In the past, when the Catholic Church has publicly silenced one of its own priests, you had to wonder what the priest did wrong. Today, when the church silences one of its priests, you can’t help but wonder what the church is trying to hide.

No, I’m not talking about the priest abuse scandals, which have had a permanent impact on the church’s reputation and have cost it billions in damages. Still, this is a time when it seems the path to advancement within the clergy is to advocate for LGBTQ causes. One of the most blatant examples of this is Fr. James Martin, who is the LGBTQ community’s best advocate in the church. While he might have been defrocked at another time in the church’s history, he is celebrated now.

Meanwhile, a man who spends all of his ministry fighting the one battle most humans are deathly afraid to do – he’s an exorcist – is the one the church decides to silence.

Denver Archbishop James Golka has directed Fr. Chad Ripperger, the 61-year-old exorcist, to go silent for at least the next year, in the wake of some pretty significant awareness-building the priest has been doing lately.

More to the point, and without much public explanation, Golka has restricted Ripperger from giving any public speeches, doing any media interviews, drafting any online content, and he has instructed the priest to cancel any appearances he has planned.

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The Archdiocese of Denver issued a terse, two-paragraph statement on the decision, acknowledging that Golka met with Ripperger “to discuss his ministry and his community, the Society of the Most Sorrowful Mother.”

During that conversation, the Archbishop asked Fr. Ripperger to consider a one-year fast from public speaking and interviews. The time will allow him to devote himself to the Society and to the people it serves. Fr. Ripperger readily agreed. At the end of the year, they will review the arrangement together,” the statement reads. “Archbishop Golka is grateful for Fr. Ripperger’s priestly service, exorcism ministry, and for the generous spirit in which he received this request. We ask the faithful to join us in praying for Fr. Ripperger and for the Society.

While Golka gave virtually no details on his rationale for the order, it comes in the wake of two huge podcast interviews for Ripperger.

EWTN, the Catholic media organization, reported that thanks to separate interviews with Tucker Carlson in April and Shawn Ryan in March, the priest has attracted large numbers of followers to his work and to the issues humanity faces in the war between good and evil.

“In his April interview with Carlson, he spoke about the role of exorcism in the Gospels and what he sees as a decline in belief in the devil among Christians,” reported EWTN. 

“’A lot of the Christians will just say, ‘Well, I believe in God, but I don’t necessarily believe in the devil,’ Ripperger told Carlson. ’Well, then how can you not believe that this is one of the primary missions of Christ, was to save us from them, ultimately?’”

In other words, Ripperger did what priests are put on this earth to do: preach, teach, and minister to the masses. Reportedly, during his lengthy interview with Carlson, the priest talked about the nature of demons and “the distinction between supernatural and preternatural phenomena.”

Ripperger’s interview with Ryan lasted four hours and really dug deep into such things as UFOs and alien abduction stories. His point of view was that in some cases, those stories of alien abductions could well have more to do with the demonic. He told Ryan that once you “strip the veneer” of aliens away, then all you’ve got is “just demons.”

Ripperger returned to Ryan’s podcast in July, and that’s where the podcaster gave the exorcist a rifle as a gift. This is a reference to part of their March interview, where the priest said that he does carry a gun, and that he’s part of a community that has a target range.

Said Ripperger to Ryan, “We’ll have to use it later this afternoon.”

Of course, when Golka decided to shut Ripperger down, he made no mention of those podcast appearances.

Both Carlson’s and Ryan’s podcasts are top-ranked. Ryan is a former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor with a total of more than 11 million followers across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Carlson, as wacky as he now is, still attracts huge numbers of viewers and listeners. He’s got 5.7 million followers on YouTube, and another 17.9 million on the X platform.

“At a time when so much confusion reigns in society and the Church, inspiring priests like Fr. Ripperger are needed more than ever. We must stand with him and respectfully ask Abp. Golka to cancel his silencing of this holy man,” LifeSite News said in its own coverage of Golka’s decision.

Several news sites are now reporting that Ripperger has agreed to follow Golka’s commands, but still, the news has generated a groundswell of support for the exorcist. LifeSite News is circulating a petition in support of Ripperger, which reads in part:

As you know, countless numbers of souls have benefited from Fr. Ripperger’s clear teaching for years, and millions of people have recently discovered his ministry as a result of his public appearances on some of the most popular online shows in America.

To silence this good and holy man is to deprive many souls of the wisdom and direction we all need in life, that ultimately leads to the knowledge and service of God.

Of course, the church is no democracy, and while its leaders have no problem weighing in on matters outside of its own purview, like ICE enforcement of U.S. immigration law, it’s predictably unresponsive to most efforts to influence its own policymaking and decisions.

If past moves like this are any indication, Ripperger will go into exile for much longer than one year. Also, it’s not clear whether Ripperger has been directed to cease his exorcism work.

In July, the National Catholic Register published an article asking whether it’s a good idea for exorcists like Ripperger to maintain the sort of public profile Ripperger does.

In that piece, the money quote was from Fr. Francesco Bamonte, vice president of the International Association of Exorcists, which the Vatican recognizes. He told the Register, “The ministry of exorcism is part of the Church’s public life, at the service of those who suffer… As such, it is right and proper that it be presented to the people of God, but certainly in accordance with criteria that do not seek visibility for its own sake but rather educate and form through accurate information.”

The Register added, “In fact, with so much general interest in spiritual warfare in the culture these days, some argue that the Church can make things worse by not publicly addressing the topic.”

Ripperger was ordained in 1997. He then founded the Doloran Fathers. Since 2016, he has served within the Archdiocese of Denver. In the wake of the death of the Vatican’s Chief Exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, at that time, Ripperger rose in prominence as one of the more well-known exorcists in the world.

I dunno. On the surface, this is a human resources matter. In other words, none of our business, right? 

But if you dig just beneath the surface it’s so much more than that. What’s going on here? Is Ripperger showing up his betters? Well, yes, he is. As a gun owner, is he a little too MAGA for the Catholic Bishops’ tastes? Most certainly. Can the clergy sometimes be a bunch of petty little schoolchildren who let jealousy get the better of them? You betcha.

Still, you have to wonder if it’s even more than that. Are there people within the church who don’t want Ripperger’s exorcism ministry to succeed? Are there people who don’t want the masses to mobilize against evil, armed with a newfound awareness of the threats humanity faces and what we can do about it – all thanks to Ripperger?

Those are the kinds of questions that nag at me when I see announcements like this from the Denver archdiocese. Am I off base? 

Here's Fr. Ripperger himself, talking to Shawn Ryan.