Power of God leads to spiritual triumph

Kathleen Beckman LHS sees the ravages of evil on families as a member of the exorcist team of the Diocese of Orange County, California and administrator of its healing and deliverance ministry. 

She fields clergy calls, facilitates exorcism protocols, accompanies petitioners and dialogues with the afflicted person seeking liberation from evil. She is present at major and minor exorcisms as intercessor, restrainer, witness and discerner.

Seeing demonic influences are ever increasing in families and societies, many may wonder why she is not afraid as she assists the team and how she effuses a sense of joy. She’s able to do so because she sees the power of God freeing people from their life of torment, and they develop their relationship with God. 

She has done much prayer and research and utilizes her experiences to educate people and provide them a spiritual lifeline of hope that God triumphs over evil.

Beckman, the co-founder of Foundation of Prayer for Priests, gave a presentation on Catholic strategies for healing and deliverance from evil at St. Agnes Church in Baton Rouge on Jan. 6. 

On Jan. 7 she was part of a panel discussion, “Finding Hope and Healing in the Family” which also included Father Reuben Dykes, pastor of Mater Dolorosa Church in Independence and Ryan and Mary-Rose Verret of Witness to Love ministry. Father David Dawson, parochial vicar at St. George Church in Baton Rouge, was moderator.

Beckman, author of “A Family Guide to Spiritual Warfare: A Source for Deliverance and Healing,” encourages families to prevent problems by practicing the proven means of protection in the church’s arsenal of spiritual weapons.

As part of the protocols of exorcisms, which also include ruling out medical and mental health issues, Beckman hears stories of the afflicted. Their stories almost always go back to something that happened in the family – something that’s happened in childhood or adolescence, estrangements or family abuse.

“I realized that so much brokenness has come from the breakdown of the family, the domestic church,” said Beckman, whose formation was initiated by John Essef and Dr. Margarett Schlientz, co-founders of the Pope Leo XIII Institute in Rome.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

There are open doors through which enemies intrude into family life, according to Beckman.

“One of the foundational ways we have to see how the enemy gets into the domestic church is first and foremost we’ll have to deal with sin,” she said. “We have to be courageous in our families, in our marriages, to have difficult conversations.

“It’s easy in a family to ‘put things in a closet’ or to ‘hide things under the rug.’ ”

She said if a spouse or child is viewing pornography, drinking too much, experimenting with drugs or having premarital/extramarital sex it must be brought to light.

“This is the teaching of the church, that our families, our domestic church, is meant to be holy,” Beckman said. “I encourage families (in the book) to build a eucharistic home. It should be holy ground so anything that is unholy should be removed and any actions that are unholy need to be dealt with. 

“We need to have a refuge in our homes where we feel safe, where we feel loved, where we learn that we are loveable, where abuse or disorder will be dealt with in a Catholic way.”

Getting “back to the basics” of the Catholic faith and prayer is an effective weapon against the devil, Beckman pointed out.

“(During exorcisms) the evil spirits react to praying the rosary,” said Beckman. “It makes them scream, they yell ‘stop those beads, stop those beads.’ ” 

She added, “The demons are terrorized by the Eucharist, by our rosaries, by holy water, by blessed salt. They’re terrorized by a father who will bless his children and bless his wife. Blessings in the family should be the way of everyday life. The sacramental life of the church really does have power against the darkness.”

One priest commented to Beckman that “if more people would go to the confessional, there would be less need for exorcisms.”

She also talked about “gateways” through which Satan enters.

 “There’s so much religious syncretism where people are mixing cultural and other religions with Catholicism, and it doesn’t work,” Beckman said.

She highlighted such things as “new age” items and cult practices in people’s homes lead to problems.  

When Satan gets in he is “territorial and legalistic” and claims to “have rights over this person,” Beckman noted. This especially happens when one “makes a pact or contract” with the devil to get something they desire. 

This highlights the importance of baptism, because people, by virtue of baptism, have been “signed and sealed” for Jesus Christ, Beckman said. She talked about the disturbing trend of people “renouncing their baptism and belonging to the Catholic Church” and signing documents to such affect. 

On a note of hope, once one is baptized they always belong to Christ. Priests remind the afflicted one of this during an exorcism.

In a world filled with so many distractions and packed schedules, many families are not interacting much, understanding what each person is doing, eating together or praying together.

Beckman encouraged families to have sacred spaces, to have places where they can place prayer petitions, have nightly blessings of children, make attending Mass a priority on Sunday, etc.

“We need to bring God into everything that’s happening in the family,” said Beckman. 

She includes a list of prayers in her book for people to pray. She encourages families to read the prologue of St. John’s Gospel out loud.

When something does not seem right, Beckman encouraged husbands and wives to pray with the authority of Jesus over each other or their children. She said the authority of Jesus triumphs over evil. 

She included in her book prayers of healing and deliverance and case studies of family deliverances.

“I always say, ‘don’t ever give up, no matter what your family situation is do not give up,’ ” said Beckman. “We persevere with and through Jesus Christ. Sometimes it requires long suffering. It may take years, but the resurrection and healing will come, and it’s worth it. The family is worth it. Marriage is worth it. It’s worth fighting for.”