Since 2021, February 26^th has been commemorated in Leonardtown as “Moll Dyer Day,” a day to recall one of our town’s most well-known legends. According to the familiar story, Moll Dyer was a St. Mary’s County woman who was believed to be a witch. When an influenza plague broke out during the harsh winter of 1697, some locals blamed her and set fire to her house. She was found dead several days later in the forest, frozen to a large rock that is now on display at Tudor Hall in Leonardtown. Some claim that the rock itself is cursed, bringing illness to those who touch it.

The story hits close to home for a few reasons. First, of course, it’s one of the most well-known tales from our town, renowned well beyond Southern Maryland. Second, Moll Dyer herself may have come from a Catholic family: Our local sacramental records don’t go back to the 1690s, but lots of Dyers can be found in the earliest Catholic baptismal registries that are kept at our parish, hinting that the colonial family shared the Catholic faith. Finally, on a more personal note, Moll Dyer may well be my relative: Although Moll Dyer’s exact ancestry is unknown, my Mom descends from the Dyer family of St. Mary’s County, suggesting that Moll was a cousin from many generations ago.

The approach of Moll Dyer Day provides an opportunity to address important questions: How might local Catholics today make sense of the story of Moll Dyer? What does the Catholic Church today teach about witchcraft and related practices?

Part of the challenge of really making sense of the story is the lack of certainty about the historical facts. It’s impossible to determine, for example, if Moll Dyer was really involved in some sort of witchcraft or if she was merely the target of false accusations. It is often suggested that she used medicinal herbs and other natural remedies, which may have been misunderstood by others. Perhaps she was merely an eccentric, independent woman whose peculiarities aroused the suspicions of her neighbors. We can only guess: While the famous Salem witch trials and similar legal proceedings in colonial Maryland involved formal court documentation, Moll Dyer seems to have died because of a spontaneous mob that left no such paper trail. Her story is one of local lore, a mixture of historical truth and imaginary embellishments, inseparably woven together over centuries of storytelling.

Even if Moll Dyer was involved in some kind of witchcraft, it’s worth underscoring that the treatment she received at the hands of angry townspeople was cruel and unjust. Assuming the accuracy of the legend, we can be confident that the mob was motivated in part by a Christian belief about witches. This act of injustice doesn’t seem to have directly involved officials of either the Anglican or Catholic hierarchies, but the mob’s act nonetheless tarnishes the witness of the Gospel and of Christianity. Pope St. John Paul II solemnly apologized in the name of the Church for acts of this kind in the year 2000 when he asked pardon for “Christians [who] have at times given in to intolerance and have not been faithful to the great commandment of love, sullying in this way the face of the Church…” Catholics today should not hesitate to condemn the riot that led to Moll Dyer’s death, and I suspect that some even in the seventeenth century would agree with this condemnation.

Though Moll Dyer would perhaps receive different treatment from Christians these days than from those of the past, the Catholic Church today continues to warn against the real spiritual danger of witchcraft and related practices. The Catechism of the Catholic Church 2116 & 2117 sums up Catholic teaching on the matter, reaffirming that Catholics should take no part in things like horoscopes, astrology, mediums, clairvoyance, magic, sorcery, or wearing charms, “even if this were for the sake of restoring their health…” An even more recent Church document, Jesus Christ: Bearer of the Water of Life, offers warnings against New Age phenomena such as Wicca, crystals, transcendental meditation, and more.

Why does the Church continue to condemn such practices? To put it simply, the Gospel calls us to trust in God and in his plan for our lives, rather than trying to gain unnatural control of our destiny through various occult spiritual practices. Though Christians have often been at the forefront of studying how herbs can be used for natural healing – St. Hildegard of Bingen is an example of a medieval woman who was celebrated for her skill in such medicinal arts – both Scripture and Church teaching prohibit attempts to attain spiritual power over our lives and our future through things like potions and incantations.

Catholic saints like St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Thomas Aquinas have warned that spells and curses often involve the invocation of demons. Exorcists, including Msgr. Stephen Rossetti from our own Archdiocese of Washington, caution from their own experience that such spells can open one up to demonic oppression or possession. This post from Msgr. Rosetti's riveting blog offers one recent example of a woman who is said to have become demonically possessed through the practice of witchcraft.

Magic, witchcraft, astrology, and similar practices were a common part of pre-Christian spirituality, but they began to diminish as the Church spread. Those who were interested in following Christ realized that these old ways were incompatible with Christianity. Acts 19:18-20, for example, recounts the story of a group in Ephesus who saw the miracles and exorcisms that were being done in the name of Jesus, became convinced of the Gospel, then collected and publicly burned a massive number of their spell books. Not too long ago, Pope Francis recounted this incident from the Acts of the Apostles, warning Christians today not to return to the use of magic:

Perhaps some of you might say to me: “Ah yes, magic is an ancient thing: this does not occur today with Christian civilization.” But be careful! I ask you: how many of you go to have your tarot cards read, how many of you go to have your palms read by palm readers, or have your fortune read? Today too in large cities, practicing Christians do these things. And to the question: Why do you go to the sorcerer, to the fortune teller, to these people, if you are Christian?, they reply: “I believe in Jesus Christ but I go to them too out of superstition.” Please: magic is not Christian! These things that are done to predict the future or to guess many things or to change life situations, are not Christian. The grace of Christ brings you everything: pray and entrust yourself to the Lord.

Now that I’ve laid out a very firm Christian case against witchcraft, I may be starting to sound like the mob that set fire to Moll Dyer’s house. How can I say in one breath Moll Dyer was treated unjustly and say in the next that we should be aware of the real spiritual perils of witchcraft? This tension touches upon the great challenge facing the Church in today’s pluralistic society: The Gospel demands both that we respect the dignity of others, including those with whom we disagree, and that we hold on firmly to the truths about sin and holiness that are laid out in Scripture and Tradition. Christian charity doesn’t mean disregarding faith and morals. As Pope Benedict XVI has pointed out, being “tolerant” is not the same as being “indifferent.”

As Leonardtown celebrates Moll Dyer Day once again, then, I urge fellow Christians to do so without celebrating witchcraft. Yes, we should remember the wrong that was done to Moll Dyer. But stay clear of any activity involving mediums, tarot cards, fortune telling, spellcasting, or other things that are contrary to the Gospel.