Reiki causes Catholic unease

Proponents believe practitioners can facilitate healing by channeling reiki, or the universal life force, to bring one's natural energy into balance.

Guidelines for Evaluating Reiki as an Alternative Therapy, from the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (March 25, 2009) point out a problem.

Some people have attempted to identify Reiki with the divine healing known to Christians. They are mistaken. The radical difference can be immediately seen in the fact that for the Reiki practitioner the healing power is at human disposal. Some teachers want to avoid this implication and argue that it is not the Reiki practitioner personally who effects the healing, but the Reiki energy directed by the divine consciousness. Nevertheless, the fact remains that for Christians the access to divine healing is by prayer to Christ as Lord and Savior, while the essence of Reiki is not a prayer but a technique that is passed down from the "Reiki Master" to the pupil, a technique that once mastered will reliably produce the anticipated results. (p. 4) [footnotes omitted]

Catholic reiki practitioners acted quickly to eliminate the appearance of a conflict.

David Lichter of the Milwaukee-based National Association of Catholic Chaplains said some members have decided to remove reiki from their resumes.

At the Siena Center operated by the Racine Dominicans, reiki references were deleted from online biographies of two outside program presenters after a Journal Sentinel reporter called to ask about its use there.

[Reiki causes Catholic unease:
Practitioners see no conflict with faith or Western medicine,
by Annysa Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Posted: May 1, 2009]