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Q: I was wondering if Catholics believe in ghosts / spirits?
(Daphne)
Dear Daphne:
Although the words ghost and spirit can be used interchangeably, many use the word spirit to mean a spiritual being such as an angel or demon, while reserving the word ghost to mean the spirit of a person once living that appears on earth.
In Sacred Scripture, Jesus himself uses the word ghost in the latter sense during one of his appearances to the disciples after his Resurrection:
"...Jesus stood among them and said to them: 'Peace be with you.' They were startled and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them: 'Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have'." (Luke 24: 36-39)
During the Transfiguration of Christ there are two ghostly appearances, when Peter, James, and John witness Jesus in conversation with both Moses and Elijah (Matt 17:3). The possibility of a human person leaving heaven and returning to earth is raised in Jesus' parable about the Rich Man and Lazarus. The rich man in hell wishes Lazarus to leave heaven and return to earth to warn his brothers that their souls are in danger. Significantly, Abraham informs him, not that such a journey would be impossible, but rather that it would be futile.
In addition to New Testament references, there are a number of ghostly events related in the Old Testament, such as the Witch of Endor calling up the ghost of Solomon for Saul (1 Samuel: 28. 7), and Maccabeus readying his people for battle by telling them about the appearances of the high priest Onias and the prophet Jeremiah (2 Maccabees 15: 12-16).
As for the word 'spirit', God is the one perfect spirit, absolute and infinite. Most Catholics are familiar with the term Holy Spirit when speaking of the third person of the Trinity who is alive in the Church today:
The spirit dwells in the Church and in the hearts of the faithful as in a temple. In them He prays and bears witness to the fact that they are adopted sons. The Spirit guides the Church into the fullness of truth and give her a unity of fellowship and service. He furnishes and directs her with various gifts, both hierarchical and charismatic, and adorns her with the fruits of His grace. By the power of the gospel He makes the Church grow, perpetually renews her, and leads her to perfect union with her Spouse. ('Lumen Gentium' 4.)
Angels, of course, are also spirits. The existence of angels--that is, spiritual beings without bodies, possessing intellect and free will, and acting as servants of God--has been taught by the Church down through the centuries, notably at the Fourth General Lateran Council (1215), which spoke of God creating out of nothing 'both orders of creatures...the angelic...and finally the human.'
The word angel comes from the Greek word 'angelos', meaning messenger, and there are many examples from the Bible of angels acting as messengers. You are no doubt familiar with the angel Gabriel, who in the Old Testament explained Daniel's vision to him, and who in the New Testament brought messages to Mary, the Mother of God, and to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. Then there is the 'angel of the Lord' (followed by a great throng of the heavenly host) who appears to the shepherds at night informing them of the birth of Jesus; and later, the angel who instructs Joseph to flee to Egypt with Jesus and Mary to escape Herod. In this last example, we see the angel, not just as a messenger, but acting in the role of a protector or guardian.
We also learn from Sacred Scripture about the existence of evil spirits, or demons, led by Satan, who work to impede the fulfillment of God's plan for creation, and there are instances of Jesus exorcising demons, such as the Gadarene Demoniacs (Matt: 8: 28-34), and the demons possessing the man who was blind and mute (Matt 12: 22-24).
It is because of the existence of evil spirits that the Church warns us against getting involved in movements such as Spiritism. Spiritism is the belief that the spirits of dead people can communicate with the living. This is supposedly accomplished by means of an intermediary known as a 'medium'. People claiming such powers have been around for centuries, using such techniques as seances, table-tapping, ouija boards and so on. Over the years some mediums have been exposed as frauds, opportunists who were using accomplices, hypnotism and even ventriloquists to deceive their clients.
The Church regards practices such as spiritism as offences against the First Commandment:
All practices of 'magic' or 'sorcery', by which one attempts to tame occult powers so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others--even if this were for the sake of restoring their health--are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. 'Spiritism' often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. (Catechism: 2117)
The Catechism describes an interest in such things as an 'unhealthy curiosity', and ultimately as mistrust in God and his Providence:
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 honour, respect and loving fear that we owe to God alone. (Catechism: 2116)
Such activities may also have the effect of having us neglect our proper religious practices, as we pursue dramatic manifestations of the spiritual. The Church, wisely, has always been cautious about 'signs and wonders', such as visions, healings, and voices from the dead, because she knows that an over-reliance on the seemingly miraculous can lead to superstition and be damaging to the faith, especially when such things turn out to be fraudulent.
In the last twenty years or so there has been a revived interest in the so-called 'supernatural arts'. It almost seems today that as Church attendance has fallen, and authentic worship and true spirituality has declined in the world at large, there is a concomitant interest and growth in an ersatz spirituality, as represented by horoscopes, astrology, palm reading and so on, so-called 'New Age' practices.
Perhaps the following remark by the Christian writer C.S. Lewis sums up the attitude we might best adopt in matters concerning spirits (demons) and ghosts:
"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about demons. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them."
God bless,
Father Norbert