American exorcist plies his lonely trade

(UNDATED) Pity the poor exorcist, caught between evil spirits eager to inhabit human bodies and a skeptical society loath to believe demons exist outside of movie theaters. Even church leaders and clergy look askance at exorcists as peddlers of a practice best left in the Middle Ages. Most American exorcists, particularly those appointed by the […]

(UNDATED) Pity the poor exorcist, caught between evil spirits eager to inhabit human bodies and a skeptical society loath to believe demons exist outside of movie theaters.

Even church leaders and clergy look askance at exorcists as peddlers of a practice best left in the Middle Ages. Most American exorcists, particularly those appointed by the Catholic Church, keep a low-profile, hesitating to open themselves — and their church– to ridicule and quacks.

But not the Rev. Gary Thomas. The loquacious, 55-year-old Silicon Valley priest is eager to dish about exorcism, the “apocalyptic times” we live in, and even to accuse Catholics who deny demonic possession — including bishops — of renouncing fundamental Christian dogma.


Thomas is pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Saratoga, Calif. — and the official exorcist for the Diocese of San Jose.

In March, Thomas wrote to 121 Catholic bishops and 41 seminary rectors, urging them to select and train more exorcists. Included with the letters were copies of “The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist,” a new book by journalist Matt Baglio that details Thomas’ three-year journey from common California clergyman to university-trained “spiritual detective.”

“I hope that you will take the time to read this book and become better informed about a subject that many Catholics priests deem superstitious and medieval,” Thomas writes in the letter to bishops.

The California cleric hopes to get a copy of the “The Rite” into the hands of Pope Benedict XVI through his friendship with Cardinal William Levada, a fellow Californian who has the pope’s old job as head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Just maybe, Thomas prays, he’ll even get a meeting with the pontiff.

“If Nancy Pelosi can see him, why the hell can’t I?” Thomas asked.

Only a dozen or so dioceses in the U.S. have official exorcists, according to Thomas. “Why are not more bishops selecting and training exorcists?” he asked rhetorically. “Because they do not believe in them. In my opinion, then, they should not be bishops.” The Christian belief in human salvation through Jesus only makes sense, he says, if Satan was there to set us up for the fall.

The history of Christian exorcisms goes back to Jesus himself, who freed a number of invalids from “the domination of demons,” according to the Catholic Catechism, and instructed his apostles to do the same. “And these signs will accompany those who believe,” Jesus says in the Gospel of Mark, “by using my name they will cast out demons.”


Though they probably don’t know it, every Catholic undergoes what the church calls a “simple exorcism” at baptism during the prayers to renounce Satan and lift the taint of Original Sin. Serious cases of diabolical possession, usually manifested by superhuman strength, speaking in unfamiliar languages, and a raging hostility to sacred objects like crucifixes, require “major exorcisms,” which are only to be performed by priests with permission from their bishops.

The Catholic Church updated its Rite of Exorcism, in which the power of Jesus is invoked to expel demons, in 1999, bringing a text written in 1614 into the 20th century. The Vatican warned however, that exorcists should “demonstrate maximum circumspection and prudence, initially approaching the possessed person as he would anyone who suffers from physical or psychological illness.”

Thomas knew little of this in 2005, when his bishop, the Most Rev. Patrick McGrath of San Jose, sent him to Rome to be trained as an exorcist. At Regina Apostolorum, a Vatican-sanctioned school run by the conservative Legionaries of Christ religious order, Thomas learned how to discern spirits, how demons fit into Catholic theology, and how the devil gains power.

He also apprenticed with a veteran Italian exorcist, sitting in on 80 exorcisms. In Italy, getting an exorcism is more like going to the dentist than starring in a horror film, Baglio reports, and more than half a million Italians see an exorcist annually.

In America, however, exorcism remains marginalized as, at best, bizarre. Thomas says about 10 bishops and seminary rectors have responded to his letters, thanking him for sending the book but saying little more. “I thought I would’ve gotten a lot more (letters) by now,” he says a little wistfully. A number of bishops usually eager to talk to the press declined to comment on Thomas’ campaign through spokespeople.

But if the bishops aren’t game, Hollywood is. New Line Cinema, a major movie studio, has bought the rights for “The Rite,” and already assigned a veteran director to bring it to the silver screen.


Thomas, who said he was paid $25,000 when the film rights were sold, all of which he will give away because exorcists are not allowed to take money for their services, says he’s trying not to let the attention go to his head.

“The worst thing for me would be to become a celebrity,” Thomas said. “That would be a great way to derail me; and that’s exactly what the devil wants.”

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