Paranormal Investigation

[Guest FabianRodriguez]

I would like to know what is the position of the Church on this matter? Does the Vatican take a stand on this ? Is it ok for Lay members to engage in this as long as we don't Violate the rules in a sense as far as communication is concerned?

[cappie]

Although Church teaching does not rule out the paranormal, and although it also does not rule out the possibility that God might allow us to see ghosts on occasion, the Church [i]does [/i]forbid us from attempting to initiate occult contact with departed souls:

All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone ([b][url="http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2116.htm"]CCC 2116[/url][/b]).

As in all things an undue fascination with such phenomena, particularly by teenagers and young adults whose knowledge of the faith may be quite limited, is not something that should be taken lightly. It seems to me that only those adult Catholics who are well-educated in their faith, including in the area of what the Church teaches on supernatural phenomena, should even consider such a thing.