We Are All Healers
by Dan O’Rourke • Cassadaga, NY

I’m a healer. I’ve taken courses in Reiki and Spiritualist healing. I believe in alternative remedies. It’s not that I distain Western medicine. In seventy-seven years I’ve had more than my share of surgeries and take multiple medications. Modern doctors have helped me greatly, but my spiritual aches and physical pains have been lessened by acupuncture, massage therapy, Reiki and Spiritualist healing—and I make use of the last two to help others.

Recently, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has condemned Reiki. That disappoints and dismays me. Reiki is a therapy rooted in Buddhism that came out of Japan in the last century. It is based upon the concept of “universal life energy” and the practice of “laying on of hands.” The bishops’ Committee on Doctrine said that Reiki was “unscientific” and “inappropriate” for anyone to practice in Catholic hospitals, clinics, or retreat centers. The bishops claimed it “lacks scientific credibility” and, with exaggerated rhetoric, warned that it could even expose people to “malevolent forces!” They concluded that Reiki is superstition grounded in neither faith nor science and that for Catholics it “presents insurmountable problems.”

Many, of course myself included, vigorously disagree. I’m reminded of what a priest friend told me years ago, “The Church is like my mother. I love her. I respect her. I listen to her, but there are times she doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about.”

That’s how I feel about the Bishops’ Reiki condemnation. I suspect that such negative reactions to church pronouncements are not uncommon. Southern Baptists who drink wine, Jews who don’t follow kosher diets, fundamentalist Protestants in committed homosexual relationships, Catholics who practice birth control are dramatic examples. Of course, sometimes these people just move from one synagogue or denomination to another more comfortable one. The March 2009 American Religious Identification Survey points this out graphically, but the principle is the same. Many in good conscience simply dismiss some teachings of their religious traditions.

But back to healing. Perhaps the bishops are prejudice against Reiki because it is Buddhist. Obviously, they are not saying healing is not Christian. Jesus himself was a healer (Mk 3:13; Lk 4:38) and the Bible says that some receive the gift of healing from the Spirit (I Cor 12: 7 & 9). Is it the touching that bothers the bishops? Jesus himself healed by laying on hands. Mark 1:41 says that Jesus reached out his hand to touch a leper and his touch cured the leprosy. Matthew informs us that Jesus restored the sight of some blind men by touching their eyes (Mt 9: 29-30).

Besides these Bible miracle stories, however, there are modern textbooks on therapeutic touch. Nurses and doctors in training are sometimes taught it. Mothers instinctively know how important it is to touch their babies. Good parents frequently cuddle their children. Those loving touches bear the healing energy of God. How is that any different from Reiki’s Universal Life Energy?

Let me report a story I have written about before. A middle-aged man was about to undergo open-heart surgery. The hospital prepped him for his operation. The night before surgery, the head nurse spoke with him, the cardiologist talked to him, the surgeon came and explained the procedure. The morning of the surgery the anesthesiologist appeared at his bedside. The patient was apprehensive. The anesthesiologist like the other medical professionals reassured and encouraged, but he did something more. Before he left the hospital room, he put his hand on the patient’s chest. He looked him in the eye and said gently, “Don’t worry; we will take good care of you.”

When he touched him, the man said later, his body filled with warmth and his spirit with confidence. The touch was healing. It was loving, compassionate and caring. It brought healing energy to that anxious patient.

That anesthesiologist can teach us all a lesson. Healers are not a special class. Admittedly, all healers have some training and many have special gifts, but in reality we are all healers – or can be. We heal by our words, our smiles, by our kindnesses, hugs and encouragement. Or if some prefer a more theological statement: Infinite Spirit can use us to bring that Universal Life Energy to others.

In our families and friendships at work and at play, our daily contacts can be healing. Whether we are conscious of it or not, our presence can bring light, joy, warmth, peace -- and healing -- as the anesthesiologist did at that hospital bedside.

There are many ways to heal. We should not demean them. In many respects we all need healing, but more than that we can all be healers. A healed/healing dynamic is at play. We are both patient and physician. That’s what the spiritual writer Henri Nouwen meant when he entitled one of his books, “The Wounded Healer.” He meant you and me.

Wouldn’t it be more fitting if religious pronouncements encouraged us to be healers instead of condemning healing therapies they don’t understand?

Daniel O’Rourke is retired from the Administration at State University of New York at Fredonia. His column appears in the Observer, Dunkirk, NY on the second and fourth Thursday each month. A grandfather, Dan is a married Catholic priest. He has published “The Spirit at Your Back,” a book of his previous columns. To read about the book or send comments on this column visit his website: www.danielcorourke.com.