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Satanists slated to perform ‘black mass’ at Harvard University claim they don't believe in the supernatural
The Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club is hosting a black mass on campus next week. Lucien Greaves, spokesperson for The Satanic Temple, says his group doesn't want to make a mockery of the Catholic Church — or provoke the Devil.   

Medieval people believed witches performed black masses to worship the Devil — but the accusations were most likely used to justify witch hunts.
They’re playing Devil’s advocate.

The New York-based Satanic Temple will be staging a black mass on Harvard University’s main campus next Monday — and the thought of calling demons into being has the Church all riled up.

Perhaps that’s the point.

The black mass is an inversion of the traditional Catholic Mass that medieval people associated with witches. The witches were accused of stealing a consecrated piece of Communion bread for the mass and worshipping the Devil.

However, there’s little evidence that the specter of black masses was anything more than myth that was used by people in power to justify witch hunts and trials.

Satanic Temple spokesperson Lucien Greaves says his group contacted the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club to organize a re-enactment of a black mass based on the imaginings of French writer Joris-Karl Huysman in the novel “La-bas.” Huysman wrote the novel during the French Occult Revival of the 1800s.

Lucien Greaves is spokesperson for The Satanic Temple.
ELYDANE VIA YOUTUBE
Lucien Greaves is spokesperson for The Satanic Temple.
Greaves says next week’s black mass at Harvard’s Queen's Head Pub is meant to be educational. Members of the Satanic Temple don’t have anything diabolical planned — the group is not planning to use a consecrated host or provoke the spirit world. In fact, Greaves says he is an atheist.

“This is not a supernatural ritual,” Greaves told the Daily News. “We don’t believe in the supernatural. And I don’t think belief in the supernatural should give you any privilege, since any deeply held belief should be protected.”

This makes The Satanic Temple’s activities more of a political statement than a cohesive religious ritual — in other words, closer in theology to the Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster than the Church of Satan.

Still, the Devil is essential.

“There’s no stronger cultural symbol for the revolt against the general idea of arbitrary authority and revolt against ultimate tyranny,” Greaves said of Satan. “There’s no better a construct that can act as a narrative for our works and goals.”

The black mass will take place at the Queen's Head Pub in Harvard’s Memorial Hall.
All this talk about Satan has spooked the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston issued a statement blasting the Satanists’ scheduled demonstration and announced plans to conduct a “Holy Hour” during the same time at a nearby church.

“For the good of the Catholic faithful and all people, the Church provides clear teaching concerning Satanic worship,” the statement read. “This activity separates people from God and the human community, it is contrary to charity and goodness, and it places participants dangerously close to destructive works of evil.”

But the show will go on. Harvard University emphasized that they do not endorse the view of the Cultural Studies Club. Still, the school said in a statement that they supported the rights of the students to assemble freely.

As part of a series exploring different cultures, the Cultural Studies Club is also hosting a Shinto tea ceremony, a Shaker exhibition and a Buddhist presentation on meditation.

The Satanic Temple, on the other hand, has been actively involved in the church-state debate in the past. Currently, the group is trying to plant a monument to Satan at the Oklahoma Capitol as an alternative to a Ten Commandments monument that has been there since 2012.

Quote from: Matthew

Quote from: Matto

It says it is a reenactment of a black Mass. Does that mean that they do not have a true priest so that Our Lord will not be present?

I'm not a black Mass expert, but I think that they usually just have a consecrated Host, upon which outrages are committed.

How they get their infernal hands on the Blessed Sacrament probably varies.

Black Masses are one of those ugly realities that most people are blissfully unaware of.

If we only knew what went on under cover of darkness all over the world...

Supposedly they don't plan on using a consecrated Host. I'm at least a little relieved to hear that. Who knows if it's true, since their leader is the Father of Lies. With some of the wolves masquerading as priests, I imagine obtaining a consecrated host wouldn't be as difficult as it should be.The whole idea of a black mass is absolutely sickening, with or without a consecrated Host, but much more abhorrent with one.

It says it is a reenactment of a black Mass. Does that mean that they do not have a true priest so that Our Lord will not be present?

Ten thousand men and women of Harvard have spoken against the hateful event scheduled to take place tonight at Memorial Hall. Students, alumni, parents, and friends of the Harvard community are outraged, embarrassed, and, more than anything, deeply saddened that Harvard has permitted the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club to host a reenactment of the Satanic “Black Mass” on campus. This ritual is explicitly intended to parody the Catholic Mass in the most offensive way possible. Historically, black masses have involved desecrating the Eucharist, which Catholics believe is the real body of Jesus Christ, by placing it on the genitals of a naked woman, urinating on it, and slitting an infant’s throat to pour blood over it.

Early reports from Patheos stated that the Cultural Studies Club “have obtained and will use a consecrated host during this ‘re-enactment’” based on a conversation with the group’s PR director. This would need to have been obtained illicitly from a Catholic church for their purposes. However, the most recent statement released by the Extension School has recanted and assured the public that the ritual will involve an ordinary piece of bread. Conflicting reports have continued to emerge. On Wednesday Undergraduate Chaplain Fr. Matthew Westcott urged parishioners at St. Paul’s to consume the host in front of the priest and ministers to ensure the safety of our most precious religious practice. Actions intended to inspire such fear among the Catholic community have no place among our tolerant and “welcoming” Harvard.

Even if the members of the Satanic Temple do not employ a consecrated host, there are a number of problems with the desecration of Catholics’ most important sacrament. As some alumni have been bold enough to mention, Harvard would never allow a reenactment of the burning of the Quran for the sake of religious or free expression, or even education. While the Satanic Temple rejects the idea of the supernatural and does not believe that their actions have metaphysical implications, we believe they are summoning true evil into the heart of campus and thus, like the Archdiocese of Boston, revile it. In fact, they are inviting the prince of darkness to sit among the most vulnerable of our community, the freshmen, in the safe space that they use to eat, socialize, and study. Furthermore, they are cowards—if the Satanic Temple were seeking to truly foster campus dialogue, they would not have chosen this time when students are busy and stressed with finals. We are saddened that our last days on campus as seniors will forever be tarnished by Harvard sanctioning hateful acts against the most important thing in our lives: our Catholic Faith.


As Harvard Catholics, we completely reject the educational pretenses under which this event has been sanctioned. The Cultural Studies Club and the Extension School’s original statement emphasized that, as part of a series of events including “a Shinto tea ceremony, a Shaker exhibition, and a Buddhist presentation on meditation,” the club is presenting an educational effort to “explore different cultures.” The Satanic Temple, which is really behind this particular event, is a religious community guilty of greater fundamentalism than any group it intends to mock. Any notion that the Satanic Temple is simply a cultural group is nonsense.

Many of our friends and the leaders of various campus fellowships, such as Harvard Christian Faith in Action, the Latter-Day Saint Student Association, Christian Impact, and the Harvard Islamic Society, have shown support for us in the Catholic community at this difficult time. For that, we are unspeakably grateful. Others, like responders over House lists and trolls on Facebook, have only added insult to injury by saying that that the Church deserves this hatred. As followers of Christ under the leadership of Pope Francis, we can only hope that such responses come from ignorance rather than malice.

In response to this event, the Harvard Catholic community has rallied around three petitions that together have already gathered 40,000 signatures. At the current pace, the group of undergraduates who organized the petition expects the number of signatories to grow to 50,000 by Monday afternoon. We are presenting the petitions to University President Drew G. Faust with the hope of having the event cancelled. Regardless, we will unite in prayer and solidarity. Our friends at MIT will lead a Eucharistic Procession to St. Paul’s Parish in Harvard Square, where the Harvard Catholic Community will host a Holy Hour from 8 to 9 p.m. This is a time of prayer for those who seek to persecute the Church and the University that has allowed it. The only response to such overwhelming hate is that of Christ Himself: love.