Prayers needed to avert 'black mass' in Oklahoma

Published: August 7, 2014

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City is asking Catholics to offer prayer and penance to prevent a “black mass” from being held Sunday, Sept. 21 at the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City.

In a letter issued Aug. 4, the archbishop said he contacted the city, which owns the venue, to cancel the event.

“I have raised my concerns with city officials 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,” he wrote. “I am certainly concerned about the misuse of a publicly supported facility for an event which has no other purpose than mocking the Catholic faith.”

The archbishop said, “Even though tickets are being sold for this event as if it were merely some sort of dark entertainment, this satanic ritual is deadly serious. It is a blasphemous and obscene inversion of the Catholic Mass. Using a consecrated host obtained illicitly from a Catholic church and desecrating it in the vilest ways imaginable, the practitioners offer it in sacrifice to Satan. This terrible sacrilege is a deliberate attack on the Catholic Mass as well as the foundational beliefs of all Christians. It mocks Our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we Catholics believe is truly present under the form of bread and wine in the holy Eucharist when it has been consecrated by a validly ordained priest.”

The archdiocese will host a holy hour, outdoor Eucharistic procession and Benediction at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Oklahoma City at 3 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 21.

Prayers and penance are needed because the city has indicated it will not cancel the event.

“Since it seems this event will not be cancelled, I am calling on all Catholics of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to counteract this challenge to faith and decency through prayer and penance,” he wrote. “Specifically, I am asking that the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel be included at the conclusion of every Mass, beginning on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (Aug. 6) and continuing through the feast of the Archangels (Sept. 29). I invite all Catholics to pray daily for divine protection through the intercession of this heavenly patron who once defeated Lucifer in his rebellion against the Almighty and who stands ready to assist us in this hour of need.”

The archbishop also asked parishes in his archdiocese to hold a Eucharistic holy hour with Benediction between Aug. 15 and Sept. 21.

Parishioners are encouraged to contact Mayor Mick Cornett “to express your outrage over this offensive and blasphemous sacrilege and this misuse of a tax-supported public space.” He can be reached by calling (405) 297-2424 or writing to 200 N Walker, 3rd Floor, Oklahoma City, OK 73102.