Catholic Bishops Denounce Reiki
On March 26, 2009 the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a formal document denouncing the use of Reiki by all Catholics. The report, entitled "Guidelines for Evaluating Reiki as an Alternative Therapy," states that "Reiki lacks scientific credibility" and that Reiki therapy "finds no support either in the findings of natural science or in Christian beliefs." It further states that "…a Catholic who puts his or her trust in Reiki would be operating in the realm of superstition, the no-man's-land that is neither faith nor science." The guidelines state, "Superstition corrupts one's worship of God by turning one's religious feeling and practice in a false direction." The Bishops recommend, "Since Reiki therapy is not compatible with either Christian teaching or scientific evidence, it would be inappropriate for Catholic institutions, such as Catholic health care facilities and retreat centers, or persons representing the Church, such as Catholic chaplains, to promote or provide support for Reiki therapy." The full document can be found at www.usccb.org/dpp/doctrine.htm.
When I heard about this pronouncement made by the Catholic Church, I was initially saddened. It was clear to me that the people who wrote it were coming from a place of fear and misunderstanding. Reiki is not a religion and is not in opposition to the Catholic Church. The energy that we channel as Reiki practitioners is pure God consciousness and is available to everyone. As I sat in ghasso position with this information in my consciousness, I realized that Reiki healing is being called for in this situation. Since that time, I have been ending Reiki to the situation, and to the Catholic Church for their highest healing. My goal is that we will all be able to transcend our differences and realize that we are all One, which is the basis of all religious thought. What do you think? I invite you to post a comment to this article.
Blessings,
Mary
Update 5/18/09
Today William Lee Rand of the International Center for Reiki Training (www.Reiki.org) issued a response to the Catholic Bishops' statement on Reiki. You can read it at http://www.reiki.org/reikinews/ResponseBishopsStatement.html. It is well written and very informative. If you have an interest in this topic, I suggest you check it out.
Blessings,
Mary
When I heard about this pronouncement made by the Catholic Church, I was initially saddened. It was clear to me that the people who wrote it were coming from a place of fear and misunderstanding. Reiki is not a religion and is not in opposition to the Catholic Church. The energy that we channel as Reiki practitioners is pure God consciousness and is available to everyone. As I sat in ghasso position with this information in my consciousness, I realized that Reiki healing is being called for in this situation. Since that time, I have been ending Reiki to the situation, and to the Catholic Church for their highest healing. My goal is that we will all be able to transcend our differences and realize that we are all One, which is the basis of all religious thought. What do you think? I invite you to post a comment to this article.
Blessings,
Mary
Update 5/18/09
Today William Lee Rand of the International Center for Reiki Training (www.Reiki.org) issued a response to the Catholic Bishops' statement on Reiki. You can read it at http://www.reiki.org/reikinews/ResponseBishopsStatement.html. It is well written and very informative. If you have an interest in this topic, I suggest you check it out.
Blessings,
Mary
Posted by Mary Riposo at 4/18/2009 10:40 AM 
Categories: Reiki
Tags: Reiki Catholic bishops denounce religion
Categories: Reiki
Tags: Reiki Catholic bishops denounce religion
Re the Catholic Bishops condemnation of the practices of REIKI. It is apparent that the Bishops did little to fully examine the benefits of what REIKI has done in this mixed-up world. Once again these Bishops, like the Vatican during WW2, are in a state of denial when it comes to hands-on Reiki healing. Christ himself used hands-on healing which isthought to be Reiki he learned in hisundocumented travels to India.How can anyone or any religion deny the miracle benefits which Dr USUI gave to the modern world with unrestricted LOVEand devotion?Bill PetersonManlius, NY
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Hi Bill,
I couldn't agree with you more. I firmly believe that this issue is coming up now to give us an opportunity to see it clearly, and ultimately, to heal the rift that exists between people. We can no longer afford to live in a state of duality, but must come together as one community.
Blessings,
Mary
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I agree with you Mary that we need to send our love and Healing intentions to the Roman Catholic Church as this is what unites us as One. That's a wonderful attitude you have!
I was a religious in the R.C. Church for many years and I know firsthand that it won't be with arguments that we can show them what Reiki or any other energy Healing modality is all about...
Personally, I'm researching the Net, trying to find a good, well researched, article or book that scrutinizes the R.C. Church stance on energy Healing and would help me reassure my clients (Healing Touch) and myself that energy healing is NOT contrary to the Christian Faith.
I see much healing happening, with the help of energy healing modalities. So I would say that we know the value of a tree by the fruits it gives us... and being heart centered (compassionate) is one of the main characteristics of the Healer...
If there's something that can be negative, it's that those who are practicing catholics will be "confused" about some of the doctrines they have learned and the church's view of what a human being is in relation to God, in relation to death, to the afterlife, in relation to healing, etc. The R.C. Church is very conservative and doesn't give much, if any, credibility to anything that's New Age...
To conclude, I wouldn't spend any time trying to make the bishops understand, because they have a whole different point of view and different point of references, and, I must admit, that the R.C. church thinks that it is the Universal church, so we aren't on an equal level...
Let's heal the situation by sending the Pope and all the religious leaders our compassion and love, in whatever way we can or feel inspired to.
Alain
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Hi Alain,
I couldn't agree more. I think our time would be best spent helping our clients who are ambivalent understand Reiki a bit better. I would send you to a website that has helped me to explain Reiki to my Christian clients. It is www.ChristianReiki.org. It's a great little website dedicated to just what you're talking about. Check it out- some of the articles may be just what you're looking for.
Blessings,
Mary
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I think Christians can practice healing work without contridiction. Many people don't understand intellectually how to reconcile their Christian beliefs with and energy healing technique like Reiki. But it's actually quite easy. I'm actually developing a whole course of study around this issue:
http://www.ChristianEnergyHealing.com
Blessings to you all,
---Michael
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Hi Michael,
I'm so glad you're doing this! I just checked out your site and I would recommend that all of my clients/readers visit as well. I for one can't wait to see your course when it is complete. I'll definitely refer people. Thanks again- this is just what we need!
Blessings,
Mary
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Hilarious, the Catholic religion talking about "superstition" and about a lack of scientific evidence. Pot. Kettle. Black.
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Hi Michael,
I know!!! Pamela Miles, Reiki Master Teacher, recently wrote a post on her website www.reikiinmedicine.org
on this topic. She writes, "Bishops' Syndrome is sweeping the Reiki community. Perhaps you or someone you know has been infected by it.
This unfortunate malaise is marked by the following symptoms, each of which develops quickly into the next:
All the above symptoms were first evidenced by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCC
, whose Committee on Doctrine issued a statement last month with this conclusion:
"Since Reiki therapy is not compatible with either Christian teaching or scientific evidence, it would be inappropriate for Catholic institutions, such as Catholic health care facilities and retreat centers, or persons representing the Church, such as Catholic chaplains, to promote or to provide support for Reiki therapy."
WHAT'S A REIKI PRACTITIONER TO DO?
I propose seeing this apparent obstacle as a call to arms--or hands--and creating a Bishops Relief Effort--a community-based effort to relieve the suffering related to Bishops Syndrome.
A comment in the bishops' statement speaks to all of us:
"While sometimes people fall into superstition through ignorance, it is the responsibility of all who teach in the name of the Church to eliminate such ignorance as much as possible."
Those of us who teach in the name of anything--church or Reiki--have the responsibility to eliminate our own ignorance before we set out to eliminate that of others. The bishops failed to do this, therefore their statement is misguided. If Reiki practitioners can avoid making the same mistake, we can capitalize on the bishops' error.
What if each of us who practice Reiki committed ourselves to eliminating ignorance about our practice? We could start by examining the accuracy of the "facts" we share about Reiki, and evaluating the skill and clarity with which we represent our practice to the public.
THEY USED OUR OWN WORDS AGAINST REIKI
The bishops' statement was built from information that has been circulated about Reiki by the Reiki community itself. Many of the rebuttals to the bishops' statement repeat the inaccuracies seen in the Catholic document. This doesn't make for an effective counter-campaign, does it?
Rather than waste time in outrage, we can accept that it was just a matter of time before something like this happened. In fact, this is evidence of the rapidly growing popularity of Reiki practice, an uneducated power response to how deeply Reiki has already been embraced by mainstream health care. We can use this to move forward."
Pamela suggests that we construct reasonable arguments to contain this influence. William Lee Rand hs done just that. He has posted a thoughtful response on his website www.Reiki.org. You can find the full text at the following address: http://www.reiki.org/reikinews/ResponseBishopsStatement.html.
I am suggesting that Reiki practitioners read what the leaders in our field are saying, and carefully consider yur responses to your clients and the public. I would love to hear what you all have to say on this topic. Please post your thoughts to this blog.
Blessings,
Mary
www.IntegratedEnergyHealing.com
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The Roman Catholic Bishops are at it again; denouncing Reiki as idolatry, witchcraft, anti-Religious, or whatever their simplistic minds can drum up.
The history of the Roman Catholic church
has always found a way to "denounce"
something. In this day and age they
continue. I am fed up with it and I too
denounce what they have chosen to "Pick-
on" today!
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Hi Bill,
I agree. The church has historically found a way to "denounce" something. The problem is that people who don't listen to their internal guidance will blindly follow those who proclaim that they know the answer. Reiki teaches that we need only look within to find all that we need. As we move closer to 2012, we will all have opportunities to look at how we view things and release what no longer serves. This is part of that process. Thanks for making the point!
Blessings,
Mary
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Mary here is a bit of word play:
Roman Bishops are at it again,
Claiming practice of Reiki healing's a sin,
If they ever understand "higher consciousness",
They will find Reiki transcends their chagrin.
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Dear Mary
My feelings are similar, I became sad because my mother
church is going blind I hope that Reiki could to heal
her for things that she does not want to see. The Christ's message was
clear and you can give love through Reiki practice.
"Las personas más difíciles de amar son aquellas que más amor necesitan".
With light and love
Namashte
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Dear Miguel,
What beautiful words; I love the way you use personification in reference to the church. How lovely. I agree that love is the answer and that Reiki is the vehicle!
Blessings to you,
Mary
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As in everything else, what matters is the "intention" . As Christ helped others through on-hands healing, His intention was to promote health and relief of pain & suffering. How any religion anywhere would denounce pure intention of another to relieve another person's suffering is outlandish. This denouncement by the church is an insult to the healing abilities of all humanity everywhere.
All this does is promotes fear and disempowers human beings from being the great healing individuals that we truly are. Ask and you shall recieve God's Love to work through us. Mind, Body (hands too!) and Spirit. I'm sad to learn the church is closed to a practice that Jesus, himself, endorsed.
Great Peace & Many Blessings to All
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Hi Carla,
I couldn't agree with you more. It doesn't make sense. In my opinion, true and deep healing is being called for, as it is with so many of our institutions. I continue to send Reiki to the church and its members and hold them up to the light for their highest healing.
Blessings,
Mary
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This comment is surely right on the money & I could't agree more!
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Just why is the Roman church so adamant in destroying something as sacred as Reiki healing? They did the same to many sacred pracrices in the "Dark Ages" & they continue today. Reiki transcends religion!
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Hi Bill,
I love that- Reiki transcends religion! So true; the spirit of Reiki is oneness; nonduality. The church has always had that duality thing going on and now is the time to heal that limiting belief, don't you think?
Blessings,
Mary
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Yes, it is time the Reiki world-wide community took a stand against these
hypocrititical comments by those who
practice blind judgement!
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