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by Susan Brinkmann
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Please read carefully the
following recent statement from our
Diocesan Bishop, William Murphy:
"After having been asked to review Reiki as
a practice for use in some parishes, I asked some persons who are well informed to look
into the matter for me. In addition, I have had access to the document of the Holy
See: ‘Jesus Christ: The Bearer of the Water of Life.’ All things considered I have
come to a pastoral conclusion that I do not want Reiki to be carried on under parish
auspices. I appreciate you making sure this decision is observed in the places
wherever you have pastoral responsibility.
Thank you. —Bishop William Murphy." Diocese
of Rockville Centre]
Everyone wants to be healed. Anyone who has ever attended a
healing Mass can attest to the crowds that flock to the altar of the Lord to receive his
healing touch. Unfortunately, there are plenty of imitations available in the so-called "New
Age" movement. One of the most popular is Reiki, with a variety of close cousins such as "healing touch," "therapeutic
touch" and "hands of light."
Those alternative therapies are among practices that
Catholics are cautioned about in a Vatican document, "Jesus Christ: The Bearer of the Water of Life — A Christian reflection on
the ‘New Age,’" issued in 2003 by the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
In their warning, the councils note that in such New Age
therapies, "the source of healing is said to be within ourselves, something we reach when we are in touch with our inner
energy or cosmic energy."
According to Moira Noonan, a former Reiki Master and author
of a memoir, "Ransomed from Darkness," that is, indeed, what Reiki teaches. "Reiki is a method of healing through
the transmission and activation of a person’s spiritual energy," she writes. "This therapy looks somewhat like the Christian
laying-on of hands, but this is deceptive. The symbolism of Reiki is deeply influenced by Buddhist traditions and invisible spirit
guides. These spirit guides are specifically invoked by name to confer their healing powers."
There is discrepancy in what is said to be the true history
of Reiki. For instance, organizations that are involved in selling the concept to the largely Christian West either downplay or
deny its association with Buddhism. However, disinterested parties, such as academic centers for
religious studies, seem to agree on certain key facts about Reiki:
First, it was
said to be rediscovered in the 19th century by a medical doctor named Mikao
Usui.
Second, Usui
rediscovered Reiki during a 21-day retreat devoted to studying Buddhist Tantric
texts. Tantric Buddhism involves the use of spells, incantations, complicated
rituals and magical powers to achieve enlightenment.
Third, Reiki
energy supposedly entered Usui during his retreat. From that time on, Usui had
healing power, and he initiated thers into the secrets of that power through what he called
"attunements." In that procedure, "attunement energies" are channeled into students through Reiki masters, who are
guided by the Rei or God-consciousness, and by other Reiki "guides" and other spiritual entities that help
the process along.
Like other forms of New Age healing, Reiki is promoted as a
technique that is obtainable through weekend workshops. Becoming a Reiki master can be expensive: Workshop fees
range from $175 to $500.
Healing practices that are based on using energy-channeling
to heal have morphed into a variety of techniques known as "healing touch" or "therapeutic touch."
One of the most popular is promoted by Barbara Brennan, a former NASA research
scientist turned New Age healer. The author of "Hands of
Light," Brennan is regarded as one of the most widely recognized teachers
of New Age healing that uses spirit guides.
The former New-Ager Noonan attended Brennan’s institute:
"As Brennan herself admits, her ideas are drawn from direct communication with a spirit guide named Heyoan," Noonan writes in her
memoir. "(Brennan’s) channelings from this entity are regularly published word-for-word by her institute, and offered to the
world as expressions of divine wisdom. "This is what I mean when I talk about the role of demons in the practice of
Reiki," Noonan writes.
Another former New Age practitioner, Clare McGrath Merkle,
had similar experiences with energy healers, which caused her to return to the Catholic faith. Merkle is an
accomplished author and speaker who has appeared on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) and various national radio programs. She now
devotes her life to warning people about the dangers of the New Age.
Merkle says one popular, so-called energy healing technique
is being promoted by a company called Healing Touch International (HTI). HTI was founded in 1993 by two nurses who wanted to
bring the influence of New Age "energy channeling" techniques to hospitals, schools and parishes. Merkle writes in the
article, "Is Healing Touch at your parish?" that "The HTI web
site describes the techniques as ‘energy based healing therapies
from a Judeo-Christian perspective.’ They (say they) teach ways to ‘integrate Healing Touch into church/parish healing
ministry.’"
But, she says, beneath its Christian veneer, the principles
underlying "Healing Touch" are not compatible with Catholicism. "If you go to their Web site and look at their
recommended resources and books, it’s a mile long of occult texts," Merkle said. That is not how it appears to the public however:
"They work in teams at hospitals, and come around to your bed and ask, ‘Would you like us to pray over you?’ Of course people who
are sick are going to say yes. Then they start doing their ‘energy’ work."
Is this deliberate deception on the part of Healing Touch
practitioners? Probably not, Merkle says. The problem is that most practitioners have done little more than read a few
books or take a few weekend workshops in their training. Very few can correctly identify the source of the "energy"
they’re trying to manipulate.
According to Merkle, many experts say that although such
"energy" techniques are known by different names, they have the same root: "The root is in Kundalini yoga and the
raising of the ‘serpent power’ up the spine, opening the chakras and giving people magical occult powers. She says New Age "energy
techniques" and "healing modalities," as they are called, are
forms of this magic.
The fact that these practices borrow from other religions is
not the problem, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said in the 1989 document issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith, "Some Aspects of Christian Meditation." Speaking about various forms of Eastern meditation, he assures us that we
can adopt what is good from other religions, "as long as the Christian conception of prayer, its logic and requirements are never
obscured."
The problem with Reiki and healing touch is that it is based
on beliefs peculiar to various forms of Hinduism and Buddhism which "posit the existence of a life energy (ki or
kundalini) and interpret that energy as spiritual," which is not a
Christian belief. Christians believe that man is a union of body and
soul, and that the soul is an essential form of the body — not an energy force. "From a spiritual perspective, we believe the
soul is the life-principle of the body, not something else," wrote the
editors at Catholic Answers. "Consequently, there is no spiritual
‘life energy’ animating the body. Any energy used as part of the body’s
operations — such as the electricity in our nervous system — is
material in nature, not spiritual. . . . Since this (belief) is contrary to Christian theology, it is inappropriate for Christians to
participate in activities based on this belief."Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa,
an internationally known biblical scholar and popular television
and radio host, raises another question about practitioners of those and other healing fads that are being practiced, in some
cases, on a church’s property. "Are these people practicing medicine
without a license?" he asks. "And if so, who is going to
be liable if there’s a malpractice suit?"
Although many practitioners sincerely believe they are
helping people, there is no scientific study associated with any of these methods, Father Pacwa says. Even more troubling is the
fact that their practitioners disguise them as a form of the Christian laying-on of hands, according to Father Pacwa.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes the laying on
of hands as a "sign" (CCC, No. 699) not a means of channeling "energy." "Reiki is an attempt to make a ‘technique’
out of praying for the sick," Father Pacwa said. "Praying for the
sick has to be understood as an aspect of God’s grace operative
in our lives. It’s not a ‘technique.’ That’s where it becomes ‘magical,’ and Christianity is not about using magic."
[This article is printed with permissionof The Catholic Standard and Times, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Philadalphia]
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