When we first received this question years ago, I turned to our theological advisor at the time,  Fr. Edmund Sylvia C.S.C. for help. He explained that soul ties have to do with what St. Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 6:15 where illicit sexual unions established ties that should be renounced and broken spiritually.

"Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take Christ's members and make them the members of a prostitute? Of course not! Or do you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For 'the two'", it says, 'will become one flesh.' But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. . ."

In some of the material Father forwarded to me, soul ties are explained as being formed through intense relationships or inordinate affections with spouses, close friends, sexual partners, business partners, cults, religious denominations and lodges. Soul ties resemble a kind of spiritual umbilical cord that connects one person to another in the spiritual realm.

When these relationships are ungodly, such as those forged in sexual sin (adultery/premarital sex), or for purposes of control, manipulation or domination (controlling parents, friends, bosses, etc.) they can have a toxic affect on our life in Christ. For this reason, soul ties should be properly severed in order for a person to free themselves from any spiritual bondage.

"I have used explicit prayers for the breaking of these ties, usually in confession, and I ask the person to explicitly renounce the ties and forgive the person they were involved with, thereby setting them free," Father said.

The following is the prayer he uses - which can be adapted for personal use by the laity:

"I bind in the Blood of Jesus all your hooks, lines and tentacles, your roots, attachments and attenuations, and I command you in the Name of Jesus to remove them now completely and entirely: in the Name of Jesus remove them now. (Pray 3x).

"I cut, sever, disconnect and separate any and all soul ties, their attachments, hooks, lines, tentacles, roots and attenuations with the Sword of the Holy Spirit and the Blood of Jesus Christ.

"In the name of Jesus and the authority of my Priesthood, I cut and sever and separate anything attached to this child of God, through any acts of perversity, fornication, sexual promiscuity or engagement of illicit pleasures.

"All you spirits just named and all you companion spirits, in the Name of Jesus Christ, by His Precious Blood and the authority of my Priesthood, I bind you separately and individually and break all seals: you are bound and the seals are broken in the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Pray 3x)

"I come against your hooks, lines and tentacles, your roots, attachments and attenuations, and I command in the Name of Jesus that you are cursed. In the Name of Jesus be cursed (Pray 3 x).

You are cursed because you do not bear good fruit in me, who am a child of God, and you are like the fig tree that did not bear good fruit. In the Name of Jesus you must wither and die (Pray 3x).

You must come forth from me: you may not rend or tear, do harm or hurt of any kind as you come forth. In the Name of Jesus come forth (Pray 3x).

In the power and authority of Jesus, I command that you go directly to the foot of the Cross, remain there and never return. In the Name of Jesus never return (x3).

In the Name of Jesus be done (Pray 3x).

Amen (Pray 3x).

"All you spirits just named and all your companion spirits: in the Name of Jesus Christ, by His Precious Blood and the authority of my Priesthood, with the authority granted to me by Jesus Christ and His Church, I bind you separately and individually and break all seals: you are bound and the seals are broken in the Name of the Father + and the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Pray 3x).

"I send you separately and individually to the foot of the Cross of Jesus Christ to be held there and to be obedient to His Holy Name until He tells you to go elsewhere. In the Name of Jesus be gone (Pray 3 x).

You no longer have a rightful place in this child of God and in the Name of Jesus I command that you are never to return. In the Name of Jesus never return (Pray 3x).

In the Name of Jesus be done (Pray 3x).

Amen (Pray 3x)."