Wasn't this a storyline from Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
The Roman Catholic Church is facing a shortage you may not have heard about: qualified exorcists. And so, on Thursday about 100 priests stood, prayed for protection, then sat down to begin an eight-week study of how to distinguish and fight demonic possession. The course at Rome's prestigious Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Athenaeum, represents the first time a Vatican- sanctioned course in exorcism is being offered at this level...
Only a small percentage of those in distress are judged to be in need of an exorcism, and learning how to tell the difference between demonic possession and other psychological or physical traumas is the main goal of the priestly students taking the course at the Regina Apostolorum.
"When you're dealing with a reality like the devil," said 39-year-old Father Clement Machado of Canada, "you can't just learn the theoretical. You need the pragmatic experience…. It's such uncharted territory."
Uncharted territory that they're going to cover in two months. I'm just amazed that public schools take years and years to teach basic skills in the 3 R's, and here the Vatican's figured out a way to teach priests to recognize and deal with demons in only 8 short weeks! Now that's some efficient teaching.
So, who wants to help me develop the multiple-choice end-of-course exam for this class?
Posted by kswygert at February 22, 2005 09:58 AM