Protestants, Demons, and the Power of a Priest Wearing a Cassock

This article originally appeared on Fr. Dwight Longenecker’s blog “Standing on My Head,” and is reprinted with permission. Visit his website, browse his books, and be in touch at dwightlongenecker.com.

The call came in through our parish answering service: “Err, I don’t know if you can help with this one, but the person calling says they have demons in their house.”

“Thanks. I’ll give them a call.”

The person calling said there were disturbances in their house, and her husband was brought up a Catholic but hardly ever went, and his mother and sisters are all Wiccans. Not good. So I arranged to visit on Sunday after Mass.

I always wear my cassock on Sundays, so I still had on the full cassock, collar and cincture with my Benedictine scapular on top when I made my way to a modest home on the edge of town and knocked on the door. The wife was taken aback. “Wow! I haven’t seen a Catholic priest like this in forever!”

I asked some questions about the problems, explained the complexity of the supernatural and paranormal phenomena and said that usually a house blessing was all that was required to clear things up.

Then I asked where they go to church. “Well, when we do go we attend DaySpring.” That’s one of the Protestant mega churches in town.

“And I’m not trying to pick a fight or anything. I’m just curious…” I asked, “But why did you call me instead of one of your pastors from DaySpring?”

“We knew it was a Catholic priest who would know what to do about demons and all that stuff.”

So I went and got the holy water and blessed them and their child and their home. I planned to follow it up with another visit and an invitation for them to join my Catholic basics class.

Who knows, but another lost sheep may come back to the fold, and maybe I should wear my cassock every day.

Courtesy of “Standing on My Head” at Patheos

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