Readers of a certain age will remember receiving chain letters in the mail: anonymous accounts of how some recipients cashed in big time and had other good fortune after sending the letter on to 10 other people. Those who broke the chain not only missed out on the money, but risked having various other problems.
The chain letter appealed to greed and fear at the same time. It’s now history, but its electronic cousin is alive and well, especially those bearing a quasi-religious message. Hardly a week goes by when I don’t receive one, telling me what great blessings will be mine if only I pass the e-mail along to 10 others.
I automatically threw the old chain letters directly into the wastebasket, and I go for the delete key every time I receive an e-mail version. But where’s the harm? you might ask.
Catholics should always be willing and able to pass on true blessings whenever they can. But messages such as these are more steeped in superstition and even the occult than in true religion. Consider a recent e-mail I received. It informed me that if I would send a Hollywood-style picture of Mary on down the line, “your troubles will go away.” That was the first tip-off.
Messages that fail the test of reason and/or sacred Scripture and the teaching of the Church should immediately be consigned to electronic outer darkness. As for seeing my troubles disappear, that would come as news to Jesus, who assured his followers, “In the world you will have trouble” (John 16:33).
Most of the e-mails of this type include a picture of a religious object, which is said to possess special powers. This is more the realm of superstition, magic and charms than sound Christian practice. Many such messages invoke the name of our Blessed Mother. Some Catholics seem to believe that if Mary’s name is attached to it, it must be okay. Not necessarily.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church addresses this particular aspect: “Superstition in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion” (No. 2110).
Unfortunately, superstitious belief among Catholics is not limited to the Internet. Consider the widespread practice of burying St. Joseph statues on property in hopes of getting a buyer. “St. Joseph Statue Spell Kits” are a hot item on the Web. Whenever you see the word “spell,” know you’re in dangerous territory. Witches cast spells. Christians should have nothing to do with such occult activities.
Yes, many Catholics will testify as to how quickly they sold their houses after burying St. Joseph. Interestingly, the statue is not simply to be buried: He is to be buried upside down. One explanation I read maintained that St. Joseph doesn’t like being placed in the ground this way and would therefore speed the sale of the property so he could be dug up and righted.
This is superstitious nonsense. Anyone having a serious claim to the Catholic faith should disavow such practices out of hand. Actually, we’re talking about something here that goes a step beyond superstition and is much more dangerous.
When Satanists engage in black magic, an upside-down crucifix is part of the ceremony. Think there might be a connection here? The devil doesn’t mind using his influence to help sell your house if that leads you away from sound religious belief and deeper into superstition and the occult.
A Protestant pastor in our town who owns a Christian bookstore recently wrote a newspaper column in which he remarked about the large number of Catholics who come into his store seeking St. Joseph statues. Even though they are a big moneymaker, to his credit, he refuses to carry them. Isn’t it sad that the only Catholics this pastor might encounter are those looking for a plastic statue to bury?
Do you sincerely desire the aid of St. Joseph in selling your home? Then do it the right way. Respectfully ask for his intercession with God (the primary ability that saints possess) on your behalf. No burying, no spells, no charms.
The Catechism is emphatic in cautioning Catholics against any involvement with the occult: “All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service … are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion” (No. 2117).
When God brought his chosen people into the Promised Land, he warned them against such activities. For the subject at hand, one line will suffice: “Let there not be found among you … [a] charmer … or caster of spells” (Deuteronomy 18:10).
This refers to good-luck charms and other objects believed to possess magical qualities, which is a form of sorcery. The misuse of the St. Joseph statue belongs here, as do all religious items on the Internet that are alleged to bring good luck.
“Luck,” by the way, is an expression that Catholics would do well to strike from their vocabularies. The Church doesn’t trust in luck; it trusts in God’s divine providence, which orders all things toward their proper ends. “Luck” denotes a random, hit-or-miss element, which can be either good or bad. That’s not the way of the God in whom we place our trust.
F. Douglas Kneibert writes from Sedalia, Missouri.
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Thank you so much for this wonderful article. The devil has many people convinced that he does not exist and this is proof. We are constantly in a spiritaul warfare battle. Evil is disguised in many ways that seem so harmless.
Once a demon gets in,it takes hold and grows, more demons follow.
Priets need to preach on this topic and people need to be made aware of it.
I don’t know whether to be upset with the author of the article or NCR for running it. There is a great deal of misinformation involved and to cast this little devotion as more dangerous than superstition and akin to black magic is ridiculous. I hate to see what he would do with the scapular. There is much confusion about this practice but I will tell you that it has nothing to do with stores using it as a big money maker! The plastic statues sell for under one dollar. The key is prayer. Don’t anyone tell this convert about St. Anthony finding things and baking bread in thanksgiving or the Franciscans are going to be in hot water too.
I am so happy that you wrote the above and I shall send it on to some of my friends. When they send me messages with a prayer, I delete the part that says “send to 10 people and something good will happen to you” and all the stuff that makes it ‘black magic’. It doesn’t hurt to just say a prayer for the sick or our soldiers. Thanks again.
THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! I have said as much to well-wishing friends and family who pass along such silliness with little effect. I am grateful for both the proper language to use (superstition, spells) along with the catechism references to use. When our house did not sell last year (at the start of the market fall) we had many folks who wondered if had buried St. Joseph. When we said we didn’t they would shake their heads as if that were the reason it did not sell, rather than our reassurance that God had other plans for us - which He always has!
Thanks so much for shedding light on some of these strange practices. I’ve had protestant friends ask me about things like burying statues of St. Joseph, but I didn’t know anything about it (?)
Now, I can assure them that the people who do these things are misguided, and NOT following Church teaching.
Yes, I think I have heard them all. Thank you for the great article..very informative..Obviously, these things are garbage..but when people are desperate and/or in need..they probably serve as hope, although a false one. We ned to try to know each other better, so that we can be of True help when our brothers and sisters need a person to lean on. Prayer helps, but..wse also need each other..not an internet picture..or any other “false advertising” !
Thank you for this article. I donb’t like receiving chain anythings, and don’t pass them along. I didn’t know about the practice of burying poor St. Joseph until after we sold our house a year ago. During the for sale process I prayed to him because I thought that if he managed to keep a roof over his Holy Family, he would help me. The prayers worked without the statue burying. I still pray to him to help me keep the house I have now.
Your article leads wit the picture of a statue thought to be St. Joseph. It is, however, a statue of Christ the Light of the World at St. Joseph’s Seminary in New York
I agree with the need as Catholics to disavow ourselves of superstition, particularly since we are so often accused of such. However, I am concerned that the article goes too far in that it misses the point that the uses of statues, such as this, can be a touch point of grace in our lives, and ultimately glorify the Lord. I wouldn’t be so quick to malign a tradition such as this, if the intention of those practicing it is correct. We can’t know the hearts of those who bury statues.
Please check out my blog post here :
http://crossed-the-tiber.blogspot.com/2008/08/st-joseph-my-realtor.html
As a late in life convert to Catholicism, the rich traditions and physicality of the Catholic faith truly resonates with me. As a protestant, everything was ephemeral, invisible, “spiritual” and I had no true understanding of the incarnational principle…. God uses the stuff of earth to bring his grace to us and give Him glory.
God bless
I did already 2 x’s
I’ve always wondering about this myself and, interestingly enough, had a discussion about this very subject just the other night. My friend is selling his house and has buried a statue of St. Joseph. After reading this article and doing a little search around my favourite Catholic sites, I cam across this:
http://www.fisheaters.com/stjoestatue.html
I like the last paragraph from the article I’ve linked to:
“Is this custom superstitious? It is if one doesn’t believe in the intercession of Saints and the good of making outward signs of prayer. Given that two million St. Joseph home-selling kits (offsite, will open in new browser window) are sold each year—even to Protestants and pagans—I imagine that most people who practice this custom do superstitiously bury the statues for a sense of “luck” more than anything. But that doesn’t make the practice bad in itself, not when it’s done properly: with sincere prayer, giving St. Joseph a place of honor in your new home, and telling others of the wonders of this great Saint.”
Outward signs of devotion, accompanied by true prayer, should never be shot down. When treated as a superstition, sure, but that could happen with a scapular, a rosary, the holy eucharist. People have all sorts of cultural customs that might seem odd, but God works in the physical. Judge the tree by its fruits, not by the funny feeling you get, or the vague connections you can make, else st. Peter’s death on the cross become satanism.
Thank you for this article.
I am one who deletes a chain letter, whenever I see the phrase “… or your prayer will not be answered”. I think it is okay to send nice Bible passages and prayers but when a threat (see above) or an obligation (to send to so many people) is attached, then it becomes what it is – a form of superstition.
Burying a statue of St. Joseph to sell a house? Totally creepy!
Well said Mr. Kneibert, very well said.
Why not just pray to the Living God?
Burying a statue in the yard seems a lot like using a replica
of man as a superstition, no matter a long tradition.
Is this Biblical?
Allow me to add my thanks for your article. My wife has been trying to sell her mother’s home for the past four years, and last night her sister told her about the idea of burying St. Joseph’s statue. I mentioned that I thought this practice to be superstitious. There is nothing wrong with prayer-I never would have been ordained a deacon without my own prayers as well as the prayers of my family and friends. To bury a statue in hopes of obtaining good luck or engaging in any superstitious act is equal to forgetting about God, and that is always dangerous.
I posted an item a few hours ago about my wife’s sister telling her about how burying a statue of St. Joseph would help sell their mother’s house. One correction: Chalk it up to the fact that I was tired and not listening, but the person who made the suggestion was not my sister-in-law but a friend of my wife. I apologize for the error.
Thank you very much for posting this. I’ve been aware of this tradition since I was very young and had never heard that it could possibly be rooted in evil. It’s very helpful to read this.
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