The Catholic Monitor

Can Catholics or Anyone Trust Protestant/Charismatic Deliverance or Binding Prayers Against Demons? Can we trust Protestant(Pentacostal)/Charismatic deliverance or binding prayers against demons? Until I reread Bishop Sheen and Fr. Hardon's warnings on Charismatic spirituality vs. Catholic spirituality problems (see below) and former Satanist now Catholic Deborah Lipsky's book "A Message of Hope," I thought yes. Now I think they could be dangerous. Please buy Lipsky's book and tell me what you think? Brian Showalter said: "Another former Satanist Deborah Lipsky has a similar story to Betty. She went to Catholic school where she got bullied for being autistic. She blamed the Catholic Church for her pain and her goal was to destroy the Catholic Church. She had made a pact with the devil and the demons she was associated with knew the Catholic Church was their nemesis. She says: 'I used to take pleasure bringing born-again Christians to the...

I was at two colleges where red faced ranting "Christians" wearing big TRUST JESUS t-shirts tried not to speak of Jesus' love for the sinner, but in anger to hate gays into becoming Christains. It seemed like Comedy Central except that that a big pro-gay crowd bought it and was hating back. It was like something out of Nero's Rome where the mob was inspired to kill Christains because they "burned down Rome" except here the "Christians" were the ones inspiring the hate. The Anti-Gay "Christians" had professionally made signs and even a police escort. I took a close look at the the three Anti-Gay "Christians." Two of the "Christians" looked stressed as the situation merited,but the third looked self assured with an expensive camera and even had a look that reminded me of the cat in Alice in Wonderland. I asked the self assured man are you a spook? (That's an inside term for a spy.)...

Habits for a Happy Marriage RICHARD FITZGIBBONS, M.D. In my 34 years of working with Catholic couples, I have observed seven major conflicts that create severe marital stress. The good news is that these weaknesses can be overcome. The sacrament of marriage is a fulfilling and challenging vocation that requires cheerful, self-giving love and sacrifice. An understanding of this call to self-giving, its support from the Lord's love, the weaknesses that can interfere with marital love, and their resolution is vital for the health of Catholic marriages. Before he became pope, John Paul II wrote a book titled Love and Responsibility, in which he presented the importance of self-gift in marital friendship and betrothed love. He said in this kind of love – which includes, but is more than, sexual intimacy – the spouse surrenders him or herself to the other so that one no longer thinks primarily of "me" but of "we." This oneness and flow of love between...

1. Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons says: May 28, 2012 at 1:52 pm It is important for readers who are “on the fence” regarding this contentious issue of same-sex attractions (SSA) and marriage marriage to understand Dr. Robert Spitzer’s recent repudiation of his own research on recovery from SSA. I have read the news articles about Dr. Spitzer’s repudiation of his work on “reparative therapy” and I have read his 2003 article on this subject. If you read his article you will be aghast at Dr. Spitzer’s repudiation which is based entirely on politics and flies in the face of what it means to honor science as a truth-seeking endeavor. I say this because there is nothing—nothing—wrong with the science that Dr. Spitzer reports in that article. He used accepted scientific methodology in his study by asking 200 people a series of what is known as “objective” or “standard” questions. By this I mean that each person received the same set of questions without probing and follow-up by Dr. Spitzer (thus ...