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(RNS) — Think of some of the most iconic scenes in classics of the horror genre — priests gathered around a rotting, spitting child in “The Exorcist”; the chanting of the neighborhood coven in “Rosemary’s Baby”; the priest warning Damien’s father in “The Omen.” Notice a theme?

Horror villains and monsters show up in all shapes and sizes, but when religion shows up, it is usually Catholicism. In Hollywood, it’s the faith often featured for its mysterious conclaves and Gothic churches, depicting the white clerical collar up against the ultimate prince of darkness.

“When a vampire is at your door or your child is possessed, you don’t call for a Methodist,” said Matthew J. Cressler, the co-author of the new book “ Body and Blood: Catholic Horror in America ,” along with Jack Lee Downey, Kathleen Holscher and Michael Pasquier. “God love the Unitarians, but you don’t ask for your Unitarian minister.…