It is not everyday that I get a call to shoot an interview with an exorcist, in fact this was a first. Working with producer Erin Beach from Kickflip Media, we drove down to Saratoga last Friday morning and found a very modern, sun washed, Catholic church. Far from giving us the creeps it was a pleasant place with California grapevines surrounding the property. As we parked we received a warm welcome from several elderly parishioners who had nothing but great things to say about their priest Father Gary Thomas, who happens to be a trained and practicing exorcist and the subject of Matt Baglio's new book "The Rite".
"Father Gary Thomas was working as a parish priest in California when he was asked by his bishop to travel to Rome for training in the rite of exorcism. Though initially surprised, and slightly reluctant, he accepted this call, and enrolled in a new exorcism course at a Vatican-affiliated university, which taught him, among other things, how to distinguish between a genuine possession and mental illness. Eventually he would go on to participate in more than eighty exorcisms as an apprentice to a veteran Italian exorcist. His experiences profoundly changed the way he viewed the spiritual world, and as he moved from rational skeptic to practicing exorcist he came to understand the battle between good and evil in a whole new light. Journalist Matt Baglio had full access to Father Gary over the course of his training, and much of what he learned defies explanation." Random House Press
Father Gary was very easy to work with, not creepy, and gave a very good interview. I guess after the likes of Fox News and other broadcasters following him around since the release of the book he has got some good practice. 16:9 plans to use the interview that we shot as the base for a ten minute segment on modern day exorcism. The show will air on Canadian television on Sunday May 24th. It will be available a few days later on-line at Globaltv.com. However, if you live outside of Canada then you will need to watch via their video podcast. I will also post the segment here on the Corduroy Media News Blog.
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