New age, exorcists and me being embarrassed.

Also, find out why I was almost assaulted by a purse-wielding maniac

I used to have a newspaper column. I loved having a newspaper column. Granted it wasn’t a big deal paper, but it was an every-other-week gig in the largest diocesan newspaper in the country. It has since limped its way into non-existence after an embarrassing (at least to me) foray into being a monthly magazine that no one wanted to read.

During the heyday of my column, I had the distinction of getting a lot of hate mail. The column was called My Domestic Church and I wrote about my life as a wife and mother all through the lens of Catholic teaching. This often annoyed people, which is odd because presumably, they subscribed to the Catholic newspaper to see Catholic things.

Some columns I knew would produce hate mail, the importance of marriage, being open to life, and whenever I mentioned new age philosophies and practices being inconsistent with the Catholic faith. I had the best and most supportive editor in the business, and he always had my back, but there was a certain amount of backlash here and there.

When I was approached by my friend Lisa Mladinich to write a New Age column for her, at the time, new website Amazing Catechists, I was delighted to help. This led to my being asked to contribute the new age entry in the Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy which is a book no one in their right mind has ever read. This involved me presenting a paper to the Center for Catholic Studies, which was nerve-wracking.

How does this get me hit by a purse? Well, I will tell you. As a result of all of this

Me, after a stressful speaking gig

, I was asked to give a speech at my own parish (MY OWN PARISH) about the New Age philosophies and the danger they present to young people. In the talk, I touched upon yoga. People are very attached to their yoga. I get it, it makes you feel better and it’s a nice way to exercise but it is a prayer practice from another religion, and Catholics are not supposed to be doing that sort of thing. For reference check the Vatican document Jesus Christ Bearer of the Water of Life.

One lady was so incensed, she stood up and hurled her purse at my head. It did not connect, I was younger then and nippy on my feet, but that caused the meeting to deteriorate.

I wrote a column about yoga for Amazing Catechists and if I were writing it now I would do it very differently. I was altogether too dismissive of people of another faith and the tone is pretty sarcastic. I’m more than a little embarrassed about that. That being said the information was not wrong but age and hopefully some wisdom has been gained and I would take a different tone now. The article resulted in a Wiccan message board putting a curse on me and a bunch of nasty comments, which were eventually deleted and, while I think being cursed was an extreme reaction, I can understand people being upset.

Lisa recently reached out to share that my post about Reiki is still in the top ten most-read articles on the site. I hope this is a good thing. I have been listening to The Exorcist Files podcast and what is very striking, is that often these demonic events begin with some of the new-age practices I spent those years researching and writing about. It’s alarming how popular they are, considering the danger it presents.

I was, at first against Father Martinez’s podcast, thinking that to draw attention to these events could be dangerous, but I decided he knew what he was doing better than I could so I began to listen. Father is an excellent teacher, and there is a lot of solid Catholic teaching in the podcast, clearly explained and in a way that makes sense to the layperson. It is worth checking out.

If you feel the need to tar and feather me in the comments about this, take a deep breath first and be nice.

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My friend Lisa, in addition to Amazing Catechists, is a Gallup-Certified Professional Strengths Coach, if you are curious about such services check out her website, she’s wonderful.

Here is a link to The Exorcist Files. Be aware if you are sensitive to this kind of content it might not be for you.

In this episode of Pints with Aquinas my friend Michael Davis shared his experience with the occult. Again, not for you if you are very sensitive.

If you would like me to come and speak to your organization about the New Age, homeschooling, Catholic family life, or bereavement, drop me a DM and we can figure it out.