It happens without fail. Every year, when the weather turns warm, there is someplace around our house where a colony of ants suddenly materializes. When it does, we call Mike. He swoops in (well, drives over in his not-so-new Subaru) and sprays whatever industrial strength stuff he has to shut down the parade of bugs before it gets too far. Knowing that this one appearance is usually a precursor to other eruptions yet to happen, he doesn't stop there: he goes over our entire place to try get ahead of any other outbreaks. He then departs, leaving us with a hopefully more bug-free abode.
And so it is with Monsignor Rubén Dario Jaramillo Montoya. Montoya is the Catholic bishop in Buenaventura, Colombia, a city of about 400,000 people that is that country's busiest port. He too has a problem with infestations, though his are much more serious than a bunch of bugs crawling into his basement. While the city has been trying to promote itself as a tourist destination with a new website, articles over the last few years point to its more well-known reputation as the violent center of the country's drug wars, with such headings such as "A Destination for the Intrepid," "Beaches and Bodies" and "Butchery in Buenaventura - Colombia's Most Violent City."
To be fair progress has been made. In 2014 Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos sent troops to stabilize the city, and the murder rate is now down below the national average. And there are more public signs of progress, such as becoming a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, as well as restaurants, parks and AirBNB's taking root. Still, it can be a dangerous place outside the center of town, where "disappearances" happen too regularly and gangs hold sway.
And that's what led Bishop Montoya to attempt a, well, Hail Mary pass. Rather than try and minister to the bad guys one at a time, seeking to use the power of prayer to right their evil ways, he took to the air this past week to try and disinfect the whole place in one fell swoop. With the assistance of a helicopter provided by the Colombian Navy, he performed an exorcism on the city by sprinkling holy water on it from the air. "We want to go around the whole of Buenaventura from the air and pour holy water onto it, to see if we exorcise all those demons that are destroying our port," he told a local radio station. "So that God's blessing comes and gets rid of all the wickedness that is in our streets."
While exorcism is usually associated with individuals, for over a century the church has permitted it to be used en masse in certain circumstances. Explanatory materials from Catholic theologians say that when the "action of the Devil is suspected, spiritually or physically harming someone, causing violent temptations, storms or other calamities," the prayer can be used against so called cases of "demonic infestation." That led Pope Leo XIII back in 1890 to add it as "Exorcism Against Satan and the Fallen Angels" for this very specific situation (except for the helicopter).
In an interesting bit of serendipity, a slightly more secular application was just used on these shores as well. Following a contentious session in the House of Representatives related to the resolution condemning the President's remarks as racist, House chaplain the Rev. Patrick J. Conroy started the session the day after the vote with the following invocation: "This has been a difficult and contentious week in which darker spirits seem to have been at play in the people's house. In your most holy name, I now cast out all spirits of darkness from this chamber, spirits not from you." Twitter, cast thee out!
Last year the Vatican convened a meeting on demonic possession, which they say seems to be on the rise. In that light, much as communication in general has gone from individual to a more public approach with social media, perhaps this method of dealing with the devil might have wider distribution and hence results. After all, you get far better outcomes by complaining via tweet vs writing an letter. Put another way, you can certainly unsubscribe by dropping a note to Lucifer@666.com, but you'll get more likes with #BeGone.
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford is always looking for better ways to communicate. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
And so it is with Monsignor Rubén Dario Jaramillo Montoya. Montoya is the Catholic bishop in Buenaventura, Colombia, a city of about 400,000 people that is that country's busiest port. He too has a problem with infestations, though his are much more serious than a bunch of bugs crawling into his basement. While the city has been trying to promote itself as a tourist destination with a new website, articles over the last few years point to its more well-known reputation as the violent center of the country's drug wars, with such headings such as "A Destination for the Intrepid," "Beaches and Bodies" and "Butchery in Buenaventura - Colombia's Most Violent City."
To be fair progress has been made. In 2014 Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos sent troops to stabilize the city, and the murder rate is now down below the national average. And there are more public signs of progress, such as becoming a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, as well as restaurants, parks and AirBNB's taking root. Still, it can be a dangerous place outside the center of town, where "disappearances" happen too regularly and gangs hold sway.
And that's what led Bishop Montoya to attempt a, well, Hail Mary pass. Rather than try and minister to the bad guys one at a time, seeking to use the power of prayer to right their evil ways, he took to the air this past week to try and disinfect the whole place in one fell swoop. With the assistance of a helicopter provided by the Colombian Navy, he performed an exorcism on the city by sprinkling holy water on it from the air. "We want to go around the whole of Buenaventura from the air and pour holy water onto it, to see if we exorcise all those demons that are destroying our port," he told a local radio station. "So that God's blessing comes and gets rid of all the wickedness that is in our streets."
While exorcism is usually associated with individuals, for over a century the church has permitted it to be used en masse in certain circumstances. Explanatory materials from Catholic theologians say that when the "action of the Devil is suspected, spiritually or physically harming someone, causing violent temptations, storms or other calamities," the prayer can be used against so called cases of "demonic infestation." That led Pope Leo XIII back in 1890 to add it as "Exorcism Against Satan and the Fallen Angels" for this very specific situation (except for the helicopter).
In an interesting bit of serendipity, a slightly more secular application was just used on these shores as well. Following a contentious session in the House of Representatives related to the resolution condemning the President's remarks as racist, House chaplain the Rev. Patrick J. Conroy started the session the day after the vote with the following invocation: "This has been a difficult and contentious week in which darker spirits seem to have been at play in the people's house. In your most holy name, I now cast out all spirits of darkness from this chamber, spirits not from you." Twitter, cast thee out!
Last year the Vatican convened a meeting on demonic possession, which they say seems to be on the rise. In that light, much as communication in general has gone from individual to a more public approach with social media, perhaps this method of dealing with the devil might have wider distribution and hence results. After all, you get far better outcomes by complaining via tweet vs writing an letter. Put another way, you can certainly unsubscribe by dropping a note to Lucifer@666.com, but you'll get more likes with #BeGone.
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford is always looking for better ways to communicate. His column appears regularly in The Record-Review, The Scarsdale Inquirer and online at http://www.glancingaskance.blogspot.com/, as well as via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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