One of the oldest businesses in Larne, where I live is sadly closing. Its been here since 1870 – 151 years.
I’ve known the current owners, John and Anne Sproule since I came here in 1984. A lovely couple.
The following piece appeared in our local newspaper, The Larne Times:
“The mid-90s, however, saw a visitor of the supernatural variety.
“We had a ‘presence’ in the shop that would make noises, empty boxes and shift things about,” Mrs Sproule said.
The odd occurrences prompted the family to seek help from Canon William Lendrum, a Church of Ireland minister who became known for his exorcisms.
“Canon Lendrum came down to have a look; from what he could see, [the presence] looked like a farm worker – someone in old fashioned clothes.
“He spent a while talking to it, but after he was finished we never had any more bother.”
Canon Lendrum, who died in 2018, would later write about the experience in his book Confronting the Paranormal: A Christian Perspective”.
MY TAKE ON THE PARANORMAL:
I dont believe that heaven is way up beyond the skies or that hell is way below the earth.
I believe that the physical world we live in is surrounded by the spiritual world and that something as flimsy as a lace curtain divides both worlds.
In that sense, each world can impinge upon the other in various ways and at various times.
In my 45 years as a priest I have had a small number of encounters with the spiritual world.
I have been asked to intervene in a similar way that Canon Lendrum intervened in Pollocks Jewellers.
Let me recall one such occasion for readers.
I had a call from a Presbyterian family in rural County Derry saying that they were troubled with an unwanted presence in their family home. They had asked their minister to come and pray in the house and he refused.
I arrived at the house about 5 pm on a dark winter’s afternoon. As I made my way to the house an elderly man came around a corner and beckoned me to go away. He was dressed in a cap and what looked like a working clothes.
I presumed him to be an unfriendly neighbour unhappy to see a Catholic priest in the area – which was very Protestant.
I rang the doorbell and the young husband let me in. I mentioned the unfriendly neighbour to him and he said: “That’s the presence we are having trouble with”.
We talked for a little while and he and his wife explained the regular unfriendly and aggressive sightings of the man by various family members.
I suggested that I might celebrate Mass in their kitchen which they were very agreeable to. During Mass I went around every room in the house and blessed each room with holy water.
Just after Communion at Mass their eight-year-old son came into the kitchen and said to his father: “Daddy, the bad man is after jumping out the sitting room window”.
We had a cup of tea and I left. In the coming days and weeks the husband telephoned me and told me that they had no trouble and sightings since my visit.
The paranormal is mysterious. There are more things in heaven and earth than we can understand.
I certainly believe in the paranormal and I believe that unsettling energies and appearances can be solved through faith and prayer.
Of course, there are also many very positive and healing spiritual energies that can drift into our lives that can give us a sense of peace and inspiration.
I believe that some people are more sensitive to these energies than others.
As Jesus said:
“Let he who has eyes to see, see”.
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 
170 replies on “SPIRITS AND GHOSTS.”
You said, some time ago, that you were going to write a book on your supernatural experiences; I should very much like to read it, especially since I believe that you, personally (not because of priesthood), are a sensitive, someone with a very special ability to perceive and interact with a parallel, non-physical world. From my own research, you probably are descended from a long line of similarly able people.
I’d bet you have had more such experiences than most other priests and ministers, not just because of your gift, but because of your openness to the existence of this world activates your gift.
Most priests and ministers do not believe deeply enough, or at all, what they preach, and so render themselves blind in this way. Some might be glad of this, but in truth, it renders them useless as well to those in need of help, a need which is sometimes urgent.
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11.22: Magna, guess you’d script the same old, same old. I can guarantee you that If Pat invited priests across the country to share similar stories, he’d fill many volumes. You’re not interested because of your hatred for Catholic Priests; therefore you are closed, biased and bigoted against such experiences which all of us can have, not just priests. It is God who works through us if we are open to him – and many graces of God have been radiated through so many people and through the ministry of priests. You are extremist in your disdain for priests, sadly, and it blinds you to any possibility that anyone just might be an instrument of God’s healing mercy and love. You are, Magna, so full of contradictions that your assessment of Catholic priests, many of whom are very spiritual – and dare I say, Christ-like – is to be taken with a pinch of salt. Thank God for Pat’s ministry: Thank God too for the ministry of all our priests. Hatred, envy and cynicism always blind us to the genuine spiritual and human goodness of others. They certainly blind you.
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9:47 His comment was merely stating that people sense these things because of a natural sensitivity and not because of ordination. It also wasn’t aimed at RC priests because he said ‘priests or ministers’. Your eagerness through hate to leap down Magna’s throat meant you couldn’t even sense the plain meaning of his comment.
Magna, your point is spot on, I would just add that I think those who are sensitive in the way you speak of are quite likely to be drawn to ministry. In which case there would be a correlation without causation.
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Your final sentence @ 9:47 speaks of blindness.
The totality of your comment ably demonstrates it, physically and spiritually.
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Good post, MC.
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10.13: Len, oh Len, are you blind too? Must be..😎😎😎😎😎…
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Two self-congratulatory ripostes from the same source as the offender at 11.22
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Nauseating sychophancy by MC alert.
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This is your favourite spirit.
🥃
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Arent all priests unhappy , spirituallly or otherwise…….one way or another!
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Pat, If a Catholic priest wrote this blog for today, there’d be howls of laughter at the inagination and ridiculousness of such concepts. They’d be told to stop this fantasy world of dreaming and imagination. However, experiences liked what you describe do actually happen. I’ve often sensed a strange, pervading negative energy around me but prayed fervently for peace and stillness. I received what I prayed for. There are many people who came to me to tell me that the prayers of the mass I offered for a sick loved ones seemed to have been answered. God works in and through the openness of those prepared to let him work in them for others. I have witnessed the powerfully held heart prayers of holy men and women and I’ve no doubt their every word was imbued with God’s presence. I turn to their sanctity and prayerfulnesd to intercede for me…I believe God is generous to thosevwhibsincerely believe – ” Ask snd you will receive…knock and the door will be open to you, seek and you will find..” Powerful words against the enemies!! Praise our God of life.
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I am a catholic priest but not Roman.
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Herbert J Thurston SJ wrote a book about these type of experiences, called Ghosts and Poltergeists. I don’t have one but I can’t imagine it was published without an imprimatur.
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Just ordered Thurston. Published in 1953.
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I would be interested to hear your opinion of it Pat. O read it many years ago.
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Poltergeist is German for ‘noisy ghost’ or ‘noisy spirit’, and is therefore the name given to spirits, or ghosts, which cause a certain amount of fear or distress to his or her’s visitor(s).
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“Of course, there are also many very positive and healing spiritual energies that can drift into our lives that can give us a sense of peace and inspiration…” Oh, you mean like Canon Paul Nener? 😂 Lol
… Sorry, I couldn’t resist 😊 x
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What’s your problem with Canon Paul? Did he reject your advances?
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Canon Paul Nener is the one who does not like to be told NO. And anybody who says NO to Canon Nener is at great risk of becoming the object of a vicious smear campaign, possibly heavy and cruelly assisted by his judicial friends– members of the The Athenaeum?
Membership… 🧑⚖️ 😉 🧑⚖️ 😉 🧑⚖️
“Join our diverse membership and enjoy a range of benefits including our “network” of “reciprocal clubs”. 🤢 😈
The Athenaeum Today… 🧑⚖️ 😉 🧑⚖️ 😉
“Relaxed, friendly environment, modern amenities and the most attentive service delivered by the Club’s fabulous staff.” 😉 🧑⚖️ 🧑⚖️
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@10:22 I think I know who you are and I’ve repeatedly advised you to get psychological help. You’re not well!
Would you like me to speak to your nan?
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It’s bad enough that RC priests have stalkers without adding stalkers of Anglican canons to the mix.
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@ 10:20
+ Pat, another very good book by Herbert Thurston SJ is, “The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism”. Worth reading.
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@12:30 pm- Are you actually qualified to to give those kind of diagnosises? I would have thought only a doctor, with the correct credentials (and experience.. ) would be able to certify a person to be unwell, or sorts?
Your claim a person is “Unwell
I believe Mersey Care, aka the Social Services and Probation Services in North West England, are quick to “Diagnose” victims and survivors of clerical abuses. No?
It can be very easy to claim, and almost get away with, that a victim or survivor of clerical abuse is unwell or is psychologically disturbed when you have friends in the Judiciary and Probation Services, Social Services a d Mersey Care North West. . . even in light of factual and unquestionable evidence in substantiation of said abuses.
“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun…! Do you not see it…? I will make a pathway through the wilderness; I will create rivers in the dry wasteland…”
Isaiah 43: 19
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Is the Church right to object to the Púca of Ennistymon?https://www.thejournal.ie/council-ennistymon-puca-status-clare-5434080-May2021/
“Púca, which means spirit or ghost, is primarily a creature of Celtic folklore and was considered a bringer of both good and bad fortune and the Púca were said to be shape-changers, which could take the appearance of horses, cats and dogs.”
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Shape changers? Like Grant the chameleon? 😂🤡🎤
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Occurs; demonic manifestation.
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+Pat, you are perfectly entitled to hold your take on spirits and ghosts. Each to their own. However, what I have spent years doing is trying to hack away at the idiotic and silly notions that have grown up around faith – most certainly within Catholicism, but also in other faiths – because they get in the way and obscure the essential message. Occasionally they might add a little bit of colour and interest, but by and large they have the capacity to become almost a religion in their own right. The notion that the biblical stories, both OT and NT, and the strange goings on that are recounted there, have any real anchoring in the real physical world and the way that the Creator interacts with human beings, is just plain nonsense. Yes, they convey some kind of truth about who we are and what our purpose in this world is, but any self-respecting reader of the scriptures would understand that these are vehicles of myth and story in order to give a sense of a greater truth, but in themselves are simply not real or true. It is the same with many of the mechanistic sacramental theologies of the Church – created to portray a framework that really does not exist, but might just hint at some greater truth, but in themselves are just contrived nonsense. The same goes for all the clap trap that surrounds the Marian apparitions etc. I have to spend so much energy wading through this sentimental, twee, saccharine crap in order to get anywhere near the real truth and message. It’s hard work. I do wish the Church would make it simpler by having a good clear out of this stuff and concentrating on what is important and has real value.
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And what about the unhappiness of people affected or disturbed by these phenomenon?
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Well,, + Pat, I reckon they need help with recognising that there in all likelihood a rational explanation for what they think is happening; or, they would be better served by some psychological / psychiatric / medical intervention, for the cause so often of these sufferings is something to do with the person themselves. However, I don’t see inventing all sorts of so called spiritual and paranormal explanations for it helps anybody. If you are seeing a ghost there is a good reason for it, and with help, care and attention it can be found out.
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Are you ruling out everything paranormal?
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I’m suggesting that there will be an explanation for what is known as the paranormal; perhaps we don’t know it yet. And, if God is involved, then God will be working through his creation, and according to its laws. I don’t have much time for the deus ex machina way of explaining things. There will be a rational, physical, laws of the earth reason for what we think of as the paranormal. That doesn’t rule out it being spiritual or of God.
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But the conception, birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus directly defied all rational and physical laws and reason?
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The word ‘paranormal’ Pat is a contrivance. It is just another way of denoting what we don’t yet know about the natural world. Admittedly, this adds colour and mystery to the humdrum of life, harmless intself, as long as it is not taken seriously.
Who doesn’t love a good ghost story, a time when we can, temporarily, suspend our rationality and take a leap into human imagination?
Your account Pat would make a good diversion at Halloween.
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O ye of little faith.
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Belief in the intercessory power of human pleas to an unseen but all powerful Being is recurrent throughout history. It placated our worrying sense of powerlessness.
Where such pleas are encouraged by and through intermediaries, for example formal religion and its ministers, the random nature of outcomes is ignored, but positive outcomes are joyfully proclaimed as evidence of successful intervention through prayer, sacrifice etc.
There are indeed some individuals who have “superhuman” abilities or qualities, exercised perhaps not in all circumstances, and perhaps not understood by the possessing individual nor witnesses. Such gifted individual’s special abilities continue to provide challenges which scientific discovery is barely scraping the surface of understanding, especially when the exercise of exceptional ability is invariably unreliable and unpredictable.
To ascribe our human lack of understanding exceptional phenomena to some unseen “supernatural ” Being, AKA God, very conveniently fills in for that lack of understanding. We invent the “GOD OF THE GAPS” of our understanding.
The many unanswered prayers are readily ignored when successful outcomes, sometimes seen as “miraculous ” receive so much acclaim. It boosts belief in the whole process: God, prayers, intermediary intercessors/priests. The exceptional is always remembered: the mundane is forgotten.
@10:31 & 11:43. I like your perspectives.
MMM
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+ Pat @ 1148: I’m content to say that the conception of Jesus and his birth and death did happen, quite naturally in the normal way, but with none of the nonsense about the virgin birth stuff. It’s a nice story to get across the message that God cared for the people of Israel. As for the resurrection and ascension, well again, they completely defy the laws of physics, and I think they are a nice story to get over another message from God. But, God does not work outside the laws of his own creation. Please ! And to be honest, any theologian worth his salt these days does not see these things as actual, factual truths. They are story, myth, conveyance, means of getting to a truth. I do giggle at some of the silly stuff taught to us all those years ago ! I mean we could pick apart Real Presence and see where we get !
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@ 9.42. Even the atheist in me recognises the great good sense in your comment. Spirituality has no need for all these man made contrivances, many of which are deigned to cement dependency on religious institutional organisations.
MMM
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Typo@ 10:21, maybe predictive text I missed. “designed to cement”: (not deigned)
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For an atheist you sound very au fait with God talk…?
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@12:39: I wasn’t always one. Cathbot reared; six years in RC seminary. Having seen both sides of “the coin” (yes ‘coin’ not a ‘con’ typo), I rest content.
MMM
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Rest content…? With what…? Who are you trying to convince…?
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I see Mary McAleese is reading her book on BBC Radio 4 this week. On now as I write. All a bit portentous and pretentious. Lots of ‘look at me’ about it.
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I hold no brief for Mary Mcleese, but what is your post but a ‘look at at me’, but don’t look at Mary statement. One cant convincingly take the the mat one is standing on from under one’s own feet!
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Oooohhh, get you, so touchy. What’s upset you today @Bcanavan ?!
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No, it wasn’t, Bp Pat, it was very interesting to listen to.
Just happened to listen to Mary McAleese on BBC Radio 4 reading from her memoir, ‘Here’s the Story’. Episode 1 Ardoyne is at the following link.
Here’s the Story by Mary McAleese – Ep 1 – Ardoyne – BBC Sounds
Presumably, the next episode will be on BBC Radio 4 tomorrow at the same time 10:45 am or on the BBC Iplayer.
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I found it interesting too.
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Here’s the link again.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000wcc3
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A commandment says thou shalt not kill. Mary McAleese voted in favour of abortion and yet seems to think that she is in a position to preach to the church.
After miscarriages, there have been stories of siblings having been joined by their unborn sibling. The siblings didn’t even know about their mother’s miscarriage. The siblings have come into their parents speaking of having played with a child who isn’t there when they have come into the room to look.
The church is right to speak out against abortion but the position is weakened by no ritual or acknowledgement of the unborn child that has passed away through miscarriage.
The garden helping to heal the pain of pregnancy loss. A garden near a Canadian hospital called The Little Spirits Garden is a landscaped garden dedicated to the memory of children lost during pregnancy.
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Seamus you’re trying to have it both ways. you start by saying thou shalt not kill. Even if you accept that this applies to a foetus which couldn’t survive outside the womb without modern medical intervention you then can’t bring up the spirit which can’t be killed as evidence for your position.
You are saying that we are commanded not to kill something which by your own admission can’t be killed!
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10.54
The Roman Catholic Church has traditionally taught a self-contradictory stance on intentional abortion: on the one hand, prohibiting abortion on the ground that human life is sacred; but on the other, clearly showing that it does not itself regard human life as sacred through its historical approval of capital punishment and so-called ‘just war’.
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@12:13, unborn babies pass to the after life because they are life to begin with.
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How many Home Counties listeners (the core Radio 4 audience demographic) would want to listen to an old trout they’ve never heard of opining on a place (Ardoyne and Belfast) that they’d never want to visit?
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Magna is so repetitive. State executions only take place in Muslim and athiest countries and in redneck Proddy states in the US.
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I wouldn’t mind seeing the contents of Mary McAleese’s building society passbooks, stuffed as they are with all her taxpayer funded pensions and whatnot.
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I won’t be listening.
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My great grandmother was from Buncrana and emigrated to England in the early 1930s. On the vigil of the Holy Souls she would leave a saucer of water by the fireplace at night so that the suffering souls in purgatory could wet their tongues and relieve their suffering. Of course in the morning the little water in the saucer had evaporated – but as children we were convinced they had visited during the night.
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Yes! I once told my mother I heard Father Christmas visit. I was a bit confused as a young child because he was swearing and bumping into things. I don’t know how she kept a straight face.
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Thanks for the link.
Very interesting.
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Lots of stuff about spooks and aliens on tv these days. If we believe in Saints ghosts are logical Objective reality does not depend on my belief to exist. Boo t’yall hi
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwCpy_6fshY
Exorcist Father Pat Collins
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+Pat, as regards to ghosts, perhaps you join newly founded exorcism ministry founded by phonsie 😜
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Has + Phonsie an exorcism ministry?
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He would like to exorcise Pat Buckley.
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@ 10.32, given Phonsie’s loss of self-control on the day he tried to have Pat evicted from a church funeral service, I’d say he has enough demons of his own to exorcise without troubling himself about those of any other person.
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@10:42 Lol! Yes very true.
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10.42, right enough! 😁 And it will take more than sips of cold water to shift them.
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Phonsie’s an ass, I know. Ohhh, but a lovable one! The sort whose cheeks you’d want to pinch with indulgent affection. 🙃
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10.38am anon
FYI, see here re phonsie setting up exorcism ministry – https://www.irishcatholic.com/progress-made-in-creating-secret-exorcism-team/
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DG at 7.30, thanks for the link; it’s a hoot and a half!😅
According to Phonsie, ‘they (the deliverance team) are going to houses where people maybe have been involved in some kind of new age thing…and, unfortunately, they’ve opened up a door to an evil force, Satan.’😅😅😅
You literally could not make up this tripe.
If any doors have been opened for Satan to dance through it is in the Roman Catholic Church, where episcopal nodding donkeys, like Phonsie, facilitated the rape and sodomisation of innocent children and endangered other children by deliberately, and as a matter of Canon Law policy, shuffling priest-paedophiles and child rapists.
Phonsie, there’s no need to go Satan-hunting: he’s right there already, at home with all you bishops in the RC Church.😅😅😅😅😅
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At 7.30, exorism ministry by Phonsie? He’s looking for relevance in a widening sea of indifference to the Roman Catholic Church.
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https://www.ireland.anglican.org/news/2811/canon-lendrums-book-on-deliverance
” For many people, inside and outside the Church, the deliverance ministry is at the same time both a mystery and a fascination. Not many, including clergy, know very much about it. That is why it is important that one of the best books written on the subject, by a Church of Ireland priest Canon W. H. Lendrum, has just been re-published. It is called ‘Confronting the Paranormal’ and it deals with the subject in a very balanced, well-informed and readable way. Collins dictionary defines exorcism as ‘the expulsion of evil spirits from a person or place by prayers and religious rites.’ This ministry is still needed in our country today more often than is commonly recognised”
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10:32
An al-round exercising session so…
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At the rate the books are coming today, Pat you could ask for sponsorship from Amazon.
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@12:16pm
Lol ! Now, there’s a good idea, Pat.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64OOBn8g118
Battling Evil: Inside the Mind of a Modern-Day Exorcist | Short Film Showcase
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9:00 pm. An old worn out chestnut.
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When I was a kid the film The Exorcist was virtually on the Index – forbidden and condemned by Cardinal Hume (he also insisted Catholics boycott The Life of Brian, which made us all rush to the cinema). When I eventually put childish ways behind me and watched it I couldn’t understand why it had been outlawed when it was so positive about the ministry of deliverance and exorcism.
Mind you, rarely do you meet a Roman Catholic priest who believes in the supernatural – whether it be benign (angels) or malign (demons). They purport a more sophisticated approach to such things – epilepsy, psychiatry, mental illness etc – despite the Catechism teaching that evil is personified and exists – the clergy poo poo such things meanwhile the devil scoffs and mocks them – for there are two errors to fall into regarding the devil – the first to believe in him excessively, the second (much preferred by the Prince of Darkness) to not believe in him at all.
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Dr. Richard Gallagher, Demonic Possession Expert, Isn’t Trying to Convince You
The author of Demonic Foes talks about exorcisms, possession, and the complicated interplay of science and spirituality.
By Adrienne Westenfeld
Oct 2, 2020
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a34226478/dr-richard-gallagher-demonic-possession-expert-isnt-trying-to-convince-you/
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Hi Pat. I’ve always considered paranormal stories to simply be evidence that many people tell lies. Why else would there be no scientific evidence – especially in the modern world? I’ve never taken you for a liar however, and I’d be very interested to hear more about your County Derry experience, and any interpretation of it.
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https://www.irishcatholic.com/exclusive-excerpt-freedom-from-evil-spirits-by-fr-pat-collins/
Exclusive Excerpt: Freedom from Evil Spirits by Fr Pat Collins
admin April 24, 2020
Freedom From Evil Spirits – Released from Fear, Addiction & The Devil
Fr Pat Collins CM (Columba Books)
Chapter Twenty-One: Overcoming Temptation
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There is something very odd, and perhaps telling, about that tale of haunting. Why would the spook, whom the eight-year-old son described as ‘the bad man’, bother to climb out of a window of the family home when he could, presumably, just have gone through it, or vanished on the spot IF he had been a spirit?
I think ‘the bad man’ was just that: a fully corporeal person who wanted those young folk off the land he coveted.
You were had, Pat.
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Agreed.
This account has all the credibility of a Scooby – Doo paranormal investigation.
You won’t find the truth if you’re not looking for it.
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If it hadn’t been for that pesky Fr Buckley I would have gotten away with it.
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Scooby-Who ? Lol!
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-Doo,_Where_Are_You!
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Bishop Pat. Have you ever fought a vampire? They do exist. Fellow Bishop and blogger Sean Manchester has killed one!
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Ive no experience of that at all.
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Please don’t be cynical about the existence of vampires. I am certain there was a colony of them living on our family farm when we were children. My granny would never go to bed without hanging garlic on the door at night.
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Please don’t be cynical about the existence of vampires. I am certain there was a colony of them living on our family farm when we were children. My granny would never go to bed without hanging garlic on the door at night.
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At 6.49, but garlic won’t stop the Tooth Fairy. And you ain’t seen violence until you’ve crossed the Tooth Fairy.
I’ve the missing teeth to prove it!
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No, I have never fought a vampire. Was too busy tackling the Tooth Fairy.
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Quote:
Like Mar Seraphim, Sean Manchester is also Archbishop of Glastonbury (there’s a Roman Catholic one, too, it’s a crowded place). You may have heard it said that most of the Internet consists of pornography or cat photographs. A good part of the rest of it is phantom blogs and websites set up by Sean Manchester and David Farrant under an assortment of assumed names to slag each other off.http://hearthofmopsus.blogspot.com/2013/08/beyond-fringe.html?m=1
If you bring up the subject of Sean Manchester the arguments will finish at the Second Coming.
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There is NO Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glastonbury. Only two Roman Monks living in the presbytery.
Bishop Sean Manchester is an Old Catholic Bishop and has a thriving exorcism ministry. His belief in vampires might sound far-fetched but he knows (I think this is what Pat is getting at too) that the Spiritual realm is far more complex than we perceive. Bishop Sean being Bishop of the See of Glastonbury is a very deliberate choice, Glastonbury has become swamped with spiritually harmful new-aged cults, crystal shops, and eastern religions. People regularly invoke Lucifer in their prayers, make sacrifices of living animals (quite possibly human sacrifice on occasion), and partake in drugs that serve to dull the intellect and open the partaker up to demonic possession.
There are some good new-aged cults too, which seek to reach out to the angelic realms, although they are often so clueless as to what and who they are drawing energy from that they wouldn’t recognize a demon from an angel.
I had the honor of meeting Bishop Sean a few years ago. He is a man of great prayer and humility, obviously well educated, but rather otherworldly. I got the impression that he was looking through the haze of this world and into the next, always on his guard and in preparation for the Second Coming of Christ. We spoke about the importance of daily confession, daily communion, and devotion to St. Michael the Archangel.
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From your last paragraph, 5.55, ‘Bishop’ Sean isn’t ‘otherworldly’, just a common-or-garden nutter.
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@5:55pm Hi Sean
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Pat, why did that Presbyterian family send for you? They must have had a particular reason for doing so? Did you have a reputation at the time as a ghost buster?
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They had heard of me.
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Yes, but in what context?
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General media.
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But in what context in general media? You must have written SOMETHING that made them think you would be more amenable to their story than their clergyman, or any other clergyman for that matter.
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I don’t know and never asked them.
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And you called yourself a journalist? But then, maybe you weren’t as inquisitive as me.😅
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That’s a queer set up with those two seculars living as monks in the Glastonbury presbytery. They are not EBC monks.
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Gotten away with what, pray tell…
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My dad used to call me Nosey hole, because I was always asking questions lol.
As a kid I was always very inquisitive, I still am 😋 lol x
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Go on you bloody eejits. Tomorrow yous will be talking about ouija boards. How about focusing your time and energy on the real Presence, the Blessed Sacrament and stop all this nonsense.
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So outside the Blessed Sacrament Jesus is… not real? 🤔
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Jeeps-there’s a hornets nest rattled! Lol
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” That would be a theological matter.”
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@12.28 I suggest your identity, not least your supposed DD, is utterly misleading. From an assessment of your previous comments, I conclude that you have as much right to a DD as a cartoon characterisation of Cardinal Burke. You could not identify a theological matter from a bag of crisps. All hail ye, fraudster. All hail ye.
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Dr Hackett, could you expand on your answer, please?
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Jesus, 5.55! Where’s your sense of humor?
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Ray Parker Jr ‘s Ghostbusters Lyric Video
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I’ve seen two ghosts, one in a rented house in Wood Green, the other when I was staying in a hotel in Derbyshire that had been a seminary.
In both cases the ghosts did not speak. I asked them what they wanted and got no reply.
It was an unsettling and unpleasant experience that I have no wish to repeat.
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King Puck’s jockstrap is haunted 👻
It would give ye the willies 😱
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You don’t say…!
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Infested no doubt.
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Undoubtedly.
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Ah, all ye priests here are lily-livered watered down nobodies.
Have a look at a real priest……https://youtu.be/4gi4dmblybA
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For the love of God…..what Mass rock did this young fellow crawl out from under? Who the hell is he?….
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I’m sure his picture has appeared on the previous blog in connection with old mass? At a hospital?
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Who is that little piggy faced priest? Why is he bemoaning the closure of the churches during the pandemic and calling for the Mass rocks to be dusted down. Does he not recall the incident during the Spanish flu when a diocese went ahead with a religious festival and thousands died…
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I would have to say that I totally believe in the paranormal/supernatural. I would also agree that some people seem to be more disposed to developing an interaction or attachment of some kind with it. Having spent a good bit of my adolescence involved in my parish which had a very old church and graveyard adjacent, one would occasionally encounter sounds and movements which could not be accounted for by the creeking of an old building. God is always more and of course a prayer for peaceful rest for those gone on ahead is often the best response.
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I agree.
The Supernatural/ preternatural realm exists while remaining predominantly ‘off radar’.
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If it’s predominantly off radar, then how do you know it exists at all?
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The church triumphant lives in this nerd. What a prat…..When the bishops made the rules look at all that was swept under the carpet now coming to light. Holy Mother Church has behaved as a bitch and needs a slap to keep her in her place.
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6:49pm Study Mystical Theology. See Augustin Poulain ‘ The Graces of Interior Prayer.’. Experience is a great teacher.
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I remember being caught sniggering in one of Monsignor Louis McRaye’s spirituality classes at Oscott. He was speaking on demonic possession and poltergeist activity. He was also the exorcist for the archdiocese of Birmingham and SD at Oscott. He reprimanded me by saying “young man, if you had seen the things I have seen, I can assure you that you would not be sniggering”. Of course I was embarrassed, but had not reason to doubt that such things do happen – although I never experienced anything paranormal in my short priestly ministry.
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I don’t doubt Pat’s interest in the paranormal or that he may have strange, humanly inexplicable experiences. I’ve had moments (in prayer) which are recognizably different from the everyday, but I refer to this as asceticism or mysticism!! Incredible moments of deep awareness of “something other” than normal human experiences, an awareness of being in a different sphere and time and always consoling and spiritual.
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You refer to those prayerful moments as asceticism or mysticism? How grandiloquent of you.
I refer to them as hyper-imagination.
Come down to earth, and sanity.
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Rationalizing to sow doubt.
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Pat, I wonder if you could please clarify a few things about your interesting story?
1. Did the old man speak to you or you to him? How far away was he? Where did he go after gesturing towards you?
2. Did you know in advance that an elderly man was the presence – I presume you spent some time on the phone with the family before visiting them.
3. Why was the son in the sitting room while the mass was being said in the kitchen? Had you already blessed the sitting room?
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Are people sure that these paranormal sighting are not just a case of too many cans or voddie? Or in the case of Maynooth seminarians a pink gin and posh tonic.
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A pink gin and a posh tonic? A posh slimline tonic, don’t you mean, dear? Lol 😂 x
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Speaking of things that go Bump in the night… has anybody visited the tower block of flats just off Liverpool Road, Liverpool L5?
There are two towers, the tower the in question is the West tower, the one closest to and facing the Mersey.
Mid to upper floors! A guy called Grant frequents this flat every once and n a while — apparently this Grant guy likes to wear women’s stockings and is into lycra and that sort of thing. He is into foot fetishism, too.
Apparently, they take drugs and “misbehave” in this flat, on occasion.
As do other men who have made particular promises before the community…
One of the towers, of the two, on Jason Street, off off Nethefield Road, is called CANDIA HEIGHTS.
Wuthering Heights ( Not Candia Heights ) – Kate Bush
. https://youtu.be/Fk-4lXLM34g
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Why am I not surprised if its the same Grant I am thinking of.
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https://archive.org/details/ghosts-and-poltergeists/page/n1/mode/2up
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Thank you.
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Excellent @ 5:30pm! Where you find that?
Great and thanks x
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archive.org Open account for free. 😎
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Stunner!
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In case anyone wishes Trollope wrote more books you may be interested in how things are kicking off in the Anglican diocese of Winchester, culminating in the bishop taking six weeks out.
https://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/winchester-rebels-against-its-diocesan-bishop/
RCs may feel envy at the way the diocese isn’t taking the bishop’s shit any more.
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I believe that the so-called ‘paranormal’ exists because many people prefer it to exist. They love the frisson of ‘mystery’, and the risk of possible harm to themselves, however remote they make it appear to themselves. It’s one of the reasons thst Christianity has survived for so long, and a major reason why the expansion of scientific knowledge, in all centuries, has faced obstacles.
You may have noticed that Pat failed to answer any of the legitimate questions about his alleged paranormal experience in Co Londonderry. This is the usual practice of religionists: they either retreat into silence, or fish for a platitude-for-the-moment.
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Lol he answered the questions perfectly sensibly, for example he knew the couple had heard of him but didn’t know how. He was being polite to the stupid questions that were asked him, since the motivation was clearly to keep on asking until he didn’t know.
He also wasn’t acting in a controlled situation so the evidential status of what he is saying is purely anecdotal and anyone who tries to get it to withstand further examination doesn’t understand the nature of evidence.
In an empirical scientific model anecdotal evidence does of course have a place but is not considered to provide the higher evidence of RCTs etc.
Hey Pat, what colour socks did you have on? 😂
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At 8.37, you didn’t read Pat properly. He DID know how the Presbyterian couple in County Londonderry had heard of him: at 12.44, in response to ‘Nosey Bastard’, Pat indicated that they had heard of him in the context of ‘general media’.
But Pat ducked the awkward question asked by ‘God Is A Good Guy’ at 11.16: ‘Why would the spook…bother to climb out of a window of the family home when he could, presumably, have just gone through it, or vanished on the spot, IF he had been a spirit?’
This isn’t the only awkward question Pat ducked.
You didn’t do your homework carefully, did you?
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Lol he was being polite and didn’t answer the idiotic question about the window. I clearly understood that he was merely describing and didn’t have an answer to the question.
Homework may not be my forte but at least I can read.
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Tyler could u do my kitchen?
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8.21: MAGNA CARTA getting at Pat. Very definitely. You are not good at disguising your deviousness, Margaret!!
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Hi Pat,
Today’s post and discussion are by far the most interesting on the blog for a long time. WELL DONE and thank you. Is there any chance on a part 2 for tomorrow, perhaps exploring your opinions on demonic possession, vampires and the new age?
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Oi! You didn’t mention the Tooth Fairy. Watch yerself. Thon one doesn’t like being ignored.
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I was just about to ask the same thing!
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That atmospheric photo of Canon Lendrum, obviously a marketing ploy to sell his book to the hungry gullible.
Bet he enjoyed the minor celebrity status: his fifteen minutes of fame.
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A lady in my village always used to see ghosts. She read tea leaves as well to predict the future. She predicted the world was going to end in 2000 and had us all in nerves. It didn’t. She was that upset and embarrassed that she never drank tea again. Just decaf coffee all these long yesrs, God love her. She still sees the ghosts though and she’s great craic at a party
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Don’t underestimate the second sight!
I wouldn’t be surprised if Pat had it! Those who are closest to the Lord often do!
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Hiya Tyler. Its a strange world out there. Pat tell us more about your experiences of ghosts and vampires. It’s really interesting
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I never underestimate the power of human gullibility, and of overactive imagination.
I have a neighbour who has been told she has second sight, and she clearly enjoys the feeling. She told me she could read tea leaves, and that she could find lost objects telepathically. So I give her a test. I hid my mobile phone after she had a feel of it; she GUESSED its location three times, and three times got it wrong.
Unfortunately for the Irish, they were more prone than most to swallow this kind of superstitious nonsense; it is why, I’m convinced, the Roman Catholic Church had such a stranglehold on people here and got away with so much cowardly, vicious, and perverted crime.
The Irish are growing up, mostly free of the baleful influence of priests. And this, surely, is a good thing, not least for vulnerable young boys.
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Heyyy Peggy,
I was brought up Catholic but rejected that to become a Spiritualist. I think reading this blog helped me come to the conclusion that the rigid Christian spirituality doesn’t explain the spiritual realm. So, I believe I owe a lot to Pat and his ministry because he helped me reject The Christian God, Jesus, Mary and the like.
There is a whole ocean of life in the spiritual realm that we don’t understand, nor even try to investigate.
I haven’t come across any Vampires yet, but I have become convinced that they walk among us… more often than not they aren’t sanguine vampires who feed on blood (although they do exist) but rather psychic vampires who feed off people’s souls, emotions, karma and life-force.
Ghosts, I have had plenty of experience of and I’m currently learning how to act as a medium. It is a skill that we can all tap in to, it’s not simply a gift that some have and some don’t. We all have it.
Right now I’m looking at my tarot cards while looking at a picture of Pat. I’m trying to tune into his guardian angel to help him.
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@7:24pm is me. I forgot to type my name.
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You’re away with the friggin’ fairies, Tyler, like all those uncritical enough to swallow untested, abstract, religious-sounding balderdash.
Just make sure it isn’t the Tooth Fairy you’ve teamed up with on your Alice-in-Dunderland adventure to find yourself by losing your sanity.
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@7:32pm 😂😂😂😂😂
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Does Keith Simpson, et al, still play the organ at St. John the Baptisté in TueBrook of Liverpool?
Keith Simpson used to own Laser School Wear, London Road, Liverpool.
Had Keith been sent to prison for, er, well…?
However, after he was convincted, wasn’t he still organist at a few Anglican parishes?
Funny he was able to own a kids’ school clothes shop, is t it? Well, with the judiciary of Liverpool it’s not at all that surprising.
could it be that Liverpool’s Courts must be a haven for, well, er, that kind of offender?
Keith has a flat on the Isle of Man, owns a little two seater aeroplane!
Likes to fly up above and around Liverpool, dies Keith, every now and again.
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You could be a ‘seer’ as they call them in Scotland, Bp Pat, and gifted with ‘the sight’. Will Fr Sugar Ray win Eurovision 2022? I wonder.
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Rab C. Nesbitt was a seer.
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Only while consuming Jack Daniels.
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7.24: I’m sure Pat is not happy that you attribute your Spiritualist view of life to him while rejecting the Christian trurhs and realities of God, Jesus and The Blessed Virgin Mary. My Christian faith and Catholic upbringing have brought me into the most incredible inner searching for life truths and have enhanced my spiritual hunger and thirst. The Catholic tradition has a myriad of wonderful spiritual traditions. You haven’t searched or discovered sufficiently. Catholic spiritual devotions, paradigms of prayer, thought and teachings are rich in nourishment and inspiration from the time of Christ till now, as are philosophy, psychology, art and music, much of these being inspired by Christian beliefs. Whose mind couldn’t be expanded with this richness of learning, truths and beauty?
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10.03, you sound a very authoratative source, and I’m glad I found you.
Master, if as you say Catholic teaching is so rich in nourishment and inspiration from the time of JC himself, then it can answer a very simple question: if it really isn’t that God does not give a damn about humanity, why does he allow random human suffering?
I’m sure a massive spiritual intelligence like yours can answer this.
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10.58: Thanks for the compliment. But I am humble not to accept such as they bring pride which is a huge barrier to spiritual growth. I am not a guru or a saint but I have deep human searchings going on all the time. Also, I’m not sure what question you intended to ask! My answer to human suffering is – respond to it with kindness, love, compassion and care. Do whatever good we can do, as Jesus ccommands. We all need to be good Samaritans. Too many walk by on the other side of the road. We should allow God to work through our hearts, through our human responses, through our actions for the well being of others. I thought this might be self evident – spiritualist!!
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Anyone whose mind isn’t limited by your invitation to imitate you.
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Father Ray 2022 Good Luck.
Like everything else the Church is behind times.
Why do Catholic Priests wear wedding bands in Ireland are they frightened of the LADies 🙂
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Another vintage day on the blog.
But the cathbots fail to notice that any other unproved rubbish sounds just like their unproved rubbish, and only takes in the gullible.
You could be forgiven for thinking they’re projecting their own scam on the spiritualists.
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