Over the next few weeks, I’ll be showing off the various ghost-punching organizations you’ll find in the Ghost Punchers RPG. Today, I’m kicking off the series with the Order of the Sacred Shield.
The Order of the Sacred Shield is a secret society within the Roman Catholic Church sworn to combat the “forces of spiritual darkness” such as ghosts. 
The Order has existed in various forms for centuries. It’s been part of a dozen different major clerical orders, and was even shut down altogether for about 60 years in the 1800s. (“Wait. Are we still funding these guys? We don’t have room in the budget for this madness. Cut it!”) Today, it’s a small but independent organization operating out of a basement office inside the Vatican.
Traditionally, only priests and nuns could join the Sacred Shield. But since the number of mediums in the ministry has dropped, the Order has opened up membership to lay Catholics. Furthermore, the Order is willing to work with mediums from outside the church if necessary, but assigns them Order “shepherds” to help with theology and report back to the Vatican. These contract punchers are both sworn to secrecy and paid well enough to ensure they keep these oaths.
The Order doesn’t have the resources to investigate every ghostly rumor. Instead, its leaders rely on local clergy to pass along verifiable hauntings. Once they’re sure there’s actually something to investigate, they dispatch a team to uncover the truth and, if necessary, punch that truth right in its undead face.
