A Satanic group’s plan for a so-called “black mass” in the Kansas Statehouse in the state’s capital Topeka on March 28 has garnered widespread Catholic condemnation. Source: OSV News.
In a March 6 post on Facebook, the Kansas Catholic Conference said such “a sacrilegious event” would be an “explicit demonstration of anti-Catholic bigotry” that would be “an insult to not only Catholics but all people of good will.”
Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, said in a March 10 statement the college “has pledged prayers” all month for “conversion of the hearts of the people of Kansas and the conversion of the Satanists” planning the event.
Democrat Governor Laura Kelly declared on March 12 that the group will not be allowed inside the Capitol, but Michael Stewart, the founder and president of the Satanic Grotto, said the group would attempt to defy that.
Ms Kelly also said she was not planning to stop the event, instead ordering it to move outdoors.
“There are more constructive ways to protest and express disagreements without insulting or denigrating sacred religious symbols,” she said in a statement. “However, as Governor, I also have a duty to protect protesters’ constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression, regardless of how offensive or distasteful I might find the content to be.
In a statement on March 13, Chuck Weber, executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, said Ms Kelly’s statement “reeks of condescension and a wilful ignorance about what is scheduled to happen.”
The Satanic Grotto is a Kansas-based nonprofit. Its webpage describes the group as “an independent and non-denominational Satanic church that utilises philosophies from many walks of the left-hand path. We are feminist, LBGTQ allies, and Anti-racist.”
A “black mass” is a parody of a Catholic Mass, and versions of it have been performed for centuries. The event’s stated intention, the organisation said, is sacrilege and blasphemy and that “God will fall and Kansas will be embraced by the black flame of Lucifer.”
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Group’s plans for ‘black mass’ at Kansas Statehouse prompt widespread outcry (By Kurt Jensen, OSV News)
