Kansas bishops call for prayers, plan legal response to planned ‘black mass’

St. Michael the Archangel. / Credit: Flickr/thederek412 (CC BY 2.0)

CNA Staff, Mar 7, 2025 / 16:20 pm (CNA).

Amid reports that a Kansas “Satanist” group is planning to hold a so-called “black mass” at the Kansas Capitol later this month, the Catholic bishops of the state are urging prayer and exploring their legal options.

In a direct mockery of the Catholic Mass, groups that have staged so-called “black masses” in recent years have on at least one occasion boasted of possessing a stolen consecrated host with an intent to desecrate the Eucharist in an unspecified but profane ritual. 

The Catholic bishops of Kansas said Thursday that they are “aware of a sacrilegious event scheduled to take place later this month inside the state Capitol,” adding that “spiritual and legal responses are being explored” to counter the planned event. 

“If true, this explicit demonstration of anti-Catholic bigotry will be an insult to not only Catholics but all people of goodwill. Spiritual and legal responses are being explored,” the bishops said in a joint statement shared with CNA on March 6.

“The Catholic bishops of Kansas ask that first and foremost, we pray for the conversion of those taking part in this event, as well as each person’s own conversion of heart during this sacred season of Lent. The Kansas Catholic Conference will continue to update the faithful as the situation unfolds.”

The Satanic Grotto, the group purportedly organizing the March 28 “black mass,” says the event is intended to “dedicate the grounds and our legislature to the glory of Satan.” The group will be “performing rites” and “indulging in sacrilegious blaspheme [sic].” 

The Satanic Grotto has engaged in anti-Catholic political protests in the past, including recently at the Kansas March for Life. 

A traditionalist Catholic group called the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) has launched a petition asking Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly to shut down the event at the Capitol. 

Last October, Catholics in Atlanta were outraged and called to prayer when a “black mass” event was announced by the Satanic Temple, a provocative Salem, Massachusetts-based political organization that denies belief in the supernatural and is known for protesting religious symbolism in public spaces.

After legal action by the Atlanta Archdiocese, the Satanic Temple admitted it did not have a consecrated host and did not intend to use one in its “mass.”

In 2014, a planned “black mass” at Harvard University sparked considerable outcry from Catholics, as did another one later that year in Oklahoma City. The latter led to a successful lawsuit from the Oklahoma City Archdiocese against an occult group that claimed to have obtained a consecrated host, leading to the host’s return.