#2821: John Esseff

John Esseff is a Scranton-based Catholic monsignor, President of Board of Pope Leo XIII Institute and local (though possibly retired) exorcist. As an exorcist, Esseff has met plenty of demons and demon-possessed people, growling and shrieking and slithering up against the wall – The Exorcist was apparently a pretty accurate documentary, and Esseff’s main criticism of the movie’s depictions is its tacit suggestion that the devil can just fly in and possess anyone when in reality “the devil is afraid of you” as long as you stay faithful and virtuous. Apparently you may also get help from your ”guardian angels”, whom you can invoke through prayer to “make a perimeter” around the area in which you find yourself.

 

In 2018, Esseff even managed to get himself in the national spotlight for his criticism of Celine Dion’s (gender neutral) children’s clothing line as being occult and demonic. “The devil is going after children by confusing gender. When a child is born, what is the first things we say about that child? It’s a boy, or it’s a girl. That is the most natural thing in the world to say. But to say that there is no difference is satanic,” said Esseff, who also accused the clothes of displaying occult imagery that no one else were able to see. Satan’s hand at work was also clearly visible: “People behind this are influencing children to disorder. This is definitely satanic. There is a mind behind it – an organized mindset. The devil is a liar and there are huge lies being told. This is being done for money, and there is divisiveness that comes from this [he didn’t reflect too long on who is doing the divisiveness here] – marks of the devil.” Esseff’s criticisms and warnings were published by the National Catholic Register, which has made it its business model to see demonic forces at work more or less everywhere.

 

Diagnosis: Doddering moron, though probably not himself particularly harmful (he’s got to be close to 100 by now) even though his delusions are frighteningly widespread.