Colorado’s celebrity exorcist is logging off for a year, right before Halloween

Most people try a “digital detox” for a weekend and give up by Sunday afternoon. The Rev. Chad Ripperger, one of the most famous exorcists in the country, is going for a full year. The Archdiocese of Denver announced this week that the Colorado-based priest will take a one-year “fast” from public speaking and interviews. The timing is a little funny: he’s stepping out of the spotlight just as spooky season hits its peak.

The break came out of a recent meeting between Ripperger and Denver Archbishop James Golka about his ministry. The archbishop asked him to consider a year away from podcasts, interviews and speaking events, and the archdiocese said, “Fr. Ripperger readily agreed.” He’ll spend the year focused on the Society of the Most Sorrowful Mother, also known as the Doloran Fathers. It’s the small community of priests he founded in Keenesburg, the Weld County farm town better known for wide-open fields than spiritual warfare. The archdiocese says he remains a priest in good standing and that the two will revisit the arrangement in a year.

Ripperger has built a big following online. His interviews and videos have racked up millions of views, including a nearly three-hour conversation on “The Shawn Ryan Show” in which he said aliens are “just demons.” The archdiocese declined to say what led to the request. The news does come a few months after another well-known exorcist, Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, was removed from his post in Washington, D.C., after a viral video in which he linked UFO sightings to demons.

So if you were counting on a new exorcism podcast episode for your Halloween road trip, you’ll have to find another way to scare yourself. Colorado has plenty of options: haunted Riverdale Road, the Stanley Hotel or the Frightmare Compound coffin ride. Father Ripperger, meanwhile, is going quiet in Keenesburg.