The Evangelium Project is hosting a Halloween-themed educational event for young Catholics in Dublin on October 8th.
Topics to be discussed at the half-day event include the Church’s deliverance ministry, Purgatory and Heaven.
In recent years, Evangelium Ireland has become known for its annual apologetics conferences for 18-40 year-olds, with the most recent conference in March attracting a record crowd of 130 attendees.
The ‘Towards Halloween – Souls, Saints and so much more’ event marks a new departure for Evangelium as it will look at topics relating to Halloween from a Catholic perspective.
Leading speakers scheduled to speak include Fr. Brian McKevitt and Fr. Donncha Ó hAodha, who will be speaking on Heaven and Purgatory, respectively.
Fr. Pat Collins, whose work in deliverance ministry has resulted in extensive media coverage in recent years, will be giving a talk on ‘Deliverance and Spiritual Freedom.’
Speaking in advance of the event, Fr. Collins said that there has been a marked increase in the number of people experiencing difficulties caused by evil spirits.
Cases vary significantly, he said, between those classed as oppression (where a person can experience physical harm), obsession (where evil spirits attack a person’s soul), and infestation (where a specific space is targeted by the malevolent entity).
While cautioning that the vast majority of cases of potential demonic possession are in fact explainable due to psychological issues, Fr. Collins said that Ireland’s drift away from religious faith was leading to more people experiencing problems of this nature.
Very few trained exorcists have been appointed by the Church authorities, and Fr. Collins said “it is a source of scandal that more is not being done in the Church to protect against this.” He added that exorcists in other countries have strongly suggested that the problem is becoming more serious across the West, but he also insisted that there is always hope for those afflicted.
“There is only one name in Heaven or Earth that can get rid of this, and His name is Jesus Christ,” Fr. Collins said.
The ‘Towards Halloween’ event will take place in St. Teresa’s Church in Clarendon Street in Dublin city centre on Saturday October 8th. Due to capacity constraints, attendees are asked to book well in advance; tickets are available for €15 and can be purchased on Eventbrite here.