In part 2 of the interviews from Ignited by Truth, we hear the rest of the interview with Melissa Ohden, a survivor of a saline abortion. In this show, Melissa talks about how finding out about the circumstances of her birth devastated her initially until she decided to find her birth families and her medical records. She went to college and then graduate school, and after searching for ten years, she found her birth certificate and the names of her parents, and she became Catholic. But what happened next to her proved to be almost as difficult as finding out that she had been aborted.
My second interview is with Adam Blai, an expert on demonology and exorcisms, who works for the Diocese of Pittsburgh as the Director of the Office for Institutional Ministries. He describes the topics of possession, obsession, and demonic infestation, what qualities the Church looks for in priests training to do exorcisms, and how we can all avoid the demonic.
Finally, my last interview for the 2015 Ignited by Truth is with Mother Mary Assumpta Long, Prioress General and one of four founding members of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Mother speaks about her order, its mission, its devotion to intense prayer and to education, and how suffering should be understood in our modern day life.
Adam BlaiAdam Blai (Bly) is a Church decreed expert on religious demonology and exorcism in the Pittsburgh diocese. He is an auxiliary member of the International Association of Exorcists based in Rome. Over the last decade he has helped educate priests on exorcism at national conferences, seminars, and through consultation on many cases in a number of diocese. He has assisted at many dozens of solemn exorcisms, house exorcisms, and resolutions of hauntings. In addition to Church cases he reaches out to educate people on the current paranormal craze, the dangers therein, and more ethical ways to resolve hauntings. He has put together a pastoral manual for priests on exorcism and resolving human spirit hauntings. He has a masters in adult clinical psychology from Penn State and is all but dissertation (ABD) for his Ph.D. His professional life has been spent working in the Pennsylvania State prison system as a Psychological Services Specialist where he has done hundreds of psychological evaluations for the parole process and worked with the full range of mental illness and human evil. Website: religiousdemonology.com |
Mother Mary Assumpta LongMother Mary Assumpta Long, O.P. is the Prioress General and one of four founding members of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Community was formed as a response to the call of Pope John Paul II issued in his Post-Synodal Exhortation, Vita Consecrata, to establish new foundations that will “bear witness to the constant attraction which the total gift of self to the Lord…continues to exert even on the present generation (VC, 12).” The community has grown from four to over 100 sisters since its foundation in February 1997 and presently has sisters teaching in eight dioceses. Mother Assumpta holds a S.T.L. in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. She has formerly served as President of the Forum of Major Superiors and has also served on various boards, including the Institute on Religious Life. Website: sistersofmary.org |
David CalavittaDavid Calavitta is a passionate Catholic speaker in love with Christ and his Church. He is also very much in love with his beautiful wife, Brittany. David has been blessed to serve the Church through youth ministry in various ways since the year 2000. In addition to his speaking ministry, he currently serves as the head of Design & Marketing for Life Teen International in Atlanta, Georgia. Website: holdfasthope.com The interview with David Calavitta done with Billy Atwell of the Diocese of Raleigh can be viewed here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cKfPtF1ACc. |
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