Assessor of the Sword of the Spirit: Fr James LeBar 1936-2008

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Fr. James J LeBar

1936-2008

Chairman of the Pastoral Visitation Team to the Servants

of Christ the King, appointed by the Most Reverend Albert

Ottenweller, 2nd Bishop of Steubenville in January, 1991

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chief Exorcist of the Archdiocese of New York under the auspices of John Cardinal O ’Connor

~~~~~~~~~~~

Assessor of the Sword of the Spirit



The Rev. James J. LeBar, 71, a longtime Hyde Park resident, died on Thursday, February 21, 2008 at St.

Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie. A Catholic Priest with the Archdiocese of New York, Fr. LeBar wasa graduate of St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie. He was ordained on June 2, 1962, and served

throughout the Archdiocese of New York. He was also a priest in residence at Regina Coeli Church,

Hyde Park, and a Chaplain at the Hudson River Psychiatric Center for over 25 years, until his

retirement. He was very involved with the Blue Army.

Fr. LeBar worked with Fr. Flanagan’s Boys Town and directed many retreats and Adult and Youth

Seminars there.

A former Eagle Scout himself, he was affiliated for many years with The Boy Scouts of America.

He was an authority and prolific writer on the subject of the occult and demonology for the Archdiocese

of New York. Appointed by Cardinal O’Connor as Chief Exorcist for the Archdiocese, he appeared on

many television talk shows including Geraldo, EWTN, ABC’s 20/20, and the CBS Early Show.

Fr. LeBar gave testimony on pseudo-religious groups to the Congress of the United States in 1979.Before the Joint Congressional Proceeding under Senator Robert Dole, Fr. LeBar made the following

comments:

Senator Dole. The next witness is Father James LaBar, Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of New York.

I don't want to take away time from the witnesses, but we are under some time constraints because of

other commitments. If anybody -- we have -- we are down to the last two witnesses. Some of the panel

would like to submit questions.

If we can speed it up, it would be helpful.

STATEMENT OF FATHER JAMES LA BAR.

Mr. LaBar. Members of the Senate and the House, it is indeed a privilege to be here today. I hope that

the points raised today by all the speakers will be considered very carefully.

Speaking of the religious cults, it is important to make some basic definitions. I certainly feel that the

term "cult" can be applied to various offshoots of established churches as well.

I would have to disagree considerably that the term pseudo-religious cult is inappropriate, because the

very idea of the First Amendment and religion, we have to first determine was religion is.

So I use the term pseudo-religious cults to describe those groups that purport to call themselves a

religious movement, but in fact are only using religion as a shield for their true purpose.

Four basic characteristics I see in them:

1. A close allegiance to a person rather than to God.

2. An inordinate preoccupation with the attainment of money, which is not used for the poor or

charity, but for the enrichment of the leader.

3. Deceptive practices in recruitment.

4. And deprivation of freedom within the group, and in particular the lack of freedom when it

comes time or a desire to leave the group because of what has been taught.

I am sure that all of you know that the Roman Catholic Church has a high regard for religious liberty.

Together with the World Council of Churches, there is common agreement with the United Nations



Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 that religious liberty, that is an immunity from coercion in religious

matters, is an inviolable human right.

There is agreement, too, that it is the duty of government to protect and promote human rights; and

that includes religious liberty.

I come to you today as an American citizen, a parish priest, a Catholic, with years of experience in

education, youth programs, and counseling. I come to tell you there is great danger to our young

people, to society as a whole in the activities and some practices of pseudo-religious cults.

I ask you today to consider the human rights of the children of many of your constituents. These young

people have been enticed with false promises and empty ideals and their freedom has been taken away

from them in a process you have already heard described.

That process is so subtle and so devious that the recruit is not even aware of what happens.

Oftentimes leaders of the pseudo-religious cults will try to equate their practices with some of our

Roman Catholic seminaries and religious orders, but the absolute falsehood of a charge like this is found

in an examination of any of our orders.

Let me point out just one difference:

Before a candidate for holy orders or the religious life is allowed to make a permanent commitment or

accept ordination, a period of years must elapse. During that time, the constant questioning of the

individual's own motives and his or her realization of the importance of such a step must take place.

Often the director or the novice master will almost try to dissuade them from continuing in the order.

Constant reflection is needed and frequent review of the candidates’ progress is made. Contrast this

with the instant membership, the deceit, the empty ideals promised the pseudo cult recruit.

The government has no business investigating religion. Everybody opposed to the cults will agree readily

to this statement.

But when the practices of any group deprives the individual of basic human rights, then as the 1965

Vatican Council II Declaration on Religious Liberty states, "Society has the right to defend itself against

possible abuses committed on the pretext of freedom of religion."

A court order today can give a blood transfusion to a minor whose parents profess the faith of Jehovah's

Witness. The Mormons were required to give up polygamy as a condition for joining the Union.

Both of these examples show how society, that is government, can step in when it is needed for public

order, public morality, and the respect of the rights of others.

It is not the province of the government to declare that the Unification Church is not Christian. Both the

National Council of Churches, their Faith and Order Commission, and the Catholic Church have come to

that conclusion and stated it publicly on several occasions.

Others can determine whether Hari Krishna is true Hinduism or not; but not the government, not the

Catholic Church, not the Judaism. But the government can investigate the practices of any group,

pseudo-religious or others, that has upset the public order.

We must not be misled or hesitant because a certain group hides under the mantle of religious

movement. It is important, doubly so in such cases, to protect the legitimate exercise of the First

Amendment by out citizens. A true religious movement will be able to withstand any investigation. It is

the ones that are falsely labeled that will fall.



Finally, let me advise you that a prerequisite for any understanding of pseudo-religious cults is a

realization that what we say and we mean in our words is not always that they mean or they say. Since

our value system differs from theirs, we must be on constant guard for the truth.

Thank you very much.

[Applause.]

Senator Dole. Thank you.

One can read from these remarks that Fr LeBar had a very clear understanding of what constitutes

―good‖ religious groups from ―bad‖ ones. He understood the rights of individuals to form their own

opinions safe from coercion or, as he put it:

―…immunity from coercion in religious matters, is an inviolable human right.”

In ―Cults, Sects and the New Age‖ (Our Sunday Visitor Press, 1989) Fr . LeBar would – with three other

writers- address problems in the Shepherding/Discipleship Movement. The book would specifically

identify the Sword of the Spirit as a group that practiced ―shepherding.‖ His rationale proved timely and

accurate as Steven B Clark and Ralph Martin had allied themselves with the men of Christian Growth

Ministries, a group of Protestant Charismatic teachers who developed and promoted the concepts of

Shepherding throughout the Charismatic Renewal. In the posting, ―Meeting Minutes of THE

COUNCIL: 1974-1977,‖ Clark and Martin are sited as members of ―the Council,‖ which deliberately

kept hidden their meetings and allegiance to one another from the greater Charismatic Renewal.

So it was in 1991 that the Most Reverend Bishop Albert Ottenweller would tap Fr. LeBar to lead the

pastoral visitation to the Servants of Christ the King, a Branch of the Sword of the Spirit. Despite the

complaints that would come from the Sword of the Spirit after the visitation was completed, Fr. LeBar

was perhaps the most qualified member of the Catholic clergy to perform an objective assessment. The

Report on the Servants of Christ the King was the beginning of a new era in the Catholic Church ’s

relationship with these Covenant Communities. Now the Church new had a fairly clear picture of what

was going on inside of the closed systems of the covenant communities. Fr. LeBar once confided in me

during that time that the people of the SOS Community were all good people who loved God and the

Church, and for that reason the struggle to free them from oppressive, ―pastoral‖ practices was worthy of

the Church’s efforts.

In the latter part of his life, beginning in 1988, Fr. LeBar would be appointed Chief Exorcist of the

Archdiocese of New York. By his own account he performed as many as 20 exorcisms/year. He first

came to prominence in 1991 when he took part in an exorcism in Palm Beach, Florida, which was

broadcast on the ABC television program ―20/20.‖ He was appointed the Chief Exorcist of New York

in 1992, by Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor. On June 25, 1995 Father LeBar was one of the guests on

the Geraldo Rivera television program exploring satanic ritual abuse.

When asked during an interview if he ever witnessed levitation during an exorcism he said, "I myself,

have never seen a major levitation in the course of an exorcism. However, in one case in the preliminary



investigation, I had a person who rose up above the pews of the church and was suspended there for a

few minutes."

He told the periodical ―Spirit Daily‖ at the time of the 25th anniversary release of the film, ―The

Exorcist‖ that it, "is about the most accurate portrayal of what can happen at an exorcism that I have

ever seen."

Actress Winona Ryder spoke with Father LeBar about exorcisms in 1999 in order to prepare for her film

role in the movie ―Lost Souls‖ in which LeBar was one of the consultants. He even allowed her to view

some videotapes of exorcisms he had performed.

In July 2002 Father LeBar addressed a conference of Roman Catholic exorcists in Rome.

Father LeBar was buried from Regina Coeli Parish in Hyde Park, New York (roughly two hours north of

Manhattan) where he was in residence for nearly the last 25 years. His body lay in-state at the church,

where visitation were held on Sunday, February 24 in the afternoon and evening; the Mass of Christian

Burial was concelebrated with one of the auxiliary bishops of New York on Monday, February 25, at

10:00.

According to a colleague of Father LeBar:

"For those of us who knew and worked with him, were served or mentored by him, we are trying

with God’s grace to come to terms with this loss, both personally and for the Church in America.

I have often remarked about Father’s disarmingly dry sense of humor— a hallmark of the same

man who at times directly addressed and expelled demonic forces. A friend asked yesterday, ―I

wonder what Fr. LeBar will say when he sees God the Father?‖ I have no doubt that his sincere

but usually witty response, along with his slight Bronx accent, will be something like, ―Well— you do look better in person...‖"

Thank you, Lord, for the life and work of James Joseph LeBar. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, andlet perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the

mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Left to Right in November, 1991: Doris Quelet, Most Reverend Albert Ottenweller, John Flaherty and Fr. James LeBar.

Assessor of the Sword of the Spirit: Fr James LeBar 1936-2008

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