CV NEWS FEED // Police detained Michael Stewart, the leader of the Satanic Grotto, March 28 inside the Kansas State Capitol after he punched a man who had taken a piece of paper out of Stewart’s hands as Stewart reportedly began making a “dedication to Satan.”
It was the second of two altercations Stewart was involved in today.
Stewart held the satanic worship ritual, a so-called “black mass,” on the eastern steps outside the Capitol building, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. Several hundred counter-protestors had also turned out to the Capitol to pray and speak out against the blasphemous and sacrilegious ritual.
The Capital-Journal reported that while Stewart was on the steps of the Capitol and presenting “a communion wafer, a counter-protester — who had snuck past barriers separating the various Christian groups and Satanists — snatched the wafer from Stewart and fell to the ground. Stewart punched the man on the ground, and police detained the counter-protester.”
According to the Kansas Reflector, the counter-protestor had attempted to stop Stewart from stomping on the wafers, which were “intended to represent those used in a Catholic mass,” the Eucharist.
“He was trying to tackle me to get to the cracker underneath,” Stewart said, according to the Reflector. “I was able to kind of fend him off. I do think he may have picked up the crumbled cracker and ate it. Did I get physical with him? Yes.”
Republican Kansas Rep. Angela Stiens, who was present inside the Capitol in opposition of the ritual, told CatholicVote in a March 28 interview that she had not heard anything about a consecrated Eucharistic host being used but she had been told the wafers used were purchased online.
“They handed out 150 ‘mass kits,’ as I was told – they call them ‘mass kits,’” Stiens said. “I don’t know what those kits included, but they said that [they] were calling them ‘wafers.’ So I don’t know what that means … I was told they bought some unconsecrated hosts off of Amazon.”
She reiterated that she did not personally see one of the kits, so she does not know what was contained in them.
“But they were here today to mock our Catholic faith,” Stiens said. “There was no mistake about that.”
According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, shortly after the satanic worship ritual took place on the Capitol steps, Stewart went into the Capitol.
WIBW, a Topeka affiliate of CBS, reports that Stewart entered the Statehouse through the visitor’s entrance at about 11:30 a.m. CT March 28, claiming he was coming inside as a private citizen without any intention of performing a satanic worship ritual. Weeks prior, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly had declared that all demonstrations held at the Capitol March 28 were to take place outdoors. Law enforcement was present when Stewart entered.
Alex Love, a reporter for Kansas City, Missouri, CBS affiliate KCTV5, posted on X a video of Stewart entering the building. A security officer informed Stewart at the door that he was welcome to come inside the statehouse, but any performance of an event or disruption would lead to his arrest. In the video, Stewart is heard saying he understood.
WIBW reports that after Stewart went through security, he went to the rotunda, “where he held his arms skyward and made a dedication to Satan.”
Video footage then shows Stewart holding a piece of paper with his outstretched hand as he spoke. Stewart was surrounded by a number of people, including reporters. The Kansas Reflector reports that an unidentified man and woman, followed by several kids, physically intervened against Stewart, who then turned away from them.
A man identified as Marcus Schroeder walked up to where Stewart was standing, grabbed the paper Stewart was holding, and began trying to pull it away from him.
Stewart held onto the paper and threw two punches at Schroeder. A security official intervened and swept Stewart’s leg, sending Stewart falling to the floor. Multiple law enforcement officers began assisting in detaining Stewart, who could be heard repeatedly saying, “I am not resisting.”
The police escorted Stewart in custody to another room in the Statehouse. Counter-protestors along the way could be heard loudly praying the “Hail Mary.” Protestors could be heard yelling “Hail Satan” along the way as well.
BREAKING: The leader of the Satanic Grotto gets arrested at Kansas State Capitol for assaulting a Catholic during a “Black Mass” attempt. pic.twitter.com/oo55sxO0SN
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) March 28, 2025
According to the Kansas Reflector, after Stewart was detained, “two other satanists tried to pick up where Stewart left off and were taken into custody.”
KCTV5 reports that a woman identifying as Stewart’s wife defended Stewart’s actions.
“She said he merely was conducting the ritual as it was originally permitted: to take place inside the Capitol,” KCTV5 reports.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City has called for Catholics to pray for the conversion of those organizing the ritual.
An Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus can be found here.
The Divine Praises can be prayed here.
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