The Archdiocese of Boston is joining its voice to the growing outrage over a black mass scheduled to take place at Harvard’s Queen’s Head Pub, an event the University is calling “cultural” and the Temple is now saying won’t include a consecrated host – but will include “invectives against Christ” during the mass.

Jeff Neal, a spokesman for Harvard University, issued a statement acknowledging that the black mass is scheduled to take place on May 12 as part of an exploration of “culture” by members of the Harvard Extension School’s Cultural Studies Club.

“Harvard Extension School does not endorse the views or activities of any independent student organization. But we do support the rights of our students and faculty to speak and assemble freely,” the statement reads.

“In this case, we understand that this independent student organization, the Cultural Studies Club, is hosting a series of events—including a Shinto tea ceremony, a Shaker exhibition, and a Buddhist presentation on meditation—as part of a student-led effort to explore different cultures.”

The Archdiocese of Boston disagrees and has issued a statement expressing its “deep sadness and strong opposition to the plan to stage a ‘black mass’ on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge.

“For the good of the Catholic faithful and all people, the Church provides clear teaching concerning Satanic worship.  This activity separates people from God and the human community, it is contrary to charity and goodness, and it places participants dangerously close to destructive works of evil.”

The Archdiocese goes on to remind the faithful of a recent warning from Pope Francis of the danger of being naive about – or underestimating – the power of Satan.

“We call upon all believers and people of good will to join us in prayer for those who are involved in this event, that they may come to appreciate the gravity of their actions, and in asking Harvard to disassociate itself from this activity,” the Archdiocese said.

Catholic League President Bill Donohue called Harvard’s statement “outrageous” and noted the deliberate exclusion of the black mass in the club’s upcoming series.

“The statement did not say what was ‘controversial’ about these three events. Of greater interest to the Catholic League is the glaring omission: it never mentioned the Satanic Temple’s ‘Black Mass.’ Yet if Shinto, Shaker and Buddhist presentations are so controversial that they demand an explanation, why wasn’t this deliberate assault on Catholic sensibilities mentioned? This was not an oversight.”

In the meantime, the Satanic Temple now claims that they will not use a consecrated host and issued a statement apologizing for this “mistake”.

“This was a miscommunication on our part and want to let you know that we respect all religions and don’t want anyone to feel offended,” the Temple claims. “We understand the powerful role that the Eucharist plays in the Christian religion and in no way want to appear as though we don’t respect your traditions.”

The statement does not make sense in light of the fact that the black mass is a sacrilegious parody of the Catholic Mass which has, as its main objective, profaning the Eucharist. Unless they’ve created some other version of the black mass, which seems doubtful as they plan to present it with a narration of its historical content and background, they are either presenting a mockery of the Mass or they are not staging a black mass. Period.

Seeking clarification from Temple spokeswoman, Priya Dua, she explained that the black mass they are staging will indeed be a “historical presentation.”

In other words, it will include blaspheming God and using invectives against Christ?  “Yes, it will,” Ms. Dua said. “But this will not be to make fun of anyone’s beliefs,” she said. Instead, it would be done to help people better understand different religions, including that of Satanism.

She assured me that they would be using a “stunt” host at the mass, but was unable to tell me how anyone could be certain that they were not using a consecrated host.

To put her comments in context, consider what she told  blogger Elizabeth Scalia – that the Temple already has the consecrated host which will be used in the mass.

Adding to the confusion is another Temple spokesman, Lucien Greaves, who told Campus Reform that they would be using a “host” but that his group doesn’t believe in “supernatural elements” so he wouldn’t call it a “consecrated host” as Catholics do.

“Consecrated or not, it means nothing to us,” he told them.

In other words, they might be using a consecrated host after all.

At the risk of sounding trite, this whole affair reeks of the Father of Lies.

Contact Harvard’s Jeff Neal at jeff_neal@harvard.edu and let your thoughts be known.

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