Kansas bishops call for prayers, plan legal response to planned ‘black mass’

Amid reports that a Kansas “Satanist” group is planning to hold a so-called “black mass” at the Kansas Capitol later this month, the Catholic bishops of the state are urging prayer and exploring their legal options.

In a direct mockery of the Catholic Mass, groups that have staged so-called “black masses” in recent years have on at least one occasion boasted of possessing a stolen consecrated host with an intent to desecrate the Eucharist in an unspecified but profane ritual.

The Catholic bishops of Kansas said Thursday that they are “aware of a sacrilegious event scheduled to take place later this month inside the state Capitol,” adding that “spiritual and legal responses are being explored” to counter the planned event.

“If true, this explicit demonstration of anti-Catholic bigotry will be an insult to not only Catholics but all people of goodwill. Spiritual and legal responses are being explored,” the bishops said in a joint statement shared with CNA on March 6.


Continued below.

(OSV News) — A Satanic group’s plans for a so-called “black mass” in the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka on March 28 have energized widespread Catholic condemnation.

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.

Gov. Laura Kelly, Democrat, declared 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.

Continued below.