Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Archbishop's Suit Seeks Return of Consecrated Host Taken By Organizers Of Black Mass
The Catholic Archbishop of Oklahoma City filed an unusual lawsuit yesterday in an effort to stop a satanic "Black Mass" ritual scheduled to be held at the Oklahoma City Civic Center on Sept. 21. The complaint (full text) in Coakley v. Daniels, (OK County Dist. Ct., filed 8/20/2014), seeks replevin (recovery of possession) of a Consecrated Host that was wrongfully retained by defendants Adam Daniels and his church, Dakhma of Angra Mainyu Syndicate, for use in their planned Black Mass ceremony. According to the complaint, the Consecrated Host is a wafer "that has undergone the transubstantiation and is now the body and blood of Jesus Christ." Defendants, it is contended, intend to desecrate the host during the ceremony by corrupting it with sexual fluids and stomping on it. According to CNHI News Service, as well as a statement from the Archbishop, both Catholics and Protestants have criticized the planned mockery of Catholic beliefs and have called for the Civic Center to cancel the event.