The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer is president of Virginia-based Human Life International, which has affiliates and partners in 87 countries around the world. A trained exorcist, Fr. Euteneuer has been authorized to perform the ancient rite in several dioceses in the U.S.Vampires, witches, Ouija boards, Satanic rock music and video games — innocent fun? I don't think so. The proliferation of these dark forces is creating a subculture of youth who are suffering the effects of occult involvement. The sheer magnitude of these demonic influences has already left us with a wounded generation of youth, many of whom will receive liberation and healing only through the priestly ministry of exorcism. The problem of demonic infestation has already become, shall we say, "legion" in our culture, and priests need respond to it with the love of Christ and the authority of the Church militant.
I learned this firsthand in 1995 when I was assigned to a large urban parish in Florida. One day, a young man walked into the parish office and sat down. He did not even ask to speak to a priest. I happened to be on duty at the time, so the nervous secretary asked me to meet with him right away. He said he did not know why he was there, but that "something" had led him there. That "something" might have been a demon, but more likely it was the Spirit of God leading him to the Church for deliverance from the demon.Matt (not his real name) was obviously seriously disturbed. We talked, and he told me a tale of woe that was hard to believe. He seemed to have no father or mother and had never been baptized. He was living a life of rampant chaos in the house of his uncle and immersed himself almost constantly in Satanic music. The only social contacts he had were some really, really bad "friends," so-called Goth types, devotees of the hideous rock star Marilyn Manson. He admitted to doing drugs with them and experimenting with all kinds of occult matter that glorified Satan in both overt and indirect ways. He was fond of violent movies and video games — or more likely they were fond of him, a basically soulless cyber-addict.
One day he was with his "friends," and he overdosed. He ended up in the hospital and had an experience he could not forget. In a coma on the hospital bed, he felt like he was descending down a long, cold, and dark corridor. Fear began to grip him as he clearly understood just where it was he was descending to.
Of note, television shows like Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and their popular spawn especially target the younger generation and are followed with fanatical fervor. A whole generation of teenage girls is absolutely swooning about the new vampire flick, Twilight, and its sequel, New Moon. Some are going to this movie in prom dresses, fantasizing about what it would be like to fall in love with a vampire! This is anything but a fantasy. It is a potential gateway to grave spiritual danger for lonely, isolated kids who are "spiritually hungry" enough to explore the occult. The book Generation Hex notes that this generation of American kids is the first ever to grow up in a society in which Christianity has been stigmatized and the occult normalized. The authors also note that Wicca is the fastest growing "religion" in the U.S., and it's not hard to figure out why — there are no fewer than 700,000 Internet sites for "teenage witches." Meanwhile, the Pew Forum's "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey" found that "former Catholics" outnumber converts four to one. Ten percent of the U.S. population now consists of "ex-Catholics."