CV NEWS FEED // Christians from across the state and country gathered Friday in Topeka, Kansas, and lifted their voices in prayerful song as a group of satanists assembled next to the Kansas State Capitol building for a so-called “black mass,” a sacrilegious ritual mocking the Eucharist and the Christian faith.
The only physical separation between the groups was a few strips of yellow police tape.
“How great is our God,” the Christians sang, nearly drowning out the satanists’ insults and obscene statements. One satanist began blowing a shrill whistle to cut through the praise of God.
Nearby, a group of young men shouted “Christ is King” through a loudspeaker, while a group of Catholics gathered silently around an elevated crucifix, some on their knees with a Rosary, heads bowed in prayer. The satanists — part of a group known as the Satanic Grotto — continued shouting back.
Another satanist, wearing a shirt bearing an upside-down cross and the words, “I am here to do the devil’s work,” approached the tape barrier to converse with some of the Christians, telling them that he was praying to Satan for them.
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On an adjacent side of the Capitol, more Christians, mobilized by The American Society for the Defense of Family, Tradition, and Property, stood impassively with flags and signs to protest the desecration that was about to begin. Four young men bearing a statue of Our Lady of Fatima made their way through the crowd toward the Capitol as those around them sang “Immaculate Mary.”
‘I’m here with you Lord, I’m not asleep, I’m right here beside you’
The event has been a source of contention for weeks, with many Christians demanding its cancellation. Catholics Sasha and Thomas Keyes brought their five children to the protest before the satanic ritual began, and, together with the Christians around them, they joined in peaceful prayer for the conversion of those engaged with the ritual.
Sasha Keyes told CatholicVote that the family had visited the Capitol a few days prior and prayed the Rosary, placing exorcised salt around the building and holy oil on the four corners of the property.
Thomas Keyes, the faithful navigator and deputy Grand Knight of his local Knights of Columbus council, said that the protest was not done out of malice or hate, but “purely out of love.”
Sasha added that she felt a personal call for their family to attend the protest, saying that she felt it was appropriate that it occurred during Lent.
“The ‘black mass’ is everything that our Lord went through with Pontius Pilate and dying on the Cross … and it just hit home that I didn’t want to be one of the apostles that wasn’t here with our Lord as he suffered,” she said.
“A black mass is supposed to have the body and blood of Christ and it’s supposed to be desecrated and just to think of our Lord going through that, and not being here in some way to say ‘I’m here with you Lord, I’m not asleep, I’m right here beside you;’ we just felt a personal call to be there for that.”
In response to a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Kansas City Archbishop Naumann to recover any potentially stolen consecrated hosts, the group’s leader, Michael Stewart, testified under oath that he and the Satanic Grotto did not have a consecrated host.
However, a video from local media showed that a type of wafer was used during their ritual. It is unclear whether the wafer was consecrated. According to Republican State Rep. Angela Stiens, the satanists had purchased unconsecrated hosts from Amazon and additionally distributed 150 “mass kits,” which she said may have contained unconsecrated hosts as well. She suspected that the wafer used during the ritual came from one of the two places.
CatholicVote Political Director Logan Church said during the protest that the very fact that the satanic ritual was occurring at all was “proof that the battle is real.”
“Here’s the reality that they don’t understand. You cannot mock the Eucharist without recognizing that there is something of power,” she stated. “You don’t see people gathering together to protest to get something that isn’t true or isn’t real or doesn’t have power.”
“The fact that they seek to desecrate our Eucharist tells us one thing that is true,” she continued. “Jesus Christ is alive and real in the Eucharist, and they know it. So we will not be silent. We will not stand by. We join together in prayer, and we know one thing that is true about the Church. We will not be shaken. We will not be moved, and we will continue to claim the victory of Christ.”
Non-Catholic Christians were also present as witnesses to the faith. Kyle Lammott, the pastor of Exodus Church in Wichita, Kansas, said he was there because he believes that Jesus Christ is the king of nations.
“Any attack against our nation from a satanic group needs to be opposed. I think that is part and parcel to the good news of the gospel,” he said. “The gospel goes forth in power and it is transforming everything, including states and governments, individuals and families, communities, so any attack against that, I think it’s a call of the Christian minister and the body of Christ to stay opposed to the attacks of Satan.”
Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue, was also present.
“We’re here not as a counter demonstration, but as a victory, a statement of victory that Jesus won the battle against the devil and his minions on the cross,” he said. “And as we celebrate this Lent and Easter season, it’s very easy. In fact, it’s a celebration of Christ’s victory over death. Satan was defeated. …So we’re not here angrily. We’re here in celebration [of the] beauty of Christ’s shed blood on the cross, offering that same salvation hope to these people who are worshiping Satan.”
Deacon Charles Welte, who serves at St. Benedict Parish in Atchison, Kansas, and as the director of information technology at Benedictine College, showed emotion when CatholicVote asked why he was at the Capitol. He was recalling that this Sunday’s Gospel reading includes the parable of the prodigal son.
“These men and women over here are lost like the prodigal son was,” he said as tears welled up in his eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t realize I was getting emotional, but they’re just so misguided and misled and so we’re just here to witness, to show them what real love, real truth is … Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that’s really why we’re here on this earth: to live that out and to proclaim it to others.”
Catholics make strong spiritual response
The Satanic ritual began at 11 a.m. outside the Capitol. While some Christians remained to protest and witness to the faith as the ritual proceeded, thousands more headed to nearby churches for adoration and Mass. Along with Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann, hundreds of faithful adored the Eucharist in Mater Dei Church (often called Assumption Church), which is directly across the street from the Capitol.
Inside the church, the faithful recited the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Mass began immediately following the Holy Hour. It was celebrated by Archbishop Naumann and concelebrated by seven other priests.
“It is a sad day for Kansas. Our Capitol is being used for satanic worship that is intended to mock Jesus Christ, all people of faith, to mock all Christians, and in particular to mock our Catholic faith,” Archbishop Naumann stated in his homily.
Archbishop Naumann called the satanic ritual “hate speech” that was intended to foster conflict and provoke chaos, adding that it not only mocks Catholicism, but also the good, true, and beautiful. He also touched on the Catholic response to the ritual, stating, “We gather to give glory to God and praise him for his goodness.”
“[The satanists] provoke confrontation, confusion, chaos, and disharmony; we unite in prayer and adoration of God,” he said, “and we pray for mercy and grace for both ourselves and those who seek to mock our merciful God.”
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