Here’s a movie quiz for you: If I said “split pea soup,” what’s the first thing that pops into your head? If you answered “The Exorcist,” then cue the Tubular Bells, the movie’s iconic theme! The 1973 classic film remains one of the only horror movies ever nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and is considered a masterpiece. It is still one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, with an emphasis on the word “gross.”
People flocked to see it despite the fact that some moviegoers were said to have fainted in the theater because of the graphic scenes (including the split pea soup-spewing scene), and others fled the theater because it was too intense. It set the bar for horror movies, but was controversial for its portrayal of the demonic possession of a child. I personally didn’t see it until about 10 years or so ago and, even as a Catholic, I assumed that it was a Hollywood over-dramatization of a rite that is confined now to the archives of the Vatican.
I was wrong. Exorcisms are alive and well, and they are happening literally around the corner from where you live. The exorcist for the entire Archdiocese of Indianapolis is Father Vince Lampert, the pastor of Saints Francis and Clare Catholic Church in Center Grove. Yes, the Exorcist lives in your neighborhood! If you’ve met or know Fr. Vince, you wouldn’t have a clue that such a mild-mannered, affable person had it in him to cast out demons, but apparently he does.
Perhaps I’m assuming that exorcisms are theatrical and dramatic because of my Hollywood-induced expectation. But, in any event, you might be wondering how or why one chooses to be an exorcist. In this case, it was a calling that chose him. One day in 2005, Fr. Vince was minding his own business walking through the Catholic Center in downtown Indianapolis when the Archbishop saw him and said, “I have a job for you.” That new job required spending weeks in Rome studying the rite and participating in some 40 actual exorcisms, the tales of which will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
Back then in 2005, Fr. Vince was only one of 12 exorcists in the entire U.S. Now there are 50. He says he spends half his time on his exorcism duty now, and he gets calls daily from all over the country – and even the world – with half of those calls coming from non-Catholics.
So, the question arises of why there seems to be more need for his services now. Is it indicative of the amount of evil in the world? To that Fr.Vince answers, “It’s not that there’s a greater sense of evil in the world today, I would say, it’s just that there need to be more folks to help people sort things out in their lives. And I always tell people that I don’t feel like the devil has upped his game, so to speak, but that more people today perhaps will play his game because faith has become less relevant in people’s lives.”
When someone calls him for help, Fr. Vince says he first asks a series of questions to determine if that person has left open an entry point for evil to enter his life. You can do that in five different ways: with ties to the occult, through a curse, by dedication to the devil, through a life of hardened sin and, the most common way today, through broken relationships.
Have you ever used a Ouije board, even innocently, at a party? I hate to admit that I have. If so, you’ve left yourself open to evil, Fr. Vince says. He always requires the victim to have an evaluation with a mental health professional, and then he confers with the professional on whether they found a medical cause or something that they can’t explain. Overall, the goal is to give the person the help he or she truly needs.
Fr. Vince says there are four different ways that people might experience what he calls the “extraordinary activity of the devil.” The first is infestation, which is related to a place or object. For instance, he gets lots of calls from people who say strange things are happening in their house. Next is oppression, which is physical attacks on the person by something evil. Third is obsession, which is a mental attack. And last is actual possession, which he says is rare. Out of the hundreds of people that he has met with in his role as Exorcist, only a half dozen have been truly possessed and required a formal exorcism.
“If one is truly possessed it doesn’t mean that somehow evil has taken up residence in them,” he says, “it just means that some kind of connection was made between this person and a demon, or demons. The rite of exorcism is meant to break that link and to then create or reestablish one’s relationship with God.”
And now we get to the especially fascinating part. What is an exorcism really like? How do possessed people act during an exorcism? Is it really like in the movies?
The official liturgical rite was written in 1614 and was used until it was revised in 1999. So the Catholic Church has been performing this for hundreds of years. And, Fr. Vince says, it is a series of proscribed prayers and rituals in an official book that he keeps right there in his parish office.
During the exorcism, he commands the demon to depart. He describes the manifestations of the possessed during an exorcism as being animalistic in nature. They will growl and snarl and even foam at the mouth. Their eyes will roll back in their head, their jaw will go slack and they will yell and curse at him. One subject during a Rome exorcism actually levitated off the chair. Scared yet? Other characteristics of individuals who are possessed are speaking in languages they don’t know, having super strength, and having knowledge of things they should not know. They also have an aversion to anything holy, which is why a Bible, a crucifix, and holy water come in pretty handy.
As far as how realistic Hollywood portrays an exorcism, Fr. Vince says they don’t happen in somebody’s house during a thunderstorm like in the movies. They must take place in a sacred place like a church. So, if you’re wondering if exorcisms have taken place in Center Grove, the answer is yes. He’s done them right there in his parish office.
Of course, the proof is in the pudding, as they say, and Fr. Vince says exorcisms do work. During the course of a rite, he will ask the demon to name itself and to give him a time that it will depart. He says the demons answer him and do eventually leave, although it may take a little time. He stays in touch with all the people on which he has performed exorcisms, and they are all doing well.
Fr. Vince is an interesting person in other ways, too. Not only has he presided over incredible growth of the Saints Francis and Clare parish and school, but he’s an avid traveler having visited more than 30 countries. He has a special interest in America’s National Parks and has visited about 200 of them. He dabbles in foreign languages and speaks Spanish, Russian, Italian and, of course, whatever language the possessed speak!
He professes having no fear during his work and takes his exorcist job in stride saying, “Ultimately God is the One acting here, and the exorcist is just nothing more than an instrument for God to do His work. That is why I don’t get all caught up in what I do because the focus is not on me, it’s all on the power and influence of God.”
However you want to look at it and whatever you believe, it’s still fascinating and quite a conversation starter. Tubular Bells fade out. cg
Ann Craig-Cinnamon is a 30 year Radio & TV Broadcast veteran. You may recall her as the host of popular radio morning shows in Indianapolis for many years. She and her husband, John are also business owners. Her lifelong love of world travel led them to start a travel franchise, CruiseOne, in Center Grove. Ann is a writer, travel speaker and author of an upcoming book about her time spent living in Iran.
