"... last spring the US Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that reiki - hailed by many as therapy, derided by others as quackery - would no longer be practiced in the church’s hospitals and retreat centers. Reiki, according to the bishops, is not grounded in science or Christianity and is therefore inappropriate for Catholic institutions.
Practitioners and clients claim that reiki (pronounced RAY-kee) reduces pain, stress, and anxiety; accelerates recovery from surgery and illness; and boosts the immune system. The church hierarchy begs to differ. “Without justification either from Christian faith or natural science, 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,’’ according to the six-page guidelines. “Superstition corrupts one’s worship of God by turning one’s religious feeling and practice in a false direction.’’
Griseuk, who lives in Merrimack, N.H., read about the decision and chuckled. “It must have been a slow day at the Vatican,’’ says Griseuk, who was raised in the Catholic Church.
The following week she got a call from St. Joseph saying the hospital would no longer offer reiki. Griseuk had to close the seven-year-old volunteer clinic located at a wellness center associated with the hospital. “The bishops did not do their research,’’ she says. “Reiki is not a belief system, not a cult, not a weirdo thing.’’ ... "
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