www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Soldiers encoutering spirits in New Orleans

This takes a few minutes to load, but it is an awesome witness to the power of God. It shows the priest or chaplin going through the buildings blessing them. I mean, think how many have witnessed this open confession of the power of God, especially in an area so involved in occult practices.

http://cbs5.com/video/?id=6789@kpix.dayport.com

Dear Pani,

New Orleans is rather haunted - some say the most haunted and disturbed city in North America!

The police there have been known to use seances to discover the whereabouts of the bodies of . . . murder victims.

I was in a bookstore there that was an old building with four stories.

The steps leading to the third story were blocked off.

I bought a book and asked the cashier why the third story was blocked off.

He said, without batting an eye, that the third floor was a former lawyer's office . . . in the 19th century.

The lawyer, he said, will materialize to this day when people go up there - as if to greet new clients!

People have gotten sick from this and he has been warned that if someone should die from a heart attack etc. he would be liable.

He said the whole building is haunted.

I noticed a religious statue behind the cash register and when I looked around for a better look at it, I saw that he had about 15-20 articles of religious devotion, crosses, statues, bottles of holy water, scapulars.

He told me he wasn't taking any chances and was a witness to several occurrences in that building.

As someone who has personally witnessed what some would call "haunting events," I would like to know what the Church teaches about this - are these "spirits" souls in purgatory or just demons?

Alex

Where did that reporter learn her word usage?

(paraphrase): "I mean it was freaky...way freaky! Wait till you see that other room. Even freakier!"

Was that a Catholic priest? I've never been in the army so of course I'd have little way of knowing, but I assumed that priests always wore their Roman clericals when serving as chaplain...or doing anything else in life, really.

We need some good ole cassock enforcement, methinks.

Logos Teen

I know this may sound strange, but I had a situation a few years back while visiting my parent's home in Norfolk.

I took a nap in the late afternoon in my sister's bedroom and woke up around 7:30pm. Floating above my bed was a woman with dark hair and a flowing white dress. In my stupor I reached out to her and told her to go away. I said nothing about this to anyone, but a few weeks later, my mother was talking to me on the phone about an issue my sister was having with a "visitor" in her bedroom. I said, "Is it a woman in a long white dress with long dark hair?" There was a moment of silence on the phone, and my mother said, "Why yes - how did you know?!?" Evidently one of my brothers and my sister had been seeing this woman for some time.

Theologically the whole issue of ghosts is an interesting one. I know of a priest who has done several blessings of houses (including my sister-in-laws) to help these spirits move along. Some seem to be friendly and non-threatening. (He mentioned a story once of a ghost who apparently kept visiting this family's home and doing the dishes in the kitchen. I think it took some convincing for the mother to finally consent to the blessing and the ghost's removal!) Others can be menacing (like those who inhabit/infest the hotel in Estes Park, Colorado).

Gordo

Dear Teen though this is an entirly differnt topic, notice the dress of the priest. When they are on duty in a war zone so to speak the dress is camoflauge https://www.byzcath.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=002217#000000

Gordo it is more common than one might imagine.

Like with Alexs experience I wonder if the man ever had a priest come. Did your parents have their home blessed?

Pani Rose

I don't believe they did. They ended up moving to a new home in another state. Certainly, considering Norfolk's history going back to the original colonies, there are probably more than a fair share of those spirits hanging about!

Gordo

Dear Gordo,

My father, as a boy, was healed of the cholera through the intercession of St Roch of Montpellier.

He had a large picture of ST Roch over his desk and he told me it would be mine after he died.

Well, he did die and I took the picture . . .

That night was TERRIBLE, noises in the house, things banging etc.

I was a nervous wreck the next day and went directly to our parish priest - he just told me, "Put it back where it was and after the 40 days, you can take it again."

Now, New Orleans is well-known for its voodoo cults and one can find voodoo objects in restaurants and even a large voodoo store in the French Quarter . . . I think they're all washed up now though . . .

There is a lot of nonsense written about that legacy as well. The "Vudun Queen" I forget her name, had no "magical" powers to know other peoples' problems.

She just had an intricate network of spies, women who did manicures and pedicures for the rich and famous and who overheard and reported all kinds of facts to her (what was her name?).

But she returned to the Catholic Church toward the end of her days and spent a lot of time in prayer and penance.

Despite this, the vudun practitioners use her tomb as a site for their practices.

Alex

Dear Gordo and Pani,

It is always a good thing to have the house blessed and blessed again if there are problems!

One should bless the house by oneself asap with holy water, moving from room to room, saying:

This house (or other object) is being blessed the Power of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross + in the Name of the Father + and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

After that, send in the priestly reinforcements!

Alex

Alex,

The Voodoo Queen's name was Marie Laveau.

Pani Rose,

Thanks for the link. I've seen those pictures - and in fact when they were first posted I thought, "Whoa! I didn't know priests were allowed to wear camoflauge-colored vestments!" But I guess it does make logical sense, if there is indeed some need to blend in with a forest or desert.

But this guy (don't know if he's a priest or not) seems to simply be wearing laity-camoflauge. He's not wearing a Roman collar, suit, cassock, or liturgical vestments. That's what struck me as kind of weird.

Logos Teen

Dear LT:

It should be noted that the "Roman collar" is a distinctive wear for Latin rite priests. After all, it was "invented" by the Roman Church!

Eastern hierarchs and priests just adopted it and some do not wear it at all! (Some Protestants, like the Anglicans, also wear the "Roman collar!")

Armed forces Chaplains (not wearing the "Roman collar") must have a Cross on their uniform or some other pin/patch to distinguish them from the "ordinary" soldiers, I think.

Amado

P.S. Non-Catholics and non-Orthodox, like Protestants and Muslims, in the U.S. Armed Forces also have their own military "chaplains!" In the case of Muslims, I don't know what they are called: probably "military Imams?"

There isn't any indication that he is a Catholic priest. I know priests don't wear collars in uniform, but the prayers don't sound Roman. I think I heard a "thee." I would wager a dinner for two at a sensibly priced restaurant that he is a protestant minister...

Amado,

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I thought non-Latin Catholic priests wear the Roman collar...I'm just assuming that he is a Roman priest.

And the Anglicans are better at wearing the full collar than most Roman Catholics!

Logos Teen

I agree!

Anglicans were once Catholic, aren't they?

Amado

Logos,

Chaplains in their respective services will wear their duty uniform. For Army Chaplains, they do not wear cassocks during the duty day but the Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) you saw on the video. Notice that his left collar had a cross on it: depending upon your faith, you will either have a cross, tablets (Jewish), crescent (muslim), or wheel (buddhist, though I do not think there is a buddhist chaplain in the Army).

At liturgical celebrations chaplains will wear their vestments. When I was assigned to duty in the Sinai the chaplain there had a lot of pull and could be found wearing his cassock quite a bit, even during duty hours. This is the very rare exception as chaplains minister to all the Soldiers, Catholic, Atheist and the like.

As for the vestments, I do not think that Archbishop O'Brien would permit the wearing of camoflauge vestments by any of his Catholic chaplain-priests. The whole notion of having camoflauge vestments is absurd to me.

Regards,

Cyril, Army Captain who keeps on getting sent to the deserts of SW Asia and Egypt.