Photo Credit: Chensiyuan (CC-By-SA 3.0)
Plans for a Satanic black mass Monday evening in Memorial Hall at Harvard University are drawing justified criticism from the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, which expressed its “deep sadness and strong opposition to the plan to stage a ‘black mass’ on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge.”
A statement from Harvard Extension School explains that the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club will host a “controversial student event involving a historical reenactment of a black mass ceremony that has a narrator providing historical context and background.” The school in response to controversy says it has urged the black mass organizers to “reach out” to campus Catholic groups.
Harvard’s president has called hosting the black mass “abhorrent” for mocking Catholicism and a “fundamental affront to the values of inclusion” while she defended Harvard’s commitment to “free expression.” She will attend a Catholic Eucharistic Holy Hour on campus this evening to show “respect” for Catholics.
The black mass student host group will partner for the event with the Satanic Temple of New York.
Will the Cultural Studies Club re-create an Aztec ritualistic human sacrifice in its expansive exploration of different cultures? Or maybe some sati, burning alive a newly widowed woman in homage to a Hindu goddess? Why not sacrifice children to Moloch to understand ancient Canaanite folkways? Maybe Harvard inclusivity is not yet ready for full throttle multiculturalism.
As Harvard’s president acknowledges, a black mass affirms nothing positive but is strictly a negation, mocking the Roman Catholic Eucharist. Would Harvard equally tolerate organized, ritualistic mockery of other faiths, such as Islam?
Maybe and even likely the black mass ‘cultural’ event is organized by young naïfs, perhaps thinking themselves cheeky, and anxious for publicity. Meanwhile ostensibly more mature school administrators seem too morally and spiritually emasculated to make any strong judgments too far outside the parameters of ultra political correctness.
Harvard’s president should be commended for attending a Catholic mass to counter the black mass. But the Satanic ritual is not just wrong for violating ‘values of inclusion’ but because it is intrinsically evil.