Even before the first month of 2021 has ended, it’s become abundantly clear that anybody hoping that the tumult surrounding the 2020 Presidential Election would end with the year itself has been profoundly disappointed.
But while some Americans expressed concern the Trump Campaign’s baseless claims that he lost due to widespread voter fraud would undermine public faith in American democracy last year, it seems that the nation’s cultural institutions saw that worry confirmed when intruders clad in Trump paraphernalia stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
And in the weeks since, both Donald Trump and his allies have started facing consequences for what public officials and private organizations alike have identified as a role in inciting the violence.
And it’s in this climate that we find a priest facing some consequences of his own after an unusual exorcism prayer.
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In early January, Father John Zuhlsdorf led a series of exorcism prayers in Madison, Wisconsin.
In the footage of one of them taken on January 3, he stated that he had the permission of the bishop of the Diocese of Madison to conduct this prayer and further stressed that exorcism prayers should only be done by priests.
After an introduction outlining the purpose for this exorcism, he proceeded to recite a lengthy prayer in Latin.
According to WKOW27 , Zuhlsdorf is the president of the Tridentine Mass Society of Madison, a private group dedicated to preserving the Latin Mass.
But while the bishop in question confirmed that this permission had been granted, it wasn’t for the purpose that Zuhlsdorf had in mind.
As Zuhlsdorf states in the footage, he had intended the prayer to “keep all demonic influence away from all people, places, and things having to do with the certification of the vote.”
In this introduction, he was vague about his apparent concerns for the vote certification, saying “we have to have confidence in our election process and election integrity.”
However, it seems that Zuhlsdorf was more explicit in a separate exorcism prayer on January 5 that has since been deleted from YouTube.
Before this deletion occurred, the footage was the subject of a blog post by Friendly Atheist contributor Val Wilde.
This post quoted Zuhlsdorf as saying, “I think it’s amply clear, there’s enough evidence to demonstrate that there was fraud in some places, and people had to commit that fraud. It didn’t happen by itself. It seems to have been well-organized. I am deeply concerned that anybody who was involved in this has put their soul in terrible mortal peril.”
In addition to repeating claims that evidence exists of widespread voter fraud without actually providing any, Zuhlsdorf also suggested there was demonic influence over the election results.
In this capacity, he was quoted by the Friendly Atheist post as saying, “The devil is a very good tempter and can prompt people to do things that are wrong, including lie. And we don’t want any lying having to do with the certification of the vote, because we need to have integrity at our elections so we can believe with confidence in the results of our elections.”
The context for this instance of Zuhlsdorf’s recent exorcism prayers was likely the catalyst in the decision that saw him leave the Diocese of Madison, but the issues cited by the bishop were present in both of the recitations I’ve mentioned.
According to Bishop Donald Hying of the Madison Catholic Diocese, Zuhlsdorf did not have permission to conduct exorcisms related to “partisan political activity.”
As the Lincoln Journal Star reported , he was instead granted approval for an exorcism prayer several months prior “for the intention of alleviation from the scourge of the coronavirus pandemic.”
Another issue concerned what — and in this case, who — Zuhlsdorf was seeking to exorcise.
According to the Lincoln Journal Star , Hying had granted Zuhlsdorf permission to conduct his exorcism on “a place, locality or things” but not on any people.
As a result of the fallout from these exorcisms, the diocese said they and Zuhlsdorf reached a “mutual decision” to part ways.
As the diocese said in a statement, “The Reverend Zuhlsdorf, who is in good canonical standing, will relocate from the Diocese of Madison to pursue other opportunities. The Bishop of Madison is grateful to the Reverend Zuhlsdorf for his faithful support of the diocese’s seminarians and priests, thanks him for his many years of steadfast ministry serving the diocese, and wishes him the best in his future endeavors.”
They also stated that he was not a priest of the parish nor an employee of the diocese, but rather allowed to conduct sermons there in his capacity as president of the Tridentine Mass Society of Madison.
For his part, Zuhlsdorf wrote a blog post of his own that gave the impression that he was simply leaving the diocese to pursue his 10-year-plan. Although his post mentioned neither the sermons nor Hying, it does contain a screed about what he perceives as “Catholic Antifa.”
