By Rick Hinton
I had planned on moving on from the subject of exorcism, but sometimes a story crosses my desk that I have to put out there. How many have heard of this?
Nebraska Catholic priest who boasted about performing exorcism at the Capitol during riots faces expulsion from the church
I hadn’t either. Writer Megan Sheets for Dailymail.com published this on Feb. 3. The Rev. David Fulton, pastor of two churches in Nebraska – St. Michaels Catholic Church in Central City and St. Peters Catholic Church in Fullerton – purportedly performed an exorcism inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. This was the infamous day of MAGA protests (and subsequent riots) when thousands of Trump supporters gathered in Washington, D.C. As he stood in the midst of President Trump supporters, Fulton spoke to filmmaker, Eddie Becker, about the protest and exorcism. He was wearing a clerical collar, identified himself as Roman Catholic and waved the book, Minor Exorcisms and Deliverance Prayers: In Latin and English before the camera.
“Got this going,” he said, pointing at the book. “Got these exorcism prayers going, there’s priests that are using them. We’ll see, we’ll see what effect it had.”
Fulton also repeated on camera unproven claims of voter fraud, along with praise for the “awesome” crowd in attendance. “It’s good to see so many people who care about the country, concerned about the country, people who know about what’s going on, the obvious steal.”
The video came to light in an article by the Omaha World-Herald, stating that parishioners are clamoring for Fulton to be stripped of his priestly title over his involvement in D.C., and comments made while there.
Fulton claimed he was trying to rid the building of the demon Baphomet who he said was “dissolving the country.” Baphomet is a worshiped “deity” that has been incorporated into occult and mystical traditions. He gives credit to learning about the demon from Chad Ripperger, a priest and self-proclaimed exorcist with ties to Nebraska.
Church officials were not amused. The Archdiocese of Omaha’s Deacon Tim McNeil said of the video, “Fulton’s comments do not reflect the views of the archdiocese. He showed poor judgment and should not have been dressed as a priest.”
“It was a misuse of his priestly ministry, “ George Lucas, Omaha Archbishop said. “Whether or not Fr. Fulton broke any laws, I condemn his participation in the event in the strongest terms!”
Then there’s the matter of exorcism, and the emphasis from the church that Fulton is not a trained exorcist. The archdiocese contends that, “Fr. Fulton should not have claimed to have special and particular knowledge about demonic activity. The Rite of Exorcism may only be performed by a priest duly trained and appointed by the bishop.”
Fulton, it appears, is now doing a bit of moonwalking backward like Michael Jackson. Questioned by church officials about entering the Capitol illegally, he claims he left before any violence broke out, learning about it afterwards at his hotel. That account doesn’t match the video where he claims he has been inside the Capital. He has also back petaled that he didn’t attempt an exorcism, but rather only led others in prayer. He accuses Eddie Becker of misrepresenting his comments on camera with ‘cleaver’ editing, branding the filmmaker as anti-Catholic.
As for now, Fulton has not been sanctioned or punished for attending the riots or performing an exorcism, concluded the archdiocese. “He did not break any civil or ecclesial laws. He attended the rally as a private citizen.”
