Catholic Church Issues Guide on How to Convert Witches

[Locutus]

LONDON -- Five hundred years ago, the Catholic Church had a simple way of dealing with witches: It burned them alive. The Vatican still views these broom botherers as a danger, but is now calling on Catholics to eliminate the neo-pagan problem in a more moderate manner.

According to a new booklet from the Catholic Truth Society -- the U.K. publishers for the Holy See -- the faithful can convert Wiccans by following a few simple steps. The pamphlet, titled "Wicca and Witchcraft: Understanding the Dangers," suggests that Catholics spark up conversations with these unbelievers about shared concerns such as the environment, The Telegraph reports.

The booklet's author, former Wiccan Elizabeth Dodd, states that nearly 70 percent of people indulging in witchcraft are young women seeking some kind of spirituality, according to the Daily Mail. The source of that statistic isn't clear, but some 7,000 Brits identified themselves as Wiccans in the 2001 census.


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Catholic Church Issues Guide on How to Convert Witches




Good old Catholic church.


I think the same survey had 40,000 Britons identify themselves as Jedi. Good luck there.

[Mark]

The neo-pagan problem. LOL

Triedit should change her tag above her avatar to that. Neo-Pagan (I love it)

[El Barto]

HAHAHA Jedi tittle, the church wouldn't know what to do and start Banning Star Wars all together.
May the force be with you lol

[triedit]

Whooo boy, where do I start.

Actually, this isnt a rant. The pamphlet author gets a lot of things right. She's mostly wrong on how the Catholic Church can satisfy the needs of those who turn to Wicca.

“Modern Wicca’s origins lie in Victorian occultism,” she says (also finding room to mention the movement’s early links with Aleister Crowley). “Wiccans are encouraged to develop their own pantheon of gods and goddesses with whom they are comfortable to work – a religious ‘dream team’ … There are no limits to the creativity Wiccans can employ when creating their religious pantheons: it would not be uncommon to come across a Wiccan who worshipped Odin, Poseidon and the Buddhist Bodhisattva Kawn-Yin simultaneously.”

This is correct. What she fails to realize that every religion ever created started exactly the same way.

“Whether or not a Wiccan can successfully communicate with the dead or summon a spirit, whether spellwork is effective or not, has no bearing on the psychological damage that can be done to a young person who is convinced that they have summoned the dead, or have performed a spell that has hurt or injured another. Wicca has no hierarchy or support structure in place for these vulnerable young people … The use of magic, the practice of witchcraft, offends God because it is rooted in our sinful and fallen nature. It attempts to usurp God.”

This is only partly correct. Proper Wiccans (ie not the "fuzzy bunny" wiccan wannabes) do not teach thier children spellwork or encourage them to practice wicca. One can only embrace the craft as a willing adult. I also don't believe magic offends God. I am Wiccan and I believe in God. I honestly don't think he (usually) finds me nearly as offensive as most Catholics. Wiccan spells are simply prayer with a few toys and herbs. Wiccans themselves don't have powers. They simply feel they are connected directly with God, as they define him/her, and therefore ask directly. And that's why there is no heirarchy or structure. For Wiccans, religion is between a person and God. Period. No Wiccan has ever performed a spell that injured anybody. Believing they have is ridiculous. Wiccans practice two basic rules. 1)Do what you want as long as it doesn't hurt someone else and 2)Whatever you wish (pray, do spellwork) for comes back to you threefold. No true Wiccan would ever ask harm. ANd it has nothing whatsoever to do with communing with the dead. FFS Catholics have Saints! Jesus! Exorcism! Who communes with the dead? Catholics do. Belief in afterlife/ghosts/spirits has little to do with the brand of religion you practice. Ive dealt with people from every kind of culture and every kind of religion who claim contact with ghosts and spirits. Wiccans certainly do not have a monopoly!

One person commented:

Every week in terrible places called 'churches' horrible old men indoctrinate young children into cannibalistic activity. Young children are taught to drink things & eat things while being encouraged to believe they are drinking blood & eating flesh. True, that is not just a hideously disgusting activity, that is child abuse! But apparently ok because the pope says so.

Seriously. Take this bread and drink this wine. It is my body and my blood. That is the basis for all Christian Communion Ritual.

King James Bible 1 Corinthians 11:24

And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

And these folks have an issue with me burning some sage and lighting a candle when I ask God to intevene?

"Wiccans are on a genuine spiritual quest," providing "the starting point for dialog that may lead to their conversion."

Exactly right. But be aware that you may end up being converted to Wicca rather than converting the Witch to Catholocism LOL

More from the comments:

Instead of simply following the common misconception, people might want to do some research. You might find Paganism was never devil worshipping, or anything else evil. It was the Catholic church who changed the meaning of certain symbols to either fit their religion or to assign an evil meaning to. Many witches were herbal healers as well.

Indeed. Too many Catholics drinking the KoolAid instead of the ritual wine...

Before this turns into an outright rant, I'll leave you with this:
Hitler was a Catholic. US Army Sgt Patrick Stewart was Wiccan.

Im jus' sayin'....

[El Barto]

Holy Black pot Batman

[karrie]

The higher ups believe that they have truly found the healthiest, best way, and generally don't want to listen to the reasons it's all similar, or at the least, innocuous. For every rabid priest preaching conversion, there's a lunatic 'wiccan' practicing her magics in a way that would make you, Triedit, want to scream. They don't care that that 'wiccan' isn't practicing Wicca appropriately. They just care that it gives them a basis to argue from.

Thank God we've hit the point in time where the church's advice is 'talk to them', 'have an open discussion', rather than 'live in fear, burn their houses down', etc. There was a time when Pagans tried violently to eradicate Christianity, and a time when Christianity fought back and did the same. I'm just happy to see that's fading into a distant memory.

[Arioch]

We're talking two totally different kinds of pagan, separated by several degrees of magnitude. And don't forget, the Christians were persecuted by the Romans for breaking their laws concerning worship of state deities. Had Christianity paid even lip-service to the Roman pantheon they would have been left alone.

Though, I'll agree, it's nice to see the change. Unfortunately it seems to only be among Catholics; evangelists and most other denominations still have a "Burn 'em" attitude to pretty much everything non-christian.