Posted on 07/01/2014 4:48:46 PM PDT by markomalley
Archbishop Paul Coakley has called on Catholics to pray that God might change the minds of the organizers of a “Black Mass” scheduled for later this year in Oklahoma City.
On Tuesday, Coakley expressed his astonishment and disappointment at this event and called on community leaders to reconsider whether it is an appropriate use of public space.
“The ‘Black Mass’ that is scheduled for the Civic Center in September is a satanic inversion and distortion of the most sacred beliefs not only of Catholics, but of all Christians,” Coakley said.
Coakley, leader of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, said for more than 1 billion Catholics worldwide and more than 200,000 Catholics in Oklahoma, the Mass is the most sacred of religious rituals. It is the center of Catholic worship and celebrates Jesus’ redeeming work through his death and resurrection, Coakley said.
In particular, the Eucharist, also known as communion, which Catholics believe to be the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus, is the source and summit of their faith, Coakley said.
“That’s why we’re astonished and grieved that the Civic Center would promote as entertainment and sell tickets for an event that is very transparently a blasphemous mockery of the Mass,” Coakley said.
Civic Center Music Hall spokeswoman Jennifer Lindsey-McClintock said the Civic Center Music Hall is a taxpayer funded entity and in that capacity it honors and upholds relevant state and federal laws including the U.S. Constitution, which allows for the free expression of speech and equal protection among all groups and individuals.
Lindsey-McClintock said the Civic Center is a rental facility, meaning it does not produce or fund shows. It hosts more than 2,000 events and performances each year, including religious services from multiple faith backgrounds, Lindsey-McClintock said.
“We appreciate the archbishop’s concerns regarding this event as it applies to people of faith,” she said. “As with any show held in our facility, we work with the production group to ensure no laws or ordinances are broken during the event.”
Lindsey-McClintock said this is the fourth time this group has held a similar production at the Civic Center and each time they have had attendance of fewer than 50 people in a theater that seats only 92.
Information on the Civic Center’s website advertised the event, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 at City Space Theatre. It is being presented by Dakhma of Angra Mainyu and features musical guest Kali-Ra.
“The Black Mass has been a feared ritual and now it’s being brought into the light!” the event description on the Civic Center’s website states. “This will be not only enlightening but educational as well. This Black Mass will be conducted for the public to attend with certain adaptations to allow for a legal celebration.”
A Black Mass is an inversion or parody of the Catholic Mass. It combines belief in the devil, use of the Mass for materials and parodies of orthodox Christian ritual, according to satansheaven.com. The origin of belief in the Black — or Satanic — Mass dates to medieval magic and witchcraft, yet no one knows the early history of the magical act.
The right to assemble and protest is codified in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Coakley said if the event does move forward, Catholics will have to consider other peaceful, prayerful and respectful options to demonstrate their opposition to this publicly supported sacrilegious act.
In May, a Black Mass scheduled on the Harvard campus was canceled amid outcry, according to a Boston Globe report.
The federal Public Works Administration, created in 1933, provided dollars to fund projects across the country including money for the Civic Center, according to field records from the Historic American Landscapes Survey by the National Park Service. Plans for the complex were funded with $1.4 million from the PWA and the remaining $1.7 million from a city bond issue. Construction involved other government agencies including the Civil Works Administration.
Recent support includes the 1993 Oklahoma City MAPS project, taxpayer dollars that helped fund renovations, and the Civic Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization created in 2000 to fund other improvements.
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I’ll pray for these people all while I assert that they have every right to do this.
I’ll bet many who attend will be democrats, just like the tens of thousands of democrats that attended the NAZI rallies in the USA before WWII, many of the rallies were held at Madison Square Garden in NJ.
Those friggin out of state satanists are sure doing every thing they can to aggravate Oklahomans....I predict it wont turn out too well for them. Lots of flat tires and people refusing to help them fix or sell them tires...
I know my state
The event is scheduled for the Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist.
May He who called to conversion the one who had gathered taxes, transforming him into a collector of quotations and parables, likewise convert these notorious sinners!
Correction...these guys appear to be local..I was wrong
I’m an EME (extraordinary minister of the Eucharist). At a Catholic funeral today I found myself watching a couple in the pew in front of me. When the priest said to kneel or sit, they sat. They made no responses. They did not make the sign of the cross etc. So I’m thinking, fine, not Catholic. I saw them whispering when it was time to go up to Communion. They went. I watched carefully to make sure that they consumed the host. They did. I wish the priest had said something. I’ve been to two Catholic weddings recently where the priest said you can receive if you are in full communion with the Church. This guy didn’t say squat. sigh.
I would have been in his office MOMENTS after the Mass was over...he knows his obligation to advise the participants of who can and who cannot recieve and there is NO excuse to avoid this information...he is pathetic and you are.....too meek.
this is your parish, not his....straighten him out immediately!!!!!
Hmm.
Ive studied religion but I dont know much about this one...Is it actually considered a religion now?....Do they preach beheading....subjugation of women?....Destruction of “unbelievers”?....just curious......If they are worthy of gov. funding........................................
oh well
Maybe the Archbishop should advise the theatre that should they decide to move forward that he will organize several thousand of the 200,000 Catholics in his archdiocese to come down and demonstrate in front of that theatre on the night of the Black Mass as well as several other events prior to the Mass. The Archbishop should lead the demonstration along with just about every priest in the parishes. In other words, shut that theatre down by making it impossible for anyone with a ticket to get near it.
Actions speak louder than words, and it is past time for all true Americans to get off their duffs and hit the streets. Consider how a few hundred demonstrating Americans blocked three buses of Illegals yesterday in California that our government was attempting to relocate from San Diego into Riverside County, CA. Folks, it can be done.
If they really want to smoke them out, someone should apply to hold a mockery of an Islamic whatever their worship meeting is called.
It wasn’t my parish. But I should have said something.
Catholics and other Christians being peaceful and respectful is why we still have abortion and abortifacients today. That's not how you get things done.
Precisely!!!
IDIOCY.....do you feel the same way about KILLING the UNBORN BABIES???
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