Religion · Washington, DC Metro · August 11, 2026
Removed Exorcist Rossetti Relaunches Deliverance Ministry in Archdiocese
What Alinsky tactic is being used
2 of the thirteen rules are in play here — campaigns rarely run just one.
Rule 4
“Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”
The whole leverage of this story is the Church's own rulebook: canon 1172 requires the local ordinary's special and express permission for exorcism, and on June 3, 2026 the Archdiocese of Washington published a statement removing Msgr. Rossetti as its exorcist and ending all affiliation with the Saint Michael Center. A ministry that presents itself as faithfully Catholic is now being measured against that written standard, and the measuring works only because a real gap is unresolved — nobody has published which bishop, if any, delegates the relaunched ministry. Both sides can wield this: critics point at the canon, supporters point at 'good standing' in Syracuse.
Counter-Rule 4 · Radical Integrity
Close the gap between stated values and actual practice before anyone else finds it. This tactic only works where the gap is real.
Close the gap yourself before someone else finds it. This month read canon 1172 (the USCCB exorcism page states it in one sentence) and the archdiocese's June 3 statement, then write to your chancery asking which priest is currently delegated and under what dated protocol. If you help run or advertise a deliverance prayer group, obtain its authorization in writing, with a date and a signature, and keep it. Refuse to recommend any deliverance ministry whose delegating bishop you cannot name out loud.
Rule 3
“Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.”
The dispute has been shifted onto canonical terrain — faculties, delegation, affiliation, incardination — where the ministry's actual strength (a large devotional following and a 101,000-subscriber video channel) counts for nothing. Rossetti's July 13 answer was itself framed in that vocabulary, saying he has "faculties as an exorcist in a couple of dioceses" without naming them, while the archdiocese declined to answer press questions at all. A layperson who defends or attacks on feeling alone is arguing on ground he has not surveyed.
Counter-Rule 3 · Preparation and Width
Prepare the unfamiliar ground before you are dragged onto it. "I don't know, I'll find out and come back" beats an improvised answer.
Survey it first. Read canon 1172, the USCCB exorcism page, and Cardinal McElroy's June 3 statement, and write down in your own words what 'faculties,' 'delegation by the local ordinary,' and 'priest in good standing' each mean — they are three different things and this story turns on the difference. When someone asks you a canonical question you cannot answer, say 'I don't know; I'll ask the chancery and come back,' and then actually send the letter.
Chapter 3 sets out the rules; Chapter 15 answers each of them in turn. This is that pairing applied to this story.
Know where you stand
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