A Catholic Controversy

Catholic visitors to this site, prepare for some controversy! (What's life without a bit of controversy, I suppose?)

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops banned Reiki last year for its adherents, shocking many of your fellow Roman Catholics, especially the countless nuns offering Reiki to the suffering. I'm not Catholic, but I am a Christian, and I thought I should mention my take on this.

I also mention this issue for the many Roman Catholics in the United States who aren't aware of the ban, as I wouldn't want to interfere with the practice of anyone's faith.

First, I thank and applaud the National Catholic Reporter for including the views of Catholic Reiki practitioners who disagree with the ban. As Catholics, they're more qualified to discuss the ban than myself, and some of their articles can be read at:

(I also recommend that Christians of any branch of the faith with concerns about Reiki explore the Reiki For Christians website).

I'm sure you're wondering why the bishops have an issue with Reiki. This excerpt from their statement sums it up: "Neither the Scriptures nor the Christian tradition as a whole speak of the natural world as based on 'universal life energy' that is subject to manipulation by the natural human power of thought and will."

I think this is a matter of semantics. "Universal energy" is to my mind a synonym for divinity, used by Eastern cultures which have a different cultural concept of God. The bishop's concern that God is not an energy to be manipulated ignores that Jesus encouraged us to ask for gifts from our Father in heaven. Is that not in at least some sense a 'human manipulation' of God? This is the same spirit in which Reiki practitioners work with universal energy.

In any event, the bishops have not made any statements about other Eastern healing modalities like acupuncture, which work on the same principle of balancing universal healing energy. Shouldn't they be banned as well?

I'd also like to point out that energy was involved in Jesus' healing ministry, according to Jesus himself. See Luke, Chapter 8: Then Jesus said, "Who touched me?" All the people said they had not touched Jesus. Peter said, "Master, the people are all around you and are pushing against you." But Jesus said, "Someone touched me! I felt power go out from me."

You might also recall that Jesus' disciples once came to him complaining about someone who was casting out demons, but who was not one of them. Jesus told them not to stop him, because anyone "who is not against us is for us". I see this as a parallel to the issue at hand, of healing coming from a source that seems foreign to believers. Reiki is certainly not against Catholicism or any branch of Christianity. I really think this is a matter of superficial differences in terminology versus the essence of the matter.

Of course, all Christians, Catholic and otherwise, need to decide for themselves whether the concepts of God and 'universal energy' can be reconciled. Judging Reiki by its fruits seems a scriptural approach to me.

 
 

For more about Reiki

For more introductory information about Reiki healing, especially regarding Reiki work with animals, I recommend perusing the books to the right.