

“It’s only in recent years that the demand has risen exponentially,” he told the Irish Catholic. “What I’m finding out desperately, is people who in their own minds believe – rightly or wrongly – that they’re afflicted by an evil spirit.

“I think in many cases they wrongly think it, but when they turn to the church, the church doesn’t know what to do with them.”

Pope Francis has said if a priest becomes aware of “genuine spiritual disturbances … he must not hesitate to refer the issue to those who, in the diocese, are charged with this delicate and necessary ministry, namely, exorcists”.

The Church of England offers guidelines on deliverance which say that for some people “going through times of suffering and anxiety, or when distressed by what seem to be continuing experiences of evil within or around them … it may be right to ask for God’s saving help through the church’s deliverance ministry”.

The guidelines, which were updated in 2012, say caution must be exercised and “the ministry of exorcism and deliverance may only be exercised by a priest authorised by the diocesan bishop”.

Such priests should be trained in deliverance and should not minister alone. They should be covered by adequate insurance, the document says.

“Language, body language and touch should be courteous and considerate … No one should receive ministry against their will.”

The guidelines say doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists should be consulted where appropriate, and that deliverance should be followed up with continuing pastoral care and “should be done with a minimum of publicity”.

According to Anne Richards, the C of E’s national adviser on such issues: “Exorcism in a technical sense is incredibly rare. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a case that’s been authorised.”

Each of the C of E’s 42 dioceses has at least one person experienced and trained in deliverance, she said.

The church was “extremely concerned” that deliverance and healing should be undertaken in collaboration with professionals, such as doctors, and in the context of good safeguarding practice, she said.

But, she added, “I accept in some cases people get together and do something ad hoc. It shouldn’t happen – it needs to be a proper process.”

According to Christianity and Mental Health, a report by Theos, demand in the UK is being partly “driven by immigrant communities and Pentecostal churches which are very open about their exorcism services”.

Ben Ryan, its author, said charismatic and Pentecostal churches, particularly in areas with large west African communities, were advertising “healings” and exorcism outside their premises.

But, he said, “some Christians are sometimes treating mental health issues as if everything is spiritual. So if someone tells a church leader they are suffering from depression, sometimes the response is that everything can be treated with prayer. The extreme end of that is exorcism.”

The report quoted one chaplain, who said he had “never seen anything I would say that looked like demonic possession, but I’ve seen plenty of people who have been told that’s what they’re experiencing by other Christians”.

Priests in the US have also reported a growing demand for exorcisms in recent years.

The shortage of clergy trained in exorcism has led to a growing number of independent operators in Europe, who will rid people and properties of demons for up to €500 a time, according to the Economist.

[PalmStriker]

Sounds like an Catholic Inquisition re-run.

[GeneChing]

American Exorcism
Priests are fielding more requests than ever for help with demonic possession, and a centuries-old practice is finding new footing in the modern world.


Clay Rodery

MIKE MARIANI DECEMBER 2018 ISSUE RELIGION

Louisa muskovits appeared to be having a panic attack. It was March of 2016, and Louisa, a 33-year-old with a history of alcohol abuse, was having a regular weekly session with her chemical-dependency counselor in Tacoma, Washington.

Louisa had recently separated from her husband, Steven. When the counselor asked about her marriage, she said she wasn’t ready to talk about it. The counselor pressed, and again Louisa demurred. Eventually the conversation grew tense, and Louisa started to hyperventilate, a common symptom of a panic attack.

The counselor rushed down the hall to get Louisa’s therapist, Amy Harp. Together they moved Louisa to Harp’s office, where they felt they could better calm her. But once Louisa was there, Harp recalls, her demeanor transformed. Normally friendly and open, she started screaming and pulling out clumps of her hair. She growled and glared. Her head flailed from side to side, cocking back at odd angles. In jumbled bursts, she muttered about good and evil, God and the devil. She told the counselors that no one there could save “Louisa.”

According to Harp, Louisa seemed to vacillate between this unhinged state and her normal self. One minute she would snarl and bare her teeth, and the next she would beg for help. “It definitely had this appearance where she was fighting within herself,” Harp told me.

Harp had never seen this kind of behavior before, and wasn’t sure what to do. But she knew that Louisa had occasionally experienced episodes in which she felt something indescribably dark overtake her, and that she would read scripture to beat back these states. “You need to read Bible verses,” Harp said. Her bearing still frantic, Louisa picked up her smartphone and began looking up passages. As she read, she started to calm down. Her flailing diminished; her frenzied affect ebbed. She vomited in a trash bin, and after that she was her old self again, full of apologies, her eyes wet, her face red.

The encounter left Harp baffled about what she’d just witnessed. For Louisa it had a more profound effect, prompting a search for answers that would ultimately lead her away from modern medicine and its well-worn paths for mental-health treatment, and toward the older, more ritualized remedies of her Catholic faith.


Louisa Muskovits experienced a series of troubling episodes that her therapists couldn’t explain. These incidents led her to seek spiritual help. (Ian Allen)

The conviction that demons exist—and that they exist to harass, derange, and smite human beings—stretches back as far as religion itself. In ancient Mesopotamia, Babylonian priests performed exorcisms by casting wax figurines of demons into a fire. The Hindu Vedas, thought to have been written between 1500 and 500 b.c., refer to supernatural beings—known as asuras, but largely understood today as demons—that challenge the gods and sabotage human affairs. For the ancient Greeks, too, demonlike creatures lurked on the shadowy fringes of the human world.

But far from being confined to a past of Demiurges and evil eyes, belief in demonic possession is widespread in the United States today. Polls conducted in recent decades by Gallup and the data firm YouGov suggest that roughly half of Americans believe demonic possession is real. The percentage who believe in the devil is even higher, and in fact has been growing: Gallup polls show that the number rose from 55 percent in 1990 to 70 percent in 2007.

The official exorcist for Indianapolis has received 1,700 requests so far in 2018.

Perhaps as a result, demand for exorcisms—the Catholic Church’s antidote to demonic possession—seems to be growing as well. Though the Church does not keep official statistics, the exorcists I interviewed for this article attest to fielding more pleas for help every year.

Father Vincent Lampert, the official exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, told me in early October that he’d received 1,700 phone or email requests for exorcisms in 2018, by far the most he’s ever gotten in one year. Father Gary Thomas—a priest whose training as an exorcist in Rome was documented in The Rite, a book published in 2009 and made into a movie in 2011—said that he gets at least a dozen requests a week. Several other priests reported that without support from church staff and volunteers, their exorcism ministries would quickly swallow up their entire weekly schedules.

The Church has been training new exorcists in Chicago, Rome, and Manila. Thomas told me that in 2011 the U.S. had fewer than 15 known Catholic exorcists. Today, he said, there are well over 100. Other exorcists I spoke with put the number between 70 and 100. (Again, no official statistics exist, and most dioceses conceal the identity of their appointed exorcist, to avoid unwanted attention.)

In October of last year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had Exorcisms and Related Supplications—a handbook containing the rite of exorcism—translated into English. The rite had been updated in 1998 and again a few years later, but this was the first time it was issued in English since it had been standardized in 1614. “There’s been a whole reclaiming of a ministry that the Church had set aside,” one exorcist from a midwestern diocese told me.

The inescapable question is: Why? Or rather: Why now? Why, in our modern age, are so many people turning to the Church for help in banishing incorporeal fiends from their body? And what does this resurgent interest tell us about the figurative demons tormenting contemporary society?

In 1921, a German psychologist named Traugott Oesterreich collected historical eyewitness accounts in his book Possession: Demoniacal and Other. One incident that crops up again and again involves a young woman named Magdalene in Orlach, Germany. Born into a family of peasant farmers, Magdalene was an industrious child, “threshing, hemp-beating, and mowing” from dawn until after dusk. Late in the winter of 1831, Magdalene began seeing strange things in the barn where she tended cows. By the following year, she was being tormented by voices, sensations of physical assault, and, according to witnesses, spontaneous outbursts of flames.

That summer, Magdalene complained of a spirit that had “flown upon her, pressed her down, and endeavored to throttle her.” Soon, she would fall victim to full possessions: An entity she referred to as the “Black One” would descend and supplant her consciousness with its own. “In the midst of her work she sees him in human form (a masculine shape in a frock, as if issuing from a dark cloud; she can never clearly describe his face) coming towards her,” a contemporary observer wrote. “Then she sees him approach, always from the left side, feels as it were a cold hand which seizes the back of her neck, and in this way he enters into her.”

continued next post

[GeneChing]

We don't have a 'Busted Taoists' thread (yet ) so I'm posting this in Busted Internal Practitioners and copying it to Exorcism.

Taoist monk molested mother and her 15-year-old daughter to ‘purge them of evil spirits’, Hong Kong court hears
District Court hears Yuen Ming-kuen told women he had special healing powers to negotiate with spirits which included touching their breasts and genitals
Deputy district judge Terence Wai slammed ‘ridiculous stories’ and convicted Yuen of six counts of indecent assault and one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm
Jasmine Siu
Published: 7:33pm, 3 May, 2019


Yuen Ming-kuen kept his eyes closed the judge recounted how he had used various excuses to assault the mother on six occasions in seven months before groping her 15-year-old daughter. Photo: Jasmine Siu

A self-proclaimed Taoist monk in Hong Kong molested a mother and her daughter to exorcise evil spirits, a court was told on Friday.
Yuen Ming-kuen, 57, told the women he had special healing powers to negotiate with spirits and purge them through religious rituals that included touching their breasts and genitals.
Security guard Yuen also struck the mother’s head repeatedly during what he called a “fight with evil spirits possessing the woman”, the District Court heard.
The man claimed he had learned such methods from an arhat – a person who has reached nirvana – in his dreams.
But deputy district judge Terence Wai found these to be “ridiculous stories” and convicted Yuen of six counts of indecent assault and one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
“The defendant was a dishonest man,” Wai said. “His acts were all part of a scam.”
Yuen kept his eyes closed as Wai recounted how he had used various excuses to assault the mother on six occasions in seven months before groping her daughter, 15, while she slept on March 29, 2017 to “check whether she had been infected by poison” found in corpses.
Neither women could be identified for legal reasons.
The court heard Yuen was first introduced to the mother on August 26, 2016 when her friends arranged for a Taoist monk to visit her flat because she had complained about it being haunted.
Yuen said he sensed evil spirits in the house and sealed the premises before groping the woman, claiming her breasts and vagina were harbouring spirits and harmful beads produced by the spirits raping her.
Two similar treatments were performed on September 3 and 23, during which Yuen reported seeing the ghost of an unborn child troubling the woman since she had an abortion.
On all three occasions, Yuen said he had obtained consent to touch the woman during his HK$7,500 therapy.


The District Court heard Yuen Ming-kuen was first introduced to the mother in August 2016 when her friends arranged for a Taoist monk to visit her flat because she had complained about it being haunted. Photo: Nora Tam

The victim paid HK$2,500 in total to Yuen, as she did not have enough money.
But he also groped the woman’s breasts without her consent on other occasions because he claimed he did not want the spirits to hear his plan and she was in too much pain for him to delay treatment.
Dr Lee Yiu-fai, an abbot of Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple summoned by the prosecution, said Taoist rituals would never involve sex or physical contact, and explained Buddhist practices were even stricter.
The judge also observed on Friday the mother’s health had worsened since Yuen began his treatment and concluded she had only “reluctantly acquiesced” to the physical touching because she felt helpless.
He acquitted Yuen of one other count of indecent assault since the mother had failed to give consistent details on what happened.
In mitigation, defence counsel Paul Wu argued neither victim had mentioned any psychological trauma as a result of his client’s assault and urged the judge not to call for impact assessment.
The judge disagreed.
Wai also found it necessary to assess Yuen’s psychological condition, considering he had openly assaulted the women while others were in the room.
Further mitigation, pending these assessments, will be heard on June 13 before Yuen is sentenced on the following day.
Indecent assault is punishable by 10 years’ imprisonment.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: ‘Exorcism’ monk guilty of molesting pair

[GeneChing]

...but the post title above was actually in my auto-queue now...

Trump’s ‘personal pastor’ expels demons from the White House on National Day of Prayer
Sky Palma
Posted on May 3, 2019

While some may agree that demons currently inhabit the White House, exactly which demons need to be cast out is up for debate.

During an event at the White House commemorating the National Day of Prayer, representatives of different faiths took the podium and showered President Trump with accolades — as well as God.

Towards the end the event, Trump’s spiritual adviser and “personal pastor” Paul White-Cain took the podium and declared the White House to be “holy ground” and warned any demons not loyal to the Trump administration to stay away.

“We thank you for this wonderful White House, for our president, first lady, first family and administration,” White-Cain started out. “We declare it to be holy ground. I will bless the Lord at all times, and his praise shall continually be in my mouth. So as we thank you for the goodness, for the prosperity of our nation, for your blessing, for your hand.”

Citing Ephesians 6:12, White-Cain suggested that Trump’s actual political opponents may not be of this world.

“So we declare every demonic network to be scattered right now,” she commanded.

She then declared there to be a “hedge of protection over our president, first lady, every assignment, the purpose they carry and the mantle.”

Watch the White-Cain in the video below. The relevant portion begins at about 58:57:



From Quartz:

White-Cain, who delivered the invocation at Trump’s inauguration address, became the president’s spiritual advisor in the early 2000s, after he saw her televised sermons, according to the Guardian. Trump called her unexpectedly, repeated several of her sermons “verbatim,” White-Cain said, and told her she had the “it factor.”

Like Trump, she is on her third marriage, hers to Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain. Cain was on the White House’s public list of attendees at today’s event, along with the rest of the religious leaders who spoke, but White-Cain was not listed. She did, however, note her appearance on Instagram.

White-Cain sees Trump as much more than a politician who seeks her guidance. During an appearance on The Jim Bakker Show back in 2017, she said compared Trump to a “king” assigned to carry out “God’s plan.”

“It is God that raises up a king,” she said. “It is God that sets one down and so when you fight against the plan of God, you’re fighting against the hand of God.”

Featured image: screen grab/NBC News

[GeneChing]

Longtime Linden minister used oral sex in exorcism ritual, men claim
A Presbyterian minister with deep ties to Union County stands accused of using oral sex in exorcism rituals on victims seeking his counseling.
Nick Muscavage, Bridgewater Courier News
Updated 6:34 a.m. PDT June 8, 2019

Editor's note: This article contains graphic descriptions that are sexual in nature. The three individuals making the allegations have agreed to allow their names and details of the allegations from the testimonies to be published. Reader discretion is advised.

A Presbyterian minister, who said he was following the Bible, used Native American exorcism rituals, gemstones and even oral sex to extract "evil spirits" from men undergoing crises in their lives, the church and men claim.

The so-called healing acts, which date to 1999, were allegedly performed by the Rev. Dr. William Weaver, a prominent Presbyterian minister who served as pastor at Linden Presbyterian Church for 39 years, one of two Presbyterian churches in Linden, a city with a population of over 40,000. He also held several public roles, including chaplain for a county police department.

Weaver, 69, was scheduled to face his three accusers during an internal church trial, but on Jan. 25, 2019, one day before the trial was to begin, he renounced the jurisdiction of the Elizabeth Presbytery. He was accused by the church of “multiple acts of idolatry and sexual misconduct.”

The church charges have no bearing on the secular government's civil and criminal courts. No public charges have been filed against Weaver. The men said they did report the sexual encounters to authorities, but the Union County Prosecutor's Office said they could not confirm nor deny information regarding this matter.

With his renouncement, Weaver gave up his ordination and membership in the Presbyterian Church but also avoided a religious trial. He then moved to a gated retirement community in Lakewood.

The trial was scheduled after the men alerted the Elizabeth Presbytery, which oversees 41 Presbyterian churches in Somerset, Hunterdon, Middlesex and Union counties.

The Presbytery determined, through an investigating committee, “that there are probable grounds or cause to believe that an offense was committed by the accused,” according to the official church charges. If Weaver was found at the religious trial to have violated church rules, the most punishment he would have faced would have been expulsion from the Presbyterian ministry.

"In April 2018, the Presbytery of Elizabeth received allegations of multiple instances of sexual misconduct perpetrated by William Weaver, who was a minister member of the Presbytery. The Presbytery of Elizabeth, a regional body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), takes seriously any allegation of misconduct," the Rev. Leslie Dobbs-Allsopp, interim leader of the Elizabeth Presbytery, said in a statement.


The Rev. Dr. William Weaver.
~SUBMITTED PHOTO

She said the Presbytery’s response to these allegations was in accordance with its policy on sexual misconduct and the Book of Order, the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States.

"Mr. Weaver was placed on administrative leave while the Investigating Committee conducted interviews with multiple witnesses," Dobbs-Allsopp continued. "The allegations were found to be credible, and disciplinary charges were filed, and an ecclesiastical disciplinary hearing date was set."

She also said Weaver renounced the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on the eve of his ecclesiastical disciplinary hearing, which halted the disciplinary proceedings.

In doing so, Weaver renounced the jurisdiction of the church, is no longer part of the Presbyterian Church "and he is no longer an ordained minister."

Dobbs-Allsopp said that means Weaver may not perform any work of any kind on a paid or volunteer basis within any church in the Presbyterian Church in the United States or any other organization within the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church in the United States.

"Once Mr. Weaver renounced jurisdiction, the disciplinary charges became public subject to the Presbytery’s sexual misconduct policy," she said. "Pursuant to the Rules of Discipline in the Book of Order, the charges were read to the Presbytery in March 2019 at the next Stated Meeting following Mr. Weaver’s renunciation. The Presbytery of Elizabeth supports, prays for, and seeks healing, wholeness, truth, and justice."

When reached by phone for comment, Weaver said: “I’m not able to respond. Thank you.”

Weaver, once described as a “shepherd” in the church by one of the men who said he was victimized by the preacher, is now separated from his flock.

'Like a Jekyll and Hyde'

Weaver, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, has served as chaplain of the Union County Police Department, the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter No. 779, and the Hospice Division of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where he also served as a member of the ethics committee, according to his resume on Linkedin.com.

Sebastian D'Elia, director of communications for Union County, confirmed that Weaver worked as a chaplain for the county police department from 1999 to 2007.

Audrey Pereira, associate representative to the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter No. 779 and the wife of the organization's president, also confirmed that Weaver was a chaplain for the group.

"We don't know who else has been hurt by this," she said. "God forbid there are more out there."

continued next post

[GeneChing]

We don't know who else has been hurt by this. God forbid there are more out there.
Audrey Pereira, associate representative to the Vietnam Veterans of America chapter where Weaver served as chaplain

Pereira described Weaver as a "smart and cunning" man who did do good things, such as praying with veterans in the hospital, but did so with a "mask" hiding his alleged misdeeds.

"He did good on one hand, but he's like a Jekyll and Hyde," she said. "On the other hand, he did this evil to who knows how many. It can't just have been these guys, there has to be more."

Pereira said Weaver actually performed an "exorcism" in her Linden home, which her family thought had a poltergeist.

Although RWJ did not confirm Weaver's connections to the hospital — declining multiple requests from My Central Jersey and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey to do so — Pereira said she personally saw Weaver acting as a chaplain at RWJ Hospital in Rahway on several occasions while she and her family were in the hospital.

"I was in the hospital and he would visit when he was the resident chaplain," Pereira said. "Within the last 10 years he was there."

She also said she was a member of Linden Presbyterian Church, but stopped going after she learned of the allegations against its minister.

A suitcase of feathers, gemstones and Ziploc bags

“If you mentioned Bill Weaver’s name in Linden or Union County, people would say, ‘Oh, we love Bill!” said A.J. Meeker, one of the men claiming to have been sexually abused by Weaver. “He volunteered all over the place, he was moderator of the Presbytery. He did a lot of things and was very well connected.”

Meeker, of Edison, now 37, said he was 20 when he began seeing Weaver as a counselor in 2000. He was one of the three men who detailed their allegations in impact statements and delivered them to the Presbytery. For this article, My Central Jersey and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey separately interviewed the three men who claim to be victims, as well as two other individuals who were informed by the men of the incidents, and reported from the impact statements.

The three men said they also informed law enforcement of the allegations against Weaver, including the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, New Jersey State Police and the state Attorney General's clergy abuse hotline.

Mark Spivey, director of communications for the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, said he "cannot confirm nor deny" information relating to Weaver.

Meeker had flunked out of college and moved out of his family’s house, according to his impact statement to the Presbytery. He said he had a strained relationship with his father and his stepmother was not speaking to him. His biological mother stopped communicating with him when he was 15, he said.

“I have dealt with the abandonment issues, depression and anxiety that this caused. I was dating my soon-to-be ex-wife and became a member of the Linden Presbyterian Church,” Meeker wrote in his statement. “While going there, I found Rev. Bill Weaver to be a kind and compassionate person who was very easy to talk to.”

When he began seeing Weaver for counseling sessions, the minister told him that there are “individuals based around the Watchung Reservation” who were engaged in spiritual warfare to attack people with evil energy. The minister also recited the Full Armor of God verses from Ephesians 6:10-18.

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes,” the passage states. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

Meeker said the counseling sessions were held in a bedroom of the manse, the house owned by the Presbyterian church for its ministers. Before the sessions began, Weaver would open a square suitcase that he kept in his office holding the same items the other men also described in statements and interviews: feathers, assorted stones, buckeyes, a magnetic strip, an angel coin and Ziploc bags.



The manse on Georgian Drive in Linden owned by the Elizabeth Presbyterian where the Rev. William Weaver lived while serving as the minister of Linden...
NICK MUSCAVAGE/STAFF PHOTO

Every meeting with Weaver began the same way, Meeker said. The minister told him to undress completely and lie on the bed. Then he placed an angel coin — a coin with an angel or saint printed on it used for praying — on Meeker’s forehead and wrapped a magnetic strip around his head to keep it in place.

Weaver then would place a series of stones on both of Meeker’s feet his hands and on the left side and right side of his chest.

“I was told that for him to get everything out me, I needed to lay completely still to not move the stones on my feet,” Meeker said in the impact statement. “He would then take out the feather and scan my body from my neck to my stomach.”

Weaver then opened Meeker’s mouth, placed his own mouth on top of Meeker’s mouth, and moved his tongue around “to see if I had anything in my mouth or throat,” Meeker wrote.

Then the interaction became sexual, with Weaver engaging in oral sex, according to Meeker.

“He would then ingest my ejaculate and then would spit up multiple pieces of plastic or metal into a Ziploc bag,” Meeker stated.

He said he began to ask Weaver about the necessity of the ritual and asked the minister if he was using the same techniques on women. Weaver, according to Meeker’s statement, said “everything would come out of a woman’s navel and every 30 days their cycle would clear them out.”

Weaver said the evil energy manifested itself into what he called “hits.”

He also told Meeker that if the “hits” were left inside of him, they would cause infertility and erectile dysfunction.

After every session, Meeker wrote, “he would then hold me and say he loved me and he would protect me, and he would never let anything bad happen to me.”

Weaver also told him he could never mention what happened because “nobody would understand.”

Meeker described Weaver as “a shepherd of the flock” and affectionate.

“He was very touchy-feely, like everyone got a hug or a kiss on the cheek, or stuff like that,” Meeker said in a phone interview. “He was just very hands-on — never inappropriate publicly — it was just like he was very loving and very caring.”

Weaver also strove to represent a “picture of piety,” according to Meeker.

“He always wore his shirt and collar, which Presbyterians don’t do,” Meeker said.

'I thought it was all helping'

William Weist told of a similar account of his encounters with Weaver.

Weist, Pereira's son, was one of the few people present when his soon-to-be wife’s son, Rusty, 26, was found floating lifeless in the Delaware River three days after a boating accident in 1999. He was the one who called the police and he was there when Rusty’s body was pulled out of the water.

“As clear as day, I can still see Rusty there,” Weist said through tears. “I can see that image.”

The trauma tormented him, so when a friend recommended he speak to Weaver in counseling sessions, Weist was interested.

“I was at an extremely low point,” he said.

Weist, 52, of Edison, who never considered himself a devout Christian but always was spiritual and faithful, began meeting with Weaver and discussing other tumultuous points in his upbringing, such as the death of close relatives and tensions that arose later in life. He was in his early 30s at the time.

“We went through the whole thing,” Weist said about the counseling sessions. “It was always wrapped around the Bible and Bible verses, and Jesus loves you, and all this stuff, and it just evolved.”

Often catching his attention, hanging on the wall of Weaver’s church office, was a picture of Jesus hugging a man.

In his impact statement he sent to Presbytery officials, Weist said that he and Weaver often spoke about Heaven and the spirit world.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

United Presbyterian Church in Plainfield, which is where the Elizabeth Presbytery is based out of.
NICK MUSCAVAGE/STAFF PHOTO

“We talked about what Heaven must be like, that Jesus is always there for us and we are never alone,” he wrote in the statement. “We would pray together during the sessions, usually at the end.”

During the next few sessions, Weaver began to introduce certain gemstones that he said were supposed to help sense the spirits clearer. Weaver told him the stones helped “ward off evil spirits,” according to his letter. Weist remembers feeling his tensions ease, and thought the sessions were helping.

“I was able to now have those memories and not get upset by them, so I thought it was all helping,” Weist said in the letter.

Then events took an unexpected turn.

Weist was set to marry his fiancée in February 2000 and he was struggling with his relationship with his mother, whom he said never fully supported the relationship. Weaver eventually presided over the wedding.

After the wedding, Weist’s meetings with Weaver took place either in the church office or Weaver’s home, where they met in the family room. Their talks became focused on Weist having to defend himself from evil spirits.

Weaver, according to Weist, would talk about old Native American rituals that were supposed to prevent evil spirits from harming him. Weaver instructed Weist to sit quietly with gemstones or magnets placed in his hands and on his head. Weaver would light candles “strategically placed” in the room. He told Weist the ritual was based on the Ephesians bible verse of the Full Armor of God.

'I just couldn’t face what had happened to me'

About a month later, in the spring of 2000, Weaver told Weist that in order for the ritual to be more effective, they had to go upstairs where he could lay down with more stones and candles.

“I felt uneasy, but I took his word that this was necessary,” Weist wrote in his statement. “It wasn’t long after that where I now had to have my shoes off with gemstones placed on my ankles, and my shirt off as well.”

Over the next few visits, Weaver informed Weist that he had suffered “hits” from the spirit world and they needed to be brought out through his semen by oral sex.

Weaver told Staunton he had to lay still, with the stones on and around him, and let the reverend "get it out."

“Feeling mortified was an understatement, but I didn’t want to say he was wrong, after he helped me to this point,” Weist said in his statement. “I was so confused and upset I remember praying to God please let me get this over with!”

The “hit” finally passed and Weaver repeated the Full Armor of God verse.

Weist returned the following week hoping that the worst was over, but Weaver told him he had suffered another hit.

“This time was different as the only way to get it fully out was for him to draw it out with his mouth,” Weist wrote in his statement. “I was so afraid and scared.”

I was so confused and upset I remember praying to God please let me get this over with!
William Weist, one of the men claiming to have been sexually abused by Weaver

Weist remembers screaming in his mind for God to help him.

“When it was over,” Weist said in his statement, “he showed me what looked to be a tiny metal ball and said that was what he got out of me.”

He said Weaver was able to take advantage of him because he was at such a low point in his life.

“I was so scared with everything that I was dealing with,” Weist said. “I just felt scared, it was very raw.”

When Weaver told Weist he had evil spirits inside him, Weist believed him and became even more frightened and panicked.

He remembers thinking: “I’m scared to death now there’s something else wrong with me. There’s something wrong with me that I can’t help. This is Biblical.”

But after a few more sessions, Weist stopped meeting with Weaver.

“I felt so small and worthless, like a piece of trash in the street,” Weist said. “I just couldn’t face what had happened to me.”

He trusted Weaver and saw him as a religious leader.

“This is a man of God,” Weist said.

The case against Weaver

On Oct. 8, 2018, members of the Elizabeth Presbytery's investigating committee wrote in official Presbytery charges that the Rev. William Weaver committed “multiple acts of idolatry and sexual misconduct” against three men.

The church charges claimed that in one of the counseling sessions, Weaver “professed” he was one-eighth Cree and had received “secret training” by Cree elders.

The Cree are one of the largest groups of first nation Native Americans in North America and mainly live in Canada. In the United States, the Cree have historically lived west of Lake Superior and today live mostly in Montana on the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, which they share with the Ojibwe.

The Elizabeth Presbytery defines sexual misconduct as an abuse of authority and power, breaching Christian ethical principles by sexually misusing a trust relationship, according to the Presbytery's policy. It has no bearing on the more familiar secular courts where civil and criminal trials are held.

The Presbytery, in its policy, said sexual abuse occurs "whenever a person in a position of trust engages, with or without consent, in a sexual act or sexual contact with another person to whom s/he owes a professional and pastoral responsibility."

The church charges say Weaver used rose quartz, angel coins, buckeyes and a feather to remove small objects from victims’ nude bodies through bodily tissue, without bleeding or injury, to their *****es and “removed them by means of ejaculate induced by manual or oral stimulation.”

The church charges also claim that Weaver downloaded multiple videos from a pornographic website that caters to gay men to a church-owned computer in his office at the Linden Presbyterian Church in February 2018.

In addition to the three men who claim to have been victimized by Weaver, the charges list two other people Weaver counseled between 2001 and 2007 by removing the “hits” through their navels by using his mouth.

Inspired by spiritual healing?

Dr. Timothy Thomason, a licensed psychologist, professor at Northern Arizona University and a member of the Society of Indian Psychologists, has written many scholarly articles about counseling with Native Americans.

One of the main differences in modern medicine compared to cultural Native American medicine is that Native Americans, like many other cultures, believe illnesses can be caused by spirits and possession.


Inside the Watchung Reservation in Union County.
~FILE

In a 2008 research paper titled "Possession, Exorcism, and Psychotherapy," Thomason wrote, "Many Native American tribes believe in spirit possession, and healers often suck illness-causing spirit objects out of patients." The paper does not detail any sexual interaction. Thomason declined to be interviewed for this article.

A.J. Meeker, one of the three men who made allegations against the Linden Presbyterian minister, remembered that Weaver had said there were “individuals based around the Watchung Reservation” who were engaged in spiritual warfare to attack people with evil energy.

It’s unclear why Weaver believed there was a war against evil spirits in the Union County park bisected by Route 78. In the early 1970s, a 16-year-old Springfield girl named Jeannette DePalma was found dead at the Houdaille Quarry right outside of the Watchung Reservation. Newspapers began to run stories about occult symbols found near the murder scene.

That murder has never been solved.

A question of consent

Robert Fuggi, of the Fuggi Law Firm in Toms River, a lawyer who specializes in litigation brought by victims of sexual abuse, said he believes Weaver's alleged conduct could be viewed as criminal.

"If you look at the sexual abuse statutes, they talk about unlawful, unwanted, non-consensual contact, and certainly the argument would be that this pastor manipulated his position of authority," said Fuggi, who does not represent any of the men who claim to have been victimized by Weaver. "In the guise of practicing care and counseling to these individuals, he manipulated them for his own sexual purposes."

Fuggi said he believes the victims were "unwilling and unwitting" and "did not consensually engage in the sexual assaults, they consensually engaged in what they thought was a pastoral counseling session."

So disturbing

[GeneChing]

Feng shui, fortune-telling, exorcisms – a Chinese ghostbuster on curses, bad feelings in homes and the link between mental health and hauntings
Ahead of this year’s Hungry Ghost Festival on August 30, we speak to a Hong Kong ghostbuster who uses Taoist practises to help spirits move on
Andrew Kwan reveals how to recognise a house haunting, how he lifted a man’s skin-sloughing curse and what he did to help the ghost of an old Chinese gentleman
Lisa Cam
Published: 12:45pm, 29 Aug, 2023


Andrew Kwan is a Hong Kong ghostbuster who helps spirits move on from haunting homes and people. Photo: Jelly Tse

Andrew Kwan was born into the world of Chinese mysticism – his grandfather, from whom he learned his craft, was a fortune-teller at a temple and a Taoist.

Andrew Kwan was born into the world of Chinese mysticism – his grandfather, from whom he learned his craft, was a fortune-teller at a temple and a Taoist.

“He passed away in my early 20s, just around the time when I needed more formal training. I went to learn fortune-telling and feng shui with other masters,” says Kwan, whose services include exorcism.
In popular culture, the exorcist has a dramatic role – he or she is one who banishes demons and devils from the mortal world. In Kwan’s world, the ethereal and the here and now are closely intertwined.
“Other religions take the stance that spirits or ghosts should not exist, hence they banish or destroy them,” Kwan says. “I practise the Luk Yam branch of Taoism, which takes a gentler approach. We deal with them and try our best to mediate the situation before taking any drastic measures.”


An image used to promote 1985 Hong Kong film “Mr. Vampire”, about a Taoist ghostbuster. Photo: Golden Harvest
Fans of classic Hong Kong films will recognise titles such as Mr Vampire (1985), in which a swashbuckling Taoist armed with talismans and curses faces off against unruly vampires and ghouls.
This version of exorcism is borrowed from the Mao Shan branch of Taoism, Kwan explains.

Taoism has many branches, each with its own focus or philosophical take on the religious discipline. They grew in the same way that the Church of England and the Episcopal Church grew out of the Catholic Church, but with a more gradual evolution and fewer wars and upheavals.
Luk Yam and Mao Shan are the two branches that mainly deal with spirits and ghosts in Hong Kong – and while “Mao Shan takes a more aggressive approach, Luk Yam is a lot calmer”, Kwan says.

According to Kwan, signs of a haunting can include disturbances with electronics and appliances, such as the lights randomly turning off, the toilet flushing by itself, and toys or a television switching on at night.

“I’ve had a client whose [foreign domestic] helper was hearing voices and feeling watched. When they called me, I found out it was an old Chinese gentleman who couldn’t move on; he was asking her for help,” he says.

“We performed a ritual to help the spirit move on to the next realm. The helper said one night, when she closed her eyes she saw the old man smile. He thanked her and said goodbye.”

Asked why he chose a discipline that deals with the ethereal plane when studying feng shui – Chinese geomancy – Kwan explains that it was actually part of the job.

“When I started practising feng shui, I visited a lot of residences. Many people would complain about certain parts of their homes that were giving them a bad feeling or something a lot more disturbing. If it was a presence, I had to know how to deal with it.”

Like any discipline, practitioners have different skill levels and specialities.

“I had a client who was in a bit of a pickle – he was a creative who needed to travel to Thailand a lot. On one trip, he went to a massage parlour where the masseuse asked him to help with massaging another male client, because there was a rule at the parlour that female masseuses cannot work on clients of the opposite sex,” he says.

“When he returned to Hong Kong, he felt unwell but doctors could not give him a diagnosis. He [started] sloughing off skin, and asked me for help. I found that he was transferred a curse in Thailand – that was a tough nut to crack because the curse was strong.”

After the curse was lifted, his client’s skin healed but he still felt ill. Kwan says that he was haunted by a jilted lover from a previous life.

“Compared to the old man who wanted to move on, this presence was very stubborn. We could only ask the client to recite some prayers every day to cleanse her presence. After a period of time, it worked.”

The spiritual negotiator says it is not often clear how or why spirits come to haunt a person or a house.
“I don’t think the old man had anything in common with the helper he was haunting in the practical sense, but we cannot think of the ethereal realm like we do our reality,” Kwan says.

“A house might not mean a place, a person can be a connection. Sometimes it doesn’t take much at all for a spirit to be attracted to a person or a place, but it is a lot harder for them to haunt a person.”

A woman burns offerings on the street during Hungry Ghost Festival. Some other customs during the festival, however, aren’t necessarily grounded in tradition. Photo: Winson Wong
How can Kwan tell if the problems that he deals with are mental health issues or a haunting? “I have students who are psychiatrists who say they can’t tell the difference,” says the feng shui master.

“Usually, if somebody says they’re talking to Buddha or Guanyin [the goddess of mercy who is more commonly known as Kwun Yum in Hong Kong], we can figure out that it is not a haunting, but sometimes it’s a lot harder to tell.
“Just like psychiatry, we are only going by what the client tells us and it’s our job to ease these concerns.

“By the time we usually get called, things have dragged on for a while and the client has tried a lot of conventional avenues. What does happen is that they’ve been troubled by the haunting for such a prolonged period of time, it does end up affecting their mental well-being.”



Lisa Cam
Lisa Cam enjoys reporting all things about food, travel and anything in between. She also draws on years of banking experience to write articles with business and finance interests. At the end of the day, she likes nothing more than kicking back with a good true crime podcast and cooking tried-and-true recipes from sticky old cookbooks.

Hungry-Ghost-Festival
Exorcism