Annual Black Mass at Oklahoma City Civic Center. Last Year had Zero Attendance.

I’m only writing about this because my Archbishop has made a statement about it.

Every autumn here in Oklahoma, right along with the nuts that fall down from the trees, a guy who calls himself a “high priest of a satanic group” or one of his cohorts holds a black mass at the Oklahoma City Civic Center.

According to the aforesaid “high priest,” this black mass is “similar to a Catholic Mass, but done in such a way that you are offering a sacrifice to Satan to receive his blessing.”

He does this every year, and every year, the turnout is a wee bit less than stellar. Last year, nobody showed up at all.

This “high priest” says that “the goal of the event is to continue the satanic movement — to keep fighting for our rights for religious freedom.”

It looks to me like his “rights for religious freedom” are chugging along just fine. He’s managed to get the coin to rent a small auditorium at the Civic Center, which doesn’t come cheap, and he’s free to do his di-dos — albeit “toned down to meet the laws of Oklahoma and the rules of a government building” —to a fare-thee-well.

In their 2010 Civic Center extravaganza, the satanists’ “Lord High Master” (they’re pretty good at dreaming up spiffy titles for themselves) announced “We don’t kill animals, we don’t kill children,” which, I assume was a great comfort to one and all. However, it might be a little bit less comforting if people knew that Adam Daniels, the “high priest” is a registered sex offender who has been convicted of sexual battery. Mr Daniels has a history of involvement with these satanic events going back several years.

The “Lord High Master” explained that the black “mass” was “just a blasphemy ritual.”

That’s nice, of course, but it does point out one tiny little thing. To have blasphemy, you’ve got to have God. In fact, asking “Satan to receive his blessing” kinda implies that you have a belief in the whole Bible deal, since that is where and how we know about the devil.

Given what we know about him, why do you suppose a person would want Satan’s blessing? For that matter, why would they want Satan’s attention?

Worshipping Satan is, among other things, stupid. Atheism, I kinda get. You don’t think God exists. Fair enough. You’re wrong, but fair enough.

But … worshipping Satan? That’s, as we say in these parts, not too swift.

For reasons I can’t quite pinpoint, I don’t get as worked up about these things as most of my faith-filled friends. I guess it’s because I think that anyone stupid enough to worship Satan would probably also be stupid enough to inject themselves with the ebola virus. On a spiritual level, the two actions seem roughly equivalent.

I do think that Satan is coming out from behind his many masks more and more as our society deteriorates. For generations, his ploy has been to convince people that he doesn’t exist while he operated through his unaware, but willing, human disciples.

He’s still operating through his unaware but willing human disciples, and he’s using them for bold and bolder attacks on Christians and the Church. But now, he’s also beginning to show his own face. He’s still disguised by a bit of grease paint and a clown mask, but Satan is slowly coming out.

Be that as it may, his pathetic little worshippers and their pathetic little black mass are a waste of good angst. I go to the real mass on a regular basis, and I can tell you, the Presence I encounter there gives the blessing I crave and is the One I trust. I choose Christ. Always.

On a lighter note, how exactly do you clean a place after a black mass? It’s a kind of dirty that Clorox and Lysol won’t fix.

All I know is that I’m going to ignore this bozo and all his fellow bozos. I don’t plan to be anywhere near the Civic Center when this hoedown comes down. If I do anything at all, I’ll attend mass at my parish at the same time and partake of the Living Sacrifice that leads to eternal life.

Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God.

There is no substitute.

The Civic Center listing, via Fox25:

Cost: Tickets should be $10 to $15.

For more details, check out Dawn Eden‘s excellent commentary.