Reiki not compatible either with Christian teaching or scientific evidence: US Bishops

“Since Reiki therapy is not compatible with either Christian teaching or scientific evidence, it would be inappropriate for Catholic institutions, such as Catholic health care facilities and retreat centres, or persons representing the Church, such as Catholic chaplains, to promote or to provide support for Reiki therapy.”

This was the conclusion of the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USSCB) in a recently published document.

The Committee's statement opens by pointing out two types of healing that the Church recognises, “healing by divine grace and healing that utilises the powers of nature”. The statement points to the “ministry of Christ, who performed many physical healings and who commissioned his disciples to carry on that work”. It goes on to point out that since the time of the Apostles the Church has interceded on behalf of the sick “in the form of the sacramental laying on of hands and anointing with oil or of simple prayers for healing". But, it continues, the Church has never considered a plea for divine healing to exclude recourse to natural means of healing through the practice of medicine.

The statement then points out that the Holy Spirit sometimes gives to certain human beings "a special charism of healing so as to make manifest the power of the grace of the risen Lord."  This power of healing is not at human disposal, however, for "even the most intense prayers do not always obtain the healing of all illnesses."

The statement goes on to describe Reiki as “a technique of healing that was invented in Japan in the late 1800s by Mikao Usui, who was studying Buddhist texts”.

In practice, a Reiki practitioner effects healing by placing his or her hands in certain positions on the patient's body in order to facilitate the flow of Reiki, the "universal life energy," from the Reiki practitioner to the patient.  Reiki proponents assert that the practitioner is not the source of the healing energy, but merely a channel for it.

The statement continues: “Reiki is frequently described as a ‘spiritual’ kind of healing as opposed to the common medical procedures of healing using physical means. Much of the literature on Reiki is filled with references to God, the Goddess, the ‘divine healing power,’ and the ‘divine mind.’ The life force energy is described as being directed by God, the ‘Higher Intelligence,’ or the ‘divine consciousness.’

Many nurses who use the technique, attempt to approach Reiki simply as a natural means of healing. As such Reiki becomes subject to the standards of natural science. “The basic criteria for judging whether or not one should entrust oneself to any particular natural means of healing, however, remain those of science,” the bishops wrote.

When judged in this way, the bishops say, "Reiki lacks scientific credibility. It has not been accepted by the scientific and medical communities as an effective therapy”.

Some attempt to identify Reiki with the divine healing known to Christians, but the radical difference can be immediately seen in the fact that “for the Reiki practitioner the healing power is at human disposal,” they said.

In fact, some of its teachers “argue that it is not the Reiki practitioner personally who effects the healing, but the Reiki energy directed by the divine consciousness.”

“The fact remains”, according to the bishops' statement, “that for Christians the access to divine healing is by prayer to Christ as Lord and Saviour, while the essence of Reiki is not a prayer but a technique that is passed down from the Reiki Master to the pupil.

The statement concludes: “The therapy finds no support either in the findings of natural science or in Christian belief.”

Many practitioners of Reiki in Ireland may be upset by the bishops’ statement, as they try to bring a Christian meaning to the work they are doing.

Reiki master Judith White, who is a Christian in the UK, said the bishops had misunderstood the therapy. "There is so much bad information about Reiki, anti-Christian information, on the internet," she said. "It says we channel spirits and that's not true. Reiki balances energy in the same way as acupuncture or reflexology.”

Nevertheless, in their carefully-worded message, the bishops point out the danger: “Without justification either from Christian faith or natural science, however, a Catholic who puts his or her trust in Reiki would be operating in the realm of superstition, the no-man's-land that is neither faith nor science.”

The full document can be found at: http://www.usccb.org/dpp/Evaluation_Guidelines_finaltext_2009-03.pdf

Picture shows a Reiki icon.