Well, I guess I should have expected it... the Catholic Church has gotten involved with Reiki, but not the way one would hope for. They have basically banned it saying it is non-scientific and superstition.
I know this because I got a call from the religion editor at the Florida Times-Union, the local newspaper. He had seen my picture in H magazine and called to see if he could interview me. He then e-mailed me a copy of the press release from the Catholic Church for me to look over before we talked.
The article was interesting as they basically said that because it is based on Buddhist beliefs, it does not follow their belief. And while I agree that they have a right to define their beliefs any way they want, most of what they claimed was based on internet web sites, not real research.
They claimed that it is unscientific. While science is not backing that energy work does make a difference, they are becoming much more tolerant of it and actually studying it. They are realizing that there is something to it.
This has (as expected) generated a lot of comments by Catholics and non-Catholics alike. One person was amazed that they used the term ‘unscientific’ to describe it when their entire belief can not be proven scientifically. Science can not prove that God exists. But while their belief comes down to faith, they will not give faith to Reiki although it is based on faith.
In the discussion with the reporter, I told him that I believe Reiki comes from the Divine whatever one believes the Divine is. He said that this makes it faith based and not superstition.
At any rate, it will be interesting to see what the article comes out to be, and I do know he will be interviewing another Reiki master in town before writing it.
To read the press release, go here.