The Harvard Black Mass Doesn’t Appear to Have Happened. Here’s What Happened Instead
From the article at NRO:
There is also a photo of the eucharistic procession through the streets from MIT to St. Paul's.
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.”
We should demand equal defamation. If liberals get a black mass on a holy day, we get to burn a Koran for the start of Ramadan.
I look at the megachurch as bling. At the core we seem to be on the same page there. Just wording it differently I think.
God also told us to give our clothes to those without them and to live modestly. What gets me with the opulence is this. In the time of the Apostles, there was no vast city with cellars filled with priceless works of art. What there was, was for believers to see and imagine the kingdom of God through.
People cannot do that when a church stockpiles and hides it.
Amen! We should try it more often! :)
We are another Babylon
Harvard did what?
They told it to go away.
I think you almost WANT a persecution complex.
Simple...not enough people standing against the tide.......they have abandoned God for the most part...too many only giving lip service....and parents abandoning their kids
WHO told them to go away? It was certainly NOT Harvard. It was rolling, mounting pressure. They were getting reluctant support from the Harvard suits on “free expression” grounds. That’s it!
I think you’ve GOT a persecution complex.
Spread it around elsewhere, but don’t flatter Harvard because you can’t follow the story.
And I am reconsidering playing nice with Democrats. Lenhart said it first— voters are sick of watching no-fight Republicans (paraphrasing) to good to battle if the turf is a little muddy.
Forgot to ping you to a mention.
I hate to play the Devil’s Advocate, but our First Amendment stipulates that SICK and evil people also have a right to free speech.
Don’t look.
He’s already here.
So for now...
the mystery of iniquity already works: only the one who now restrains will restrain for a time, until he steps out of the way (2 Thess 2:7).
Then...
shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved (2 Thess 2:8-10).
...
they received not the love of the truth
Pretty appropriate for this institution I'd say.
Very much agreed, however this is very much a spiritual battle. Any meaningful pushback would have to be backed by much prayer and fasting by many thousands of believers.
I soo agree with you! I fight insulated in the choir here, (you know what I mean I’m sure). I believe you, absolutely.
Truly, we should take the ranting time and give it instead to our Lord, in fasting and prayer.
Frustrations have come certainly with increasing evil, oppression, and suppression of faith. Our whole life is a prayer of petition now. Thx,
Rita
>> a parody of the Catholic Mass
I suppose there might be a few posters disappointed about the cancellation... What am I saying — the posters will argue the Catholic Mass should also be postponed indefinitely.
>> It is increasingly dark and eerie out there
Existence is intrinsically evil. It’s not without its beauty, and it’s certainly not without its Hell.
Existence is not intrinsically evil. Grace exists. Children exist. These are not intrinsically evil, or else we would have to say creation itself is intrinsically evil. We know that intrinsic evil would not be something God would create, nor attach to his creation, because in the heart of man comes free will, of course.
Free will is intrinsic.
But, yes, evil cohabitates with the living, but it does not possess intrinsically.
Needs to be organized, national, and massive. There are a few groups that go at it for several weeks prior to presidential elections, but it’s not enough. The cultural rot keeps advancing.
National Day of Prayer is a good start but I’m beginning to think that it has to be every day, plus there needs to be spiritual warfare as well.
“...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.”
This is baloney. The university's administration may invite whomever it wishes, and those invited are almost always liberal, but there are many groups on campus who bring in outside speakers, and many of these groups are conservative and invited conservative speakers. AND THESE GROUPS DON'T EVEN HAVE TO RENT THE BAR to have their events and have their speakers heard.
Harvard's administration has actually made space for folks who aren't liberal to have a voice, have their say, have a space at Harvard. This is often in opposition to folks who view us and our causes as hate speech and hate crimes. Now, we have given those who would like to label our views as beyond the pale of acceptable discourse some extra ammunition to have US banned.
sitetest
I am surprised at the naivete of your remarks. With their mouth, Harvard (barely) tolerated this group and its event. With their actions, their message was “See ya, don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.”
President Faust's last statement before going over to St. Paul's was almost an explicit threat to the night school students. Eventually, the night schoolers understood that they'd royally angered the administration with this whole circus, and they actually dropped their sponsorship therefrom, disassociating their [anonymous] selves from the entire venture.
The university got exactly what it wanted: It wished to show that it upheld the principle of academic freedom and freedom of expression while crushing this stupid, gross, insulting abortion of an event that these students wanted to bring on campus. They'll take a few bricks and catcalls from each side, but it will be remembered some time from now by folks who were in St. Paul's last night that all of official Harvard, from the president of the university, to the president of Harvard's chaplaincy, to various deans, etc., stood with them and prayed with them last night.
What will be remembered is that the group of night schoolers turned tail and ran away - actually “voluntarily” giving up their rented space on campus before having been able to secure an alternative location, and eventually abandoning the whole project, leaving the satanists on their own to find room above a Chinese restaurant nearby.
sitetest
The Harvard Black Mass Doesn’t Appear to Have Happened. Here’s What Happened Instead
From the article at NRO:
There is also a photo of the eucharistic procession through the streets from MIT to St. Paul's.
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