August 21, 2014
The organizer of a Sept. 21 black
mass surrendered the consecrated Host, one day after the Archdiocese of
Oklahoma City filed a lawsuit for its recovery.
OKLAHOMA
CITY — Oklahoma City's archbishop voiced relief that Satanists organizing a
"black mass" in the city returned a stolen host that was to be
desecrated, but restated his concern that the event should happen at all.
The host was
given to a priest Aug. 21 by an attorney representing Adam Daniels, who
organized the black mass.
“I am
relieved that we have been able to secure the return of the sacred Host and
that we have prevented its desecration as part of a planned Satanic ritual,”
Archbishop Paul Coakley said Aug. 21.
“I remain
concerned about the dark powers that this Satanic worship invites into our
community and the spiritual danger that this poses to all who are involved in
it, directly or indirectly.”
The occult
group Dakhma of Angra Mainyu has scheduled a black mass at the Oklahoma City
Civic Center Music Hall Sept. 21. A black mass is a sacrilegious ceremony that
invokes Satan and mocks the Mass, involving the desecration of the Eucharist,
generally by stealing a consecrated Host from a Catholic church and using it in
a profane, sexual ritual.
Daniels had
said that, as far as he knew, the host was consecrated and that it had been
“mailed to us by [a] friend.”
His decision
to return the host quickly followed upon the Aug. 20 filing of a lawsuit on
behalf of the archdiocese, charging that the host had been stolen from the
Church.
The
archbishop has repeatedly asked that civic leaders cancel the event.
In July, an
official with the music hall defended the decision to permit the black mass
there, citing the hall’s neutrality policy.
She told
EWTN News that as long as no laws were broken during the event itself, the city
hall was not concerned with whether laws may be broken in obtaining a
consecrated Host ahead of time. She said that similar events scheduled in
previous years had poor or no attendance.
“I have
raised my concerns,” Archbishop Coakley said, “and pointed out how deeply
offensive this proposed sacrilegious act is to Christians, and especially to
the more than 250,000 Catholics who live in Oklahoma.”
The
archbishop has asked that every parish add the well-known prayer to St. Michael
the Archangel at the end of every Mass from Aug. 6, the feast of the
Transfiguration, through Sept. 29, the feast of the Archangels. He has also
asked each parish to hold a Holy Hour with Benediction from Aug. 15, the
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, through Sept. 21.
The
archbishop will hold a Holy Hour, a Eucharistic procession and Benediction at
Oklahoma City’s St. Francis of Assisi Parish at 3pm Sept. 21, the same day the
Satanic event is scheduled to take place.
Tulsa’s
Bishop Edward Slattery and Bishop Carl Kemme of Wichita have also called on the
faithful to respond to the threatened desecration with their prayers.
A similar
black mass scheduled by Harvard Extension School’s Cultural Studies Club in May
was “postponed indefinitely” amid protest among students and the local
community.
Asked about
the lawsuit and the stolen host, the civic center’s public information manager,
Jennifer Lindsey-McClintock, said the facility is “glad to see that the
archbishop and Mr. Adams have come to an agreement on the matter of the host.”
However, she
contended, “Any decision to cancel the event itself would have to come from Mr.
Adams directly. As we have previously stated, as a government-operated
facility, we cannot deny rental space to any group based upon the content of
their message. This includes the cancellation of any event already booked in
our facility.”
Lindsey-McClintock
did not respond to CNA’s questions regarding the stealing of a consecrated Host
being necessary for a black mass to occur.
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