Two Priests, a Bishop, and a Psychiatrist

On June 18, 2012, I had a conversation with a Catholic priest regarding spiritual warfare. This priest was referred to me by someone in my parish. She told me that I should give him a call and let him know about the diabolic infestation/paranormal activity that I’d been experiencing since 2009. She told me that he might have some insights and be able to offer suggestions that so far none of the other priests had. I was doubtful, but I decided to get in touch with him and see what might happen.

I’ve copied my conversation with him that was taken from notes that I made shortly after the phone call. I wanted to write everything down in case I ever needed to refer to it at some future point. I left out actual names, and some of the formatting may be a bit mixed up, but the essence of our conversation, almost word for word, is there. This is how it went:

I dialed Father (      ), and within the first ring he picked up the phone.

“Hello,” he answered.

“Father (      )? This is Margo from (      ) NY. (      ) referred me to you and had given me your number, saying that I could call you about some strange activity that’s been going on in my house.”

“Yes, sure,” he said, in a cheery voice. “What seems to be the problem?”

“Well,” I hesitated, “Are you sure this is a good time? I mean, I can call you back another time.”

“Yes, now is fine, I’m available now. What’s going on?”

“Well, I’ve been dealing with this situation for over three years now and the problem just isn’t getting any better. Over the past three years I’ve had a total of four priests at my house, two house blessings, two Masses, and one Enthronement to the Sacred Heart of Jesus but nothing has worked, and (      ) felt that maybe you could offer me some advice or suggestions – anything at this point would be much appreciated.”

“Okay, well, would you be able to give me some examples as to what exactly is going on?”

“Sure, I’ve been keeping a journal which I was advised to do by Father (      ).”

“I know who he is,” he said.

“Well, he and one of his parishioners were here just about a year ago and he said a full Mass, but within an hour or two of them having left, this awful sulfur odor filled my upstairs hall, bedroom, and bathroom, and then it went away within about an hour or so. I called Father (      ) that evening and left him a voice mail about what had happened and his parishioner assistant returned my call, telling me that the sulfur smell was a sign of Hell – the Devil – and that this was some sort of retaliatory attack because of the Mass being said and the blessings Father had given me, you know, I guess just the fact that he was in my house… And also, I frequently see objects around my house end up in positions I didn’t leave them in, and once in a while I even see things move while I’m looking at them, framed pictures have fallen off a shelf, I heard the sound of shoveling and chains dragging, my electrical appliances sometimes get messed up, my car’s had weird stuff happening to it, my keys disappeared and then reappeared days later on a neighbor’s front lawn, the water heater shuts off randomly, I’ve found broken pieces of glass, my pets have been disturbed at random times, seeing things that I couldn’t see and acting really strange, my dog, who usually goes on trips with me, sitting in the back seat of my car, often looks up at my house as I’m backing out of the driveway and stares at something, always the same spot – sometimes crying, other times growling – his eyes fixate on the same spot each time… also there was a picture of the Pope from my old Bible that I found lying face up in my wastebasket and …”

“First of all, Margo,” he interrupted me, “You have to understand something: The Lord is permitting these things to happen to you for a reason. He is in control, not the dark forces. You have to keep remembering that. He may be asking you to go through this ordeal in order to confound the fallen angels who are wreaking havoc on our planet right now. I mean – just look at the stuff that’s going on in the news and all over the world. There is a battle taking place right now between good and evil, and the Devil knows he’s losing. So what does he do? He strikes out harder than ever because he knows his time here is short. He’s already been condemned to Hell, but he’s been allowed to roam the earth all these many years and things will be getting worse before they get better. But you have to keep remembering that God is in charge. You have to keep your faith intact.”

“Father,” I said, “I understand what you are saying, but there are people whom I’ve shared this stuff with – the stuff going on in my house and car and LIFE in general – who are telling me that it’s dead relatives or ghosts of people who once lived in my house – basically, they are suggesting that it’s dead people who have died that are stirring things up here. You know, a lot of people just don’t believe this stuff about the Devil and….”

“No, these aren’t dead people,” he interrupted. “No, no, no. These are fallen angels, you see? These are the dark forces that are forced to literally be the living dead. They’ve rejected God and they are roaming around trying to latch onto a life form, whatever or whoever it may be. But the Lord is allowing you to put up with this because He wants you to be drawn closer to your faith because of it, and in turn, you will confound these demons and eventually they’ll be sent back to the pit where they came from. Every strike against evil is another point for the Lord, and your faith is like a weapon to these dark entities. You know, it’s weird, just a few minutes ago before you called I’d just come from across the street where the police chief lives. He’d called me to come over and say a few prayers and bless his house because he said ‘strange things are happening here.’”

“Well,” I answered, “I appreciate your taking the time to talk with me. Thank you. It’s been very frustrating and even lonely sometimes because a lot of people don’t believe this stuff about evil, the darkness, the Devil and, you know, half the time I feel like I’m sort of, you know – in the twilight zone. But I have a blog where I write about all of this, and there are people from all over the world contacting me, encouraging me and sharing their own personal stories with me and my readers, some of which are very similar to my own. But it just gets so frustrating at times because it’s kind of ruining my life. I’m just trying to get a handle on things and I’m sick of feeling sick and drained and abnormal. Also, Father (      ) who’s got some psychic gift – I’m not sure what else to call it – told me that this stuff with me goes back to the late 1970s and that the entities that are here are around me, and not just my house. And of course that didn’t exactly sit well with me….”

“Have you ever been involved with the Occult?” Father (      ) asked. “Or have you ever gone to a psychic or tarot car reader….”

“No, absolutely not. Never. But I did have a Ouija Board way back in the mid 70s for a very brief period of time. My mom bought it for me at a toy store or something but then regretted it days later and threw it out. She’d been hearing about weird stuff connected with the thing and was admittedly clueless when she first brought it home. And you know, the girls and I used to do these fake séances in the schoolyard but the teachers always yelled at us to stop. Anyway, I was really young – only about eight or nine years old – and I had no idea what I was doing.”

Father (      ) paused for a moment and then said, “It didn’t necessarily have to even come from anything that you personally may have done, but rather it could have been a curse that someone put on you – an aunt, neighbor, someone who didn’t like you – anyone. And you wouldn’t necessarily have even been aware of it.”

“Oh, I see. Well, it’s good to at least get an idea of how all this may have come about. But Father, I started praying the Rosary back in February of 2009 and that’s right around when the stuff in my house started. I’m not saying that it’s the Rosary’s fault or anything, but you have to admit that the timing…”

“I’m not surprised that’s what may have set it off,” he cut me off. “But good heavens, no, it’s not the fault of the Rosary! In fact, you should keep right on with the Rosary and everything else! You aren’t doing anything wrong. You know what – if you’ll give me your email address I’ll send you a couple of links – prayers that you should say – that should bring some peace to your home. It may take some time – give it nine days or so, but things should start to feel a bit better then. Just keep praying these powerful prayers. And I’ll keep you in my prayers as well.”

“Thanks, Father, I really appreciate your taking the time to talk to me.”

“Any time, God bless you. Goodbye now.”

“Goodbye,” I said, and hung up the phone.