Decades of Demon Fighting in the Roman Catholic Church of Zimbabwe: Pioneers VIS-í€-VIS Canon Law. Experiences of Father Augustine Urayai

Abstract

Statistics seem to indicate that on the African continent, the ministry of healing and deliverance is growing everyday among African independent churches, Pentecostals and some charismatic communities. However, simultaneously, mainline churches, particularly the Roman Catholic Church of Zimbabwe continues in her mission to put the gospel into practice by also freeing people who are afflicted with evil spirits. This present article explores the ministry of healing and exorcism in the Roman Catholic Church in Zimbabwe. The article specifically examines the healing ministry of Father Augustine Urayai of Zimbabwe (1931) who has been famous in the ministry of healing and exorcism from as early as the late 60s. Fr. Urayai's extra-ordinary experiences with spirits were critical in two ways. Whilst on one hand the experiences made him develop new theories about healing and exorcism, on the other, they altered his entire metaphysical thought. The argument developed in this article is that, whilst African Independent Churches have dominated the area of exorcism in Zimbabwe for many years, the Roman Catholic Church also carries with it the legacy of decades of demon fighting. Apparently, as observed by Shoko (2006), healing in the mainline churches appears to relate significantly to independent churches and modern charismatic healing communities. The article also argues that even though Father Urayai to some extent departed from Jesus' healing methods and employed his own, his ministry of healing and deliverance is, however, still based on Christian orthodox and missiological ideology, namely, ‘fulfillment of the Good News' to heal (Shoko 2006). In the light of this lingering assumption that the Roman Catholic Church's position on healing and deliverance has been ‘distant and detached' (Akerboom 2002,) this article is opportune.