Women hear how to battle evil

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

WEBSTER – Be who you are.
Employ “spiritual Drano” and “smashmouth Catholicism.”
“Do whatever he tells you.”
These were among ways participants in the Worcester Catholic Women’s Conference were urged to combat evil.
It was Sept. 11, 20 years after terrorist attacks on the United States killed nearly 3,000 people. Conference participants were asked to sing “America the Beautiful” in recognition of the anniversary and to express love for God and country.
But speakers focused on more current concerns and offered recipes for fighting evil. The conference theme, “Joan up with the armor of God,” paid tribute to a woman involved in battles – St. Joan of Arc.
“I was just very pleased – from the opening (with) the Blessed Sacrament, to the Mass,” Corinn Dahm, one of the organizers, said. She estimated that there were about 360 participants and 25 vendors’ tables.
Bishop McManus opened the conference, held at St. Joseph Elementary School, with adoration and praying of the rosary, and celebrated the closing Mass at St. Joseph Basilica.
In between, there were talks, some singing and dancing and opportunities for talking with others and going to confession.
Bishop William Byrne

Bishop William Byrne, bishop of Springfield, painted a picture of confession with images. He also praised his sister, Sister Deirdre Byrne, superior of the D.C. Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts community, who spoke before him.
To those who might say they don’t need the sacrament of reconciliation, because they didn’t kill anyone, the bishop responded, “That’s your criteria for sin – to be a murderer?”
We might think God stares at our imperfections, but it’s the Evil One who wants us to feel inadequate, he said; God sees our potential.
“Your sin is who you are not,” Bishop Byrne said. It’s a decision not to be a daughter of God. Two people go into confession – “me and not-me.” Only the former comes out.
Penitents might confess sins of the flesh, but St. Thomas Aquinas said sins of the spirit are worse, the bishop said.
The bishop then offered an idea for an examination of conscience. He said he met Mother Teresa when she was signing clerics’ breviaries. She told him, “Don’t get in God’s way.”
Bishop Byrne suggested that listeners ask themselves at night, “Where did I get in God’s way today?” They might also ask, “Where will I be a conduit of his grace in the world?”
“We are like pipes,” but when a pipe clogs up, water won’t flow through it, the bishop said. “Confession … is … spiritual Drano.… I welcome you to confession, and we’ll see” – afterwards – “just the you that God knows you can be.” 
Jesse Romero

Speaker Jesse Romero, a retired Los Angeles deputy sheriff and now an evangelist, spoke of other ways to combat evil.
He told of being on an exorcism team with his wife. Once priests saw no results after praying the rite of exorcism three times over a woman whose father had consecrated her to Satan when she was a baby. They decided to pray the rosary in Latin. The woman, whose body had become inflated and whose eyes had shown no pupils for three hours, was freed within about a minute, he said.
When the priests asked this simple woman why the demons left her, she replied, “They didn’t like that last prayer.”
God picks holy women to crush the head of evil, Mr. Romero said. He referred to Genesis 3:15 about Eve’s offspring striking the serpent and he told of Old Testament females, prefiguring Mary, who killed wicked leaders.
Mr. Romero likened praying the rosary to athletes doing everything to win.
“You can’t be … spiritually flabby,” he said. “Me and my wife pray the rosary every day.” When not feeling like it, “I smash through it … I know it causes pain to the diabolical.”  He termed this “smashmouth Catholicism,” from smashmouth football that is aggressive toward opponents to get a touchdown.
Mary got her power at the foot of the cross, offering her Son to the Father, Mr. Romero said. He said God uses her to humiliate demons, who look down on human beings.
“The devil was God’s masterpiece” but lost all through pride and envy, he said. Lucifer envies Mary; everything we pray about her was once directed at him. He was full of grace and blessed.
Besides praying the rosary, or just some Hail Marys, Mr. Romero told of other ways Catholics have found to drive away demons: using holy water, reading Scripture and making the sign of the cross.
Mary Rice Hasson

“We’re in a post-Christian culture; we’ve never been here before,” Mary Rice Hasson said in her talk, “What Can One Woman Do?” She is director of the Catholic Women’s Forum of professional women, and is the Kate O’Beirne Fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
“When we see the world as it is … we can map the way,” she said. She spoke of a decline in moral values and the practice of religion.
The Church receives doctrines from God; they’re not arbitrary restrictions, she said.
“He loves us,” she said. “Our dignity comes from being created in the image and likeness of God.” She spoke of gender ideology viewing one’s body as one’s feelings and said, “This is the age of sin against God the creator.”
“What does it mean to be a woman?” she asked. “Our bodies are uniquely designed with a spiritual message … with room for another.” She spoke of love as being willing to lay down one’s life for another person.
“We’re all called to spiritual motherhood,” to bring dignity to the conjugal life and ensure the moral dimension of culture, she said.
“Be the woman God created you to be” and “do whatever he tells you,” she said.
She told of a eucharistic minister to nursing homes who brought “countless people back to the Lord.”
“The love of one woman can save souls,” she said.
She said scary things were heard at the conference: “The devil’s real, evil’s real. Can I handle this?”
Her answer is, “Yes, you can.… Put our eyes on the Lord.… He is ready and waiting to do great things for you.”