Necromancy, Occultism and Christian prayer

There are some who go so far as to accuse us Catholics of necromancy or occultism because of our practice of praying to saints. Some of these accusers are remarkably reluctant to accept our word for it that we are not offering divine honour to anybody but God. It is hard to escape the conclusion that their 'religion' is not so much a positive thing as something that is defined by a rejection of Catholicism, or, rather, of the caricature of Catholicism that they nurture.

For anybody you encounter who is confused about the difference between necromancy, occultism and Christian prayer (and willing to discuss it intelligently):

*Necromancy is the attempt to contact spirits through our own power, or through the power of demons or 'who-knows-what'. Because this is usurping the prerogatives of God it is not only extremely dangerous (because if you call on the devil, God might not stop him from coming to your call) but it is a mortal sin against God's Providence.

*Occultism is the attempt to achieve special knowledge or power by a route other than God's Providence. As Catholics, however, 'we worship what we know' – namely God in the Blessed Trinity (and nobody else).

*Nobody in the OT prayed to saints in Heaven because there was nobody there. The virtuous were in the Limbo of the Ancients – the Bosom of Abraham – awaiting the Resurrection.

*Prayer to the angels and saints, unlike necromancy, is a simple conversation carried out entirely through the power of God. There is nothing sinister or mysterious about it, and there is no record of anybody at all criticising it before the 16th century – sixteen hundred years after Christ had instituted His Church.