TOPEKA, Kansas (LifeSiteNews) — Kansas Archbishop Joseph Naumann celebrated Mass and hosted Eucharistic Adoration on Friday in a packed church directly across from the state capitol in response to a blasphemous satanic event.
Up to 400 people attended the Mass with Archbishop Naumann in Assumption Church at noon, according to the Kansas Reflector. The Mass followed a Holy Hour of Adoration at 11:00 a.m., the same time that satanists planned to enter the Kansas state house and commit a “black mass” that involved an attempted desecration of a Host and the dedication of the building to the devil.
“What I do not understand is why we are giving our Capitol as a venue for what truly is hate speech,” Archbishop Naumann said in his homily.
He rebuked the group behind the event, the Kansas-based “Satanic Grotto,” saying that they “present their abortion advocacy as part of their fake religion so that they can claim religious rights are being violated by any efforts to provide protection to the unborn and their mothers.”
“It’s sad, those who are trying to desecrate the Capitol today, desecrate symbols of faith – Bibles and crucifixes,” adding that “this is a sad state of life for them to be in.”
“A handful of Republican legislators” attended the Mass, the Reflector noted. Both chambers of the Republican-led Kansas legislature and Kansas GOP Attorney General Kris Kobach denounced the blasphemous demonstration.
The other three bishops of Kansas also held Masses and Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration at the same time on Friday in their respective diocesan cathedrals in Dodge City, Salina, and Wichita, the Kansas Catholic Conference (KCC) announced.
Archbishop Naumann, who has led the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas since 2004, had previously condemned the “black mass,” calling it an attempt to “mock Christianity.”
“The Catholic Church’s response to this mockery and blasphemy of what we hold sacred is to encourage Catholics and all Christians to pray,” he said in a March 21 letter. “Pray for God’s mercy for those who blaspheme God.”
On Tuesday, the Solemnity of the Annunciation, he celebrated a Mass for expectant parents in which he reconsecrated Kansas to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The Kansas Catholic Conference noted that the leader of the Satanic Grotto said that he would cancel the blasphemous event if the pro-life conference halted its public policy advocacy efforts. “It is no coincidence that those working for the Evil One detests our advocacy for Life,” KCC Executive Director Chuck Weber said. “We will not back down.”
Hundreds of Catholics protest demonic blasphemy
The so-called “black mass” on Friday, which took place outside the capitol after Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly revoked the satanists’ initial permit for an indoor gathering due to backlash, was met with a massive Catholic counter-demonstration joined by hundreds of people from across the country, including California, Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, and Missouri.
Catholic protesters prayed 15 decades of the Holy Rosary and sang Marian and patriotic hymns in between decades, according to the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP).
“The stirring sound of bagpipes and drums added energy and enthusiasm to the prayers,” the Catholic group said. “After the Rosary, the crowd prayed the Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, asking God to protect the state of Kansas from demonic influence.”
TFP had collected more than 95,000 signatures urging Kelly to prevent the satanic event from taking place inside the state capitol.
At one point, a Catholic man disrupted the satanists and consumed a Host, preventing them from further blaspheming the Eucharist.
