The phony and new age “healing” practice Reiki is all too common and is used at some Catholic hospitals and retreat centers. Over time I have heard plenty of people calling into Catholic Answers asking about this. This issue has become a little more clear now since the USCCB Committee on Doctrine has released “Guidelines For Evaluating Reiki As An Alternative Therapy” and says “Reiki therapy is not compatible with either Christian teaching or scientific evidence” and is superstitious”
So this new document will be some help to those wanting to get rid of this nonsense as practiced in Catholic institutions. Though like most Church documents including those from the USCCB there are often just ignored by Catholics who want to do their own thing.
Hat tip to Fr. Philip Powell, OP.
9 comments
Uh, oh, don’t tell the crazy enneagram ladies at the Diocese of Beaumont about this.
Love the Donald Fagen (Steeley Dan) reference in your title. I always thought their “Do it Again” was the perfect Biblical song despite their non Biblical viewpoint…vis a vis the OT proverb: Pro 26:11 “As a dog returneth to his vomit, [so] a fool returneth to his folly” ..or Christ: Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth [it] empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last [state] of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.”
The Bible and rock or pop lyrics can intersect sometimes even in the secular artist’s subconsciousness. The Rolling Stones in “Beast of Burden” are touching on another Old Testament proverb: “Give no woman power over you to trample upon your dignity”.
Sure a filter is needed for some verses but Christian music does not so often face and deal with the negatives that are in the Bible and ironically, modern non religious songs sometimes do and along biblical lines without their authors knowing it.
If American Catholics simply ignored every single document from the USCCB and just listened to Rome, our local church would be much healthier than it currently is…
The first gripe out of the gate from the Reikites will be: “But…but…the bishops didn’t consult us!”
“Didn’t consult us” is dissident code for “by-passed our ideologically pre-determined talk-a-thon that delays the publication of orthodox teaching from the guys directly responsible for publishing orthodox teaching.”
I should write a dictionary.
Fr. Philip, OP
You know, at this hour when the economy is suffering, our Catholic retreat centers really don’t need this kind of statement. Reiki practitioners will be losing their jobs.
Next it will be the people who build labyrinths, and then, the makers of macrame, and those who install wall-to-wall carpeting. Any number of Catholic retreat houses could be forced to shutter their doors.
You know, I’m cautiously OK with some of the other stuff mentioned in the comments (wall to wall carpeting can be comfy in a retreat center!)–but I am so glad for a statement like this on Reiki. For pity’s sake, the Catholic tradition is so rich on healing and suffering, this stuff is just a distraction… at absolute best.
p.s. funny post title
I’d love to see a lot of the “retreat” centers closing, too many of them are plain fake money makers and do not teach Catholicism, reiki being just one of many offensive new agey crap things taught and practiced there. It has to happen soon because the orders who do this are graying and dying out.
Let the shakeout begin so Catholics have some authentic places to go for a retreat that are actually really Catholic. Then when people realize the problems and that they were lied to and misled, they can go after the so-called Catholic hospitals that have this same crap and clean them out too.
Growing up I had the greatest respect for the good sisters that taught me and rightfully so, they were actually real Catholics. About 7 years ago a friendly conversation I had with a Franciscan sister who told me about the Mormoms coming to the door and trying to convert her — and the whole gist of the story was that she said: I told them I would not try to convert them.
Imagine that, a middle aged Franciscan nun who could not defend her faith when confronted with people who were trying to convert her. Since she was out in the world, she really needed to be armed with something more than just a polyester suit.
Long overdue. Reiki is like a virus.
Jeff, you seem to have run out of Episcopal Spine Alert awards. Not that I blame you–there has been so much real leadership lately!