Posted on 05/12/2014 6:00:39 PM PDT by narses
Cambridge, Mass., May 12, 2014 / 06:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A satanic black mass re-enactment being planned by a student group at Harvard University has been ‘postponed indefinitely’ and will not take place May 12.
The news was announced by the school’s newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, just over an hour before the event was scheduled to occur May 12.
Originally, the black mass re-enactment was to take place on campus, at a pub in the basement of Memorial Hall. The Harvard Crimson reported late on the afternoon of May 12 that the event had voluntarily been moved to The Middle East nightclub, a short distance from campus. However, shortly afterward, the general manager of the nightclub told the publication that negotiations had fallen through and the event would not be hosted there.
Subsequently, in a breaking news update at 7:45 p.m. Eastern time, the publication reported that the black mass “has been postponed indefinitely and will not take place tonight, according to (a) Satanic Temple spokesperson.”
Connected to witchcraft and demonic worship, a black mass is a sacrilegious ceremony structured as a parody of the Catholic Mass. Invoking Satan, the ritual is centered around the desecration of the Eucharist, which is generally done by stealing a consecrated host from a Catholic church and using it in a profane sexual ritual, or defecating and urinating on it.
A spokesperson for The Satanic Temple, which is staging the event, initially told media outlets that a consecrated host would be used, although the temple and the Cultural Studies Club both later denied this, insisting that only a plain piece of bread would be used.
The plans for the black mass had drawn strong opposition from the Archdiocese of Boston, along with many students, alumni and members of the broader Catholic community.
Harvard senior Aurora Griffin told CNA that she presented university president Drew Faust with petitions against the event that had garnered more than 60,000 signatures.
In her cover letter, Griffin explained that the event does not promote an appreciation for cultural understanding, but instead ”promotes contempt for the Catholic faith,” adding that “supporters of genuine tolerance and civility are rightly offended and outraged that Harvard has permitted such an event.”
Dr. Faust had released a statement May 12 condemning the event as “flagrantly disrespectful and inflammatory,” and the club’s decision to hold it as “abhorrent.” However, she stated that the ceremony would be allowed to continue due to the university’s “commitment to free expression.”
Faust had said that as a sign of respect, she would attend a Eucharistic Holy Hour being held by the Catholic community at Harvard in response to the black mass.
Jim McGlone, a junior at Harvard, told CNA while he was “glad” to see the university president use “the strongest language possible” to condemn the event, he disagreed that all speech and expression should be protected in a university setting, given the fundamentally offensive nature of the event.
“It’s too much of a desecration of our Lord and a mockery and parody of our Faith,” he said, to be “an attempt at dialogue – it’s really just an obscenity.”
Rather than merely offering a safe haven for all kinds of offensive speech, he continued, the purpose of free speech is “getting at the truth through discourse,” among people who may have disagreements.
Freshman Bella Gomez told CNA that rather than using freedom of speech and religion to make Harvard a “safer welcoming community for all,” Catholic students “are being solely victimized by it.”
She said she felt “uncomfortable” at the idea of entering campus facilities that had been used for a satanic ritual, indicating that the space would “no longer feel comfortable or safe” for her.
The Cultural Studies Club had defended the black mass re-enactment as educational and dismissed critics as demonstrating a close-minded “paranoia.” The group had told CNA that those offended by the event hold outdated views “based on intolerance and ignorance,” which are “arrogant and egocentric.”
Absolutely you are correct when you aptly said about these things; “....it is easier to make satanism “just another faith of many”.
I know we vehemently disagree on some, but not all, things, but taking your quote above, I so agree. I have said that very thing (concerning the “smoke of satan” in the Church), that there are those *inside* Holy Mother Church, who are actively trying to dump Catholic piety in order to make us one more “denomination”, I presume so that we can fit in! Makes me furious. (Pelosi types)
I call it “protestant mega church envy”, myself. :)
The fallen culture seeps in very near each of us, to lie, steal and destroy, keeping nothing sacred. Rita
I doubt if any serious local white or grey pagans even planned a private ceremony of public protection to counter the childish publicity stunt attempt.
But it was great to see some Christians use their own 1st Amendment rights to actively push back against the idiots for a change.
The whole cheek turning tolerance cowardly excuse for silence and inaction has been overused.
I’m with you, Cicero. I got the very same inferences! I think writers can’t write anymore! How’s THAT for a reason to be unclear? ?) Rita
Don’t look at it as disagreeing with me. Think of it as not yet recognizing the truth of my position ;)
Seriously though, I think you’re right on the envy thing. For millenia the RC church has a lock on opulance. And that point of pride attracted many to the faith. But now that others out bling them, it is a problem.
The core of it is that the bling thing shows how infiltrated both aspects of christianity have become. Or even began. Because I never heard Christ call for Crystal Cathedrals Prosperity gospels or Vatican cities to begin with.
I think Norm is bent because our culture overlooks unbridled demonic influence and the fact that real blood sacrifices happen.
They’ll do it anyway, but with less publicity.
I would love to see these idiots turned to ash.
This is going to be used to crack down on Christianity.
Babies are sacrificed in America every day. It’s nothing new.
You are 100% right on this one.
Whining? Cicero informs you with the facts and it’s, “whut”?
To cradle “free expression” as Harvard does, in this case to excuse satanists desecrating a consecrated host is hilarious, when after 13 years of Leftist commencement speakers with political clout, you can not name a single alternative viewpoint Harvard has ever heard, or a conservative far right personality whose shadow has ever even been allowed to darkened a Harvard stage.
Whining? I suppose it’s whining by the RNC when they informed you that they plan to note the years of Lefty debate hosts, now planning to whine and add conservative reporters and pundits to lead the debates for a change.
Harvard. “Free expression”, my sainted aunt! Whining. Bull.
Close. I am just amazed that no one ever thinks things through any deeper than a headline and then wonders why the world is as it is.
People should familiarize themselves with the term “Category Error”. they will then see it played out time and again. It leads to bigger problems than the originals.
“CE” is the act of defining a problem so poorly/wrongly that there is no hope of solving it. In the meantime, the actual problem gets worse.
People spazzed, rightfully about this psuedo black mass. It is offensive to Christians just as they presented it. Absolutely. but as I said in a couple posts above, People see it as a piece of bread bring messed with. Most secular people say ‘SO?’. And because they have defined the problem so poorly (the fact that there is far more to a black mass than eucharist desicration), it is simple to just categorize it as no big deal for ‘other than christians’. Thus it gets easier to mainstream.
Had the issue been defined correctly from the get go (A black mass actually involves human sacrifice and sodimizing the person as they die) then the issue would not be so easy to sell and people may ask WTH is wrong with everyone involved.
I think the benefit is obvious.
Let them have it... Let them own it! -I say!
No doubt justice Kagen is in favor of her former employer...I was waiting for her opt-ed in “Men’s Health”.
We are living in interesting times...The spiritual war is difficult to ignore.
The University president has a very interesting name.
Goethe wrote of a Dr. Faust....
Perhaps the prayers, fasting and Holy Hours had an influence.
Well,... I was thinking “mega church”, Norm, in terms not of bling, but flocks of huge proportion attending.
To your point on oppulence— after all, Our God was very fussy and precise when He commanded all that oppulence for His Temple, (Lev 25) and for those “idols”, in the form of cheribim and seraphim and great wings over the tabernacle.
Because, I never heard our Lord recall any of that oppulence or sacred art, when He and the apostles continued praying their regular hours in the oppulent Temple, before the sorrowful cricifixion. %?) Rita
Sadly people have gotten good at ignoring a lot of things. Which is why Category Error is so common. It’s easier to address a fictional or partially true issue that to deal with the full measure/reality of the actual one at hand.
It is, yet again, a manifestation of accepting the ‘lesser evil’. In all seriousness, who here did not wince when they read the words “Sodimizing the person as they die”?
I would bet we all did. I winced typing it. And because the reality is so hard to deal with, people minimize it to something easier to accept. They think “Well the wafer thing is bad enough”. Well to a Christian it is the Body of Christ. To an OTC it is a tasty snack that goes with cheese. Some may accept we revere what it represents or believe it to be. Many others do not.
But NO ONE can deny the evil of ‘the other thing’. And if they accept it, then they have to address the implications of the people involved. they have to ask why a College makes excuses for a ritual involving ritual human sacrifice and why the media is giddy to cover it. They have to ask many deeper questions they do not ‘feel’ comfortable asking.
So they don’t. thus America 2014.
See here is the problem.
With attacks on Christianity the Democrats are hugely alienating the black community, which is otherwise completely duped into voting 97% Democrat -contrary to thier interest.
I work with a black women who is considering converting to Islam from (devote) Christianity -pretty much due to the Liberal/progressive attack on Christianity. In the current culture...you can’t be black and not be a Democrat...AND...Christians are under constant attack by Democrats and they proxies liberals/progressives.
So...remain a Christian and be persecuted by the party you support AND lose your “blackness”...or....covert to Islam, which is the safe (if not cowardly route) in keeping with iron fisted government rule.
Which is the path of the righteous? (Sorry, a rhetorical question.)
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