I’m an atheist who doesn’t normally enjoy reading fantasy fiction; however, I found “The Invasion of the Church of the Holy Ghost” by Russell Kirk, a religious ghost story, to be quite entertaining and well-written. The characters of Father Raymond Thomas Montrose and Fork Causland are so well developed that it’s hard not to like this story. Plus, the story is set in a seedy, rundown section of town filled with hustlers, prostitutes, and con men, has all the feel of a Damon Runyon tale.
You can read this story online.
I had no idea who Russell Kirk was, but after reading about him on Wikipedia, the philosophy behind the story made more sense. Kirk was a major conservative intellectual and a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Since I’m a liberal, this doesn’t endear me to him. Kirk was also a convert to Catholicism and enjoyed writing ghost stories.
Kirk’s significant spiritual, political, and philosophical background forces me to look deeper into “The Invasion of the Church of the Holy Ghost.” Kirk was a serious thinker. That makes it hard to dismiss the story as a silly, inconsequential ghost story.
Even while liking “The Invasion of the Church of the Holy Ghost” very much, it proposes ideas I find totally repugnant. Both Father Montrose and Fork Causland are possessed. Kirk suggests that when people do bad things, it’s because they are influenced by evil ghosts, and when they do good things, they are empowered by higher-order beings. He doesn’t specifically say angels, but that’s how I interpreted the story.
In old religious philosophy, good comes from God, and evil from Satan. If humans do good, it’s because of the influence of the divine, and if we do bad, it’s because of the devil working through us. At one point, the normally good Father Montrose starts thinking about raping a young woman. Kirk proposes that those thoughts come from being possessed by an evil spirit.
I don’t believe in free will, but I also refuse to believe that our thoughts and actions originate with ghosts or other metaphysical beings. I don’t know if Russel Kirk believes that either, but “The Invasions of the Church of the Holy Ghost” is based on such a religious foundation. This fantasy is a religious reality to some. On the other hand, it might just be Kirk’s way of scaring us.
However, if I ignore what this story is suggesting, it’s an exceptionally creative work. Russell Kirk does an amazing amount of world-building. When I like fantasy, it’s often because it’s set in our present-day world. For example, It’s a Wonderful Life or The Bishop’s Wife.
Yesterday, I was pondering the value of fiction and nonfiction. Writers of nonfiction strive to be as accurate as possible. We read nonfiction to understand reality. Fiction is elaborate lies, but sometimes fiction writers work to express a truth they perceive at a deep, personal level. Knowing the kind of person Russell Kirk was, I can’t help but believe that he might believe in ghosts and possession.
James Wallace Harris, 7/3/25
Classics of Science Fiction 
This sounds fascinating. Kirk is largely known for his writing on the history of intellectual conservatism, but he wrote numerous “ghost stories” like the one you’ve mentioned. There’s a wonderful collection called Ancestral Shadows that I read a few years back: I don’t think it includes this one, but it also has a priest — or rather, the ghost of a priest, a presence who appreciates a woman who devotes herself to cleaning graves in the cemetary. His appreciation comes in handy when the neighborhood is about to be razed and the woman rendered homelesss. I’d have to read this story to be sure, but I doubt he believed all bad comes from demons; in Christian and Jewish theology, we’re born with an evil ‘inclination’ — a tendency to choose ease/vice/etc rather than virtue.
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I don’t like the idea we’re born with an inclination towards doing evil either. But that might be more realistic in that it aligns with genetics. It’s easier to believe in bad genes than bad spirits.
One thing Kirk doesn’t explore is the evil spirit that occupies Father Montrose was once a man, a criminal named Sherm. Was Sherm a criminal or was he possessed by an evil spirit? If so, was he a good man before he was possessed?
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That’s an unexpected wrinkle! Demons posessing people is accepted in many Christian denominations (Catholics, Orthodox, and Pentecostals for sure), but the spirit of one man possessing another? Seems theologically outside the pale. Definitely reading this now.
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