Susan left this comment on our blog: "I’ve been reading these posts for a while and I’m wondering how vulnerable, sick people who realize they need help are going to get the help they need when health care and self-help have become a minefield of New Age practices/products. . .
JB asks: “Somebody just told me about Life wave patches that are supposed to help with pain and other problems that haven’t been helped with traditional medicine. I don’t know if these are legit – they talk about scientific studies, but I am afraid they fall under New Age medicine practices. Can you tell me what you think of this?”
SH writes: "Do you know anything about Body Talk? I was at a Cursillo and ladies were espousing this therapy. I countered that it sounds New Age to me and we should not be participating in it. I did not see anything on the Blog. Would love to hear your views."
Despite its complete lack of scientific evidence, grounding (aka “earthing”) is once again becoming popular. We first wrote about it in 2013 and can confidently report that in the last 10 years, almost nothing has changed except for the addition of new “earthing” products developed by folks who insist upon believing in this pseudoscience.
KR writes: "A friend has recently been promoting [color therapy] as a method of healing. A quick google shows some red flags. Also known a chromotherapy. Do you have any information? Is this dangerous new age?"
JM writes: "I just read the blog question and answer on homeopathy. This is a very serious matter to me as my family and I have been using homeopathic remedies very successfully over the past three years. I was introduced to them by a very conservative Roman Catholic group of ladies. In doing my own research, I was not troubled about the "vital force" that Dr. Hahneman refers to because anyone who does not know the Christian faith would of course grasp for some kind of word to describe the human soul and the life of that soul as given and designed by God, and the soul's inter-connectedness to our physical bodies. . . ."
AA asks: “Is our spirit considered energy in a scientific way? One that we cannot see with our eyes but we know it is there. How does our Christian view differ from the new age movement? I think of our spirit as energy that cannot be destroyed and it is created by God.”
What should a Catholic do when they encounter a wellness organization that presents itself as Catholic and yet promotes Eastern meditation techniques, naturopathy, homeopathy, and other New Age modalities? Can a Catholic healthcare provider really have it both ways?