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[Editor’s note: We recently shared Fr. Peter Joseph’s review of Fr. Chad Ripperger’s “Deliverance Prayers” book. The following essay by Fr. Joseph, which was originally published over two decades ago, explores the notion of generational spirits and curses, both heavily promoted by Fr. Ripperger, who claimed in a recent YouTube video that his views are rooted in the teachings of the Church Fathers. To Fr Ripperger, I offer this challenge: If “the Fathers” taught about generational spirits, please name the Fathers and name the specific works and give references within those works, so we can verify it for ourselves, and also see the context of any such statements, in case that is relevant. With Fr. Joseph’s permission, we now republish his article on Where Peter Is. — ML]   

In the state of confusion in the Church today, some people have taken up new age or Protestant fundamentalist ideas without being aware of their real origin or falsity.

A major example of this is the current fad for “Healing the family tree.” There is a book with that title by an Anglican psychiatrist Kenneth McAll. Much of the book is quite acceptable to Catholics but the summary on the back cover also states that Dr. McAll “tells how through his medical and religious experiences he has discovered a remarkable new method of healing. He believes that many supposedly ‘incurable’ patients are the victims of ancestral control. He therefore seeks to liberate them from this control. By drawing up a Family Tree, he can identify the ancestor who is causing his patient harm. He then cuts the bond between the ancestor and patient.”

There is myriad literature on the subject, much of it contradictory of each other. Picking the reliable book is a bit like picking a book on astrology or some other nonsensical esoteric topic: which one will you believe? There are so many, and they are irreconcilable with each other!

There are variations galore on the ancestral spirit theme. I have heard some say that if you have a cot death[1] in the family, it means that there was a witch in your ancestry. If you have bowel cancer, it means there was a Freemason, and so on. Some claim to have linked every possible malady to every possible class of ancestral sinner who is the cause of its passing down the line!

Others teach that you or your family are victims of the demon of anger, or the demon of lust, or of gambling, or of drug abuse, or of mental breakdown; in other words, there are special demons who pursue families down the generations to cause particular vices.

Why suffering?

The Apostles too at one time had the common notion among the Jewish people that every affliction could be traced to a specific sin. So it was when they asked Our Lord, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus’ answer is very enlightening and very important: “It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him” (Jn 9:3).

Our Lord at another time discounted the idea that certain misfortunes come upon certain people because of their sins, while others are spared because they are less guilty. Referring to a group butchered under Pilate, and to eighteen others killed by a falling tower in Siloam, Jesus said, “Do you think they were worse offenders than all the others in Galilee and in Jerusalem? I tell you, No” (Lk 13:2,4).

Where did the Jewish people get this notion? Partly from the provisional Revelation given them by God. In the book of Exodus, God says, “I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me” (20:5; 34:7). But is this meant to apply for all time unto the end of the world, like the Ten Commandments? No; many things in the Jewish Revelation were for the Jews only, such as circumcision, animal sacrifices, and other ritual and judicial laws. St. John Chrysostom says explicitly that the declaration of punishment unto later generations “is not to be universally applied, but was made with regard to those going out of Egypt” (Homily 56 on St. John).

Even within the Old Testament itself, God changed this arrangement. See all of chapter 18 in Ezekiel. God says, “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? As I live, says the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel.” Further on, God says, “Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is lawful and right, he shall surely live. … The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father. … The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself” (18:19-20). Jeremiah 31:29-30 says the same.

If someone in your family has an illness, there is no need to search your family tree for sinners, as the Apostles were trying to do!

Providence

Instructive in this regard is the reply of Our Lord to St. Teresa of Avila. In her Life, chapter 19, she describes how she was meditating on Psalm 119, “Righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgements.” Then she began to wonder, “how You could with justice allow so many faithful servants to remain without those gifts and mercies that You conferred on me. … You answered me, O Lord: Do not pry into this but serve Me.”

We cannot understand or justify the ways of God. To seek a personal explanation for each major thing will lead to obsession and distrust of God. Such things are not among the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Some of this pseudo-charismatic business is really an attempt to unravel and explain the inexplicable. Why was this man born blind? Why was this girl born handicapped? Why did that good woman die so young of cancer? Why does this family have mental illness? Normally, the answer has to be, “I don’t know” or, in a good sense, “God knows.” All these and other mystifying things are the result of the inscrutable designs of Divine Providence.

The good of suffering

Padre Pio was asked once why he did not heal a close relative, a young man, of an ongoing illness. He replied, “If he were cured, he would come to love this life too much and his soul would be lost.” It is not given to ordinary mortals to know the secret designs of Providence, but a simple story like this one gives us a glimpse into God’s ways and into how He draws good from evil, even if we do not see it in this life. The illness of St. Pio’s relative was his opportunity to share in the Cross and so save his soul.

In the Catholic schema of things, we need to remember that sin is the greatest of all evils. God has not promised to heal us or release us from all ills in this life, but He has promised absolutely to forgive our sins if we repent.

Original sin

The belief in notions like ancestral or generational curses is a perversion of the Catholic doctrine of Original Sin, which suffices to explain the evils and imperfections in this world. The remedy is baptismal regeneration and the life of Grace, not special exorcisms and healing rites.

If people make a good Confession of the past, make reparation for their sins, keep the Commandments, receive the Sacraments regularly, and avoid the occult and superstitions, and so on, then they can be certain that any afflictions are not by reason of some occult cause.

Personal responsibility

Some Catholics claiming to expel the influence of troublesome ancestors are really just misled by new age influences, which play upon desperate people’s sensitivities and susceptibilities. It is typical of the new agers to teach others to look elsewhere than themselves for the source of their problems. This is a big problem in today’s world, namely refusing to take responsibility for our own choices and decisions. So some seek to blame their parents, or ancestors, or evil spirits, or a curse that was placed upon them. It is also extremely imprudent to tell people afflicted with fears that their problems are caused by demons or ancestors binding them. Such explanations are only calculated to make them worse. What they do need is formation in the virtues of fortitude and trust in God.

We all know that in certain families there is a bigger tendency to alcoholism or gambling or reckless daring or other vices. But we also know that within a single family there are some siblings who are like chalk and cheese. Our basic temperament may be a given, but our character, which is what we do with it, is up to us. If we cooperate with the grace of God, we can overcome temptations, unhealthy proclivities and bad examples. We can acquire new virtues. From sinful parents, God can and does produce saints! Only mindless determinism tries to lock people into a box for the rest of their lives.

Beliefs without foundation

A few years ago, a nun wrote to Bishop Brennan of Wagga Wagga to ask if she could come and do a seminar on “healing your family tree.” He replied, as he told me himself, that he did not believe in any such doctrine, and that it was contrary to Scripture and the Fathers.

There is a book by an Italian theologian, Father Renzo Lavatori, on the demonology of the Fathers of the Church. In that thorough book, and in other learned tomes on the teachings of the Fathers, you will not find a single Father of the Church who taught anything about evil spirits following your ancestral line, or healing your family tree by identifying the ancestor who is holding you bound.

I would go further and say that no Father, no Doctor of the Church, no Saint, no Pope, no Council ever taught or even implied any such thing. It is a pure fiction without foundation in Sacred Scripture or Sacred Tradition. There is not a word on the subject in the 688 pages of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is a mythical notion imported from sects outside the Church.

Curses

Often, healing your tree is meant to liberate you or your family from some curse. But do curses work? Unlike the sacraments of the Church, curses or spells do not work ex opere operato (by virtue of the rite itself). God has not given the devil such unfailing power. His influence is limited, sporadic and determined by God. The rituals and formulas prescribed by the devil and his agents have no intrinsic force, but are mere devices employed by the devil: to deceive and degrade the gullible; to increase his hold over his victims and extract their subservience; to ape the rituals of the Church; and to gain for himself the worship due to God alone.

So it is that curses and superstitions seem to work only on those who believe in them! In other words, they are purely psychological, or if demons are at work, they can work only where the recipient of the curse starts to worry about it. So, in either case, the answer is to despise any attempt to curse you, trust in God, practice your religion faithfully, and be at peace.

The faithful practicing Catholic need fear nothing from the witchcraft and sorcery practiced by others. A man from Kenya told me how, where he lived, the witch doctors lamented the impotence of their sorcery against Christians, because the priests told the catechumens that once they are baptized they will have put on Christ who has conquered all evil powers and they are protected as His family members. Pope Paul VI said, in one of his famous 1972 discourses on the devil: “Everything which defends us from sin protects us of itself from the invisible Enemy. Grace is the decisive defense.”

What did Our Lord say to do if people curse you? “Bless those who curse you” (Lk 6:28). That is all. Charity in deed. He never advised seeing some expert to get it “lifted.”

In a book on the conversions to Christianity in the first centuries A.D., Gustave Bardy sets out three main reasons why the Greco-Roman world converted to Christ: desire for the truth; the Christian integrity of life; and liberation from fatalism and superstition. Missionaries today can tell you how primitive peoples experience conversion to the Christian religion as a wondrous deliverance from a whole oppressive world of superstitions, fatalism, curses, and fears.

The true Catholic vision of our links with our ancestors is found in our doctrines of Purgatory and the Communion of Saints. To teach people that their ancestors are to blame for present spiritual ills, and need pacifying or whatever, is a reversion to pre- Christian paganism and fatalism.

To try those whom He loves, God may allow evil spirits to afflict them seriously, but these exceptions are extremely rare. St. Paul was among them. He was harassed by an angel of Satan and three times prayed for deliverance, but was told, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor 12:9). Paul says himself that he had to suffer this, “to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations” (v. 7).

Like the desire to know the unknowable is the desire to escape the inescapable. If we have prayed with persistence, and done what we can, and still have something to endure, we must then abandon ourselves to the hidden designs of God. Continuation and growth in grace is a life-long struggle. There are no secret prayers or formulas to lift burdens off us as if they are a spell. And to attempt to do so through “white magic” is as illicit as using black magic.

Benefits of trials

It is a mistake to think that every illness and trial is contrary to the gracious will of God. Normally we never know in this life how much good our crosses are doing to ourselves and to others. Practices of self-denial and the generous acceptance of suffering offered to God do much for the Church, for in this way, as St. Paul says, “in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His Body, that is, the Church” (Col 1:24).

The Church is the dispenser of the treasures of the Redemption, and Christ in a mysterious and awesome fashion has made Himself dependent on us, so to speak. Pius XII sums it up so powerfully in Mystici Corporis: “This is truly a tremendous mystery and one which can never be sufficiently meditated: namely, that the salvation of many souls depends upon the prayers and voluntary mortifications offered for that intention by the members of the mystical Body of Jesus Christ.” To escape all suffering is to flee salvation.

Exorcisms

In downplaying curses, I am not denying the power of the Evil One. I have written before on his power to cause disturbances, false visions, and false miracles.

Apart from genuine exorcisms, which are always beneficial, what about benefits claimed through healing your family tree? In some cases, it might be the removal of demonic influence through renunciation of a sin (e.g., attending seances) – and then the peace and release obtained is mistakenly ascribed to the departure of some deceased ancestor.

In fact, the Church’s classic rules for exorcism issued in 1614 specifically say that the exorcist “should not believe the demon if he pretends to be the soul of a deceased person” (Rule 14).

At other times, where something genuine seems to take place – the instantaneous removal of a malady, for example – this can be explained by the devil removing what he himself had caused, as a ploy to make people fall for the whole ancestral spirits business.

It is the same game when unauthorized people try to cast out demons. The devil then is free to play all sorts of tricks on them, even pretending to leave, since he is being commanded without authority. Read Acts 19:13-17 where Jewish exorcists were overpowered by the demon when they tried to use the name of Jesus without authority.

Canon 1172 lays down that only a priest lawfully deputed by his bishop may perform an exorcism. It is presumptuous, dangerous, and disobedient for a layperson to undertake such a ritual. Lacking authority from the Church to exorcise, he may expose himself to the power of the demon, whom he imitates by disobedience. The well-known lengthy prayer of Pope Leo XIII against Satan and the rebellious angels is not for use by the laity, said the Holy Office in 1985.

I am aware of lay Catholics claiming to have a charismatic gift to deliver people from evil spirits. However much they may be in good faith, their good faith will not protect them. If you know of anyone who might need an exorcist, inform your parish priest or bishop.

Baptizing miscarried babies

Another thing doing the rounds is a ritual for baptizing aborted or miscarried babies (months or even years after the event), involving recital of a prayer and sprinkling Holy Water into the air. I have met people who have followed this ceremony in good faith. But I must say here that baptizing miscarried babies is pure fantasy. Sacraments are for the living. No one can baptize the dead. That idea comes straight from the Mormons. Mormons try to baptize all their dead ancestors, back as far as one can go!

No one knows for sure what St. Paul is referring to when he mentions Corinthians “baptizing on behalf of the dead” (1 Cor 15:29) – but the Church’s teaching rules out any ceremony of baptism administered to those dead and buried. To attempt to do so is the illicit practice of simulating a sacrament.

I have even seen a pamphlet saying that women worrying about miscarriages are impeding the happiness of their babies. Nonsense! Babies who die in the womb are in the hands of God. They are certainly not being detained from happiness because of their mothers’ worry. The author was probably unaware that he had implied in that pamphlet that such babies were suffering in Hell or Purgatory. Both are impossible here.

Naming your angel

Another new age practice which has made its way into the Catholic Church is naming your guardian angel. I have heard some people speak of it as if it were a necessary thing to name your angel, and as if it were an age-old practice. It is in fact a new age fad, never practiced or taught by a single Pope or Saint or any notable writer in the whole history of the Church. The Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy issued in 2002 by the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship says, “The practice of assigning names to the holy angels should be discouraged except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael and Michael whose names are contained in Holy Scripture” (no. 217).

Behind it is a desire to tame and control the spirit world. It is disordered to name your angel: the higher names the lower, not the other way around. Parents name their children, not vice versa. We are entrusted to our guardian angels; they are not entrusted to us. I fear that some people, in their mind, have turned their angel into some human friend or pet.

Advice

In all these matters, there is no better advice than that of St. Paul in 2 Thes 2:15: “stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us.” Neither subtract from nor add to the teaching of the Church. Many novelties are really the re-appearance of ancient gnostic errors parading as piety, for as St. Paul also warns (2 Cor 11:14), “even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”

Editor’s note

[1] Cot death is another name for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), which is the unexpected death of a baby under one year old that occurs without a clear cause.


Image: St. Nicolas of Bari Felling a Tree Inhabited by Demons by Paolo De Matteis, oil on canvas, c. 1727, High Museum of Art. (Public Domain)


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Fr. Peter Joseph, born in Wagga Wagga, Australia, was ordained a priest in 1992. He is currently parish priest at St Mel’s parish in Sydney.  He has a licentiate from the Pontifical Urban University, Rome, and a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. He has taught dogmatic theology at Vianney College seminary, Wagga Wagga; the Catholic Institute of Sydney; and the John Paul II Institute in Melbourne. He is the editor of an updated version of Archbishop Sheehan’s Apologetics and Catholic Doctrine (Baronius Press, U.K.). He is a theological censor for the Archdiocese of Sydney.

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