James LeBar

Father James J. LeBar is a Roman Catholic priest appointed by John Cardinal O'Connor to be the chief exorcist of the Archdiocese of New York. In the 1970s, LeBar was asked to become part of the Office of Communications of the Archdiocese of New York. This office had many dealings with the rise of cults, and witchcraft. On April 20, 1989, his book Cults, Sects, and the New Age was published. In 1991 he was invited to take part in an exorcism in Palm Beach, Florida, which was broadcast on the ABC television program 20/20. And then, on June 25, 1995 he appeared on the Geraldo Rivera program which was about satanic ritual abuse. Father LeBar has personally performed over forty exorcisms and has witnessed some of his subjects speak in foreign tongues, has seen the hatred and evil of the devil, and experienced the super strength of some of the afflicted. While researching her role for the movie Lost Souls, Winona Ryder spoke with Father LeBar about exorcisms in 1999. He showed some videos of exorcisms he performed. He addressed a conference of Roman Catholic exorcists in Rome in July 2002.