Less than three hours before the infamy was to occur, a Black Mass scheduled for Monday evening in Harvard University’s Memorial Hall was unexpectedly cancelled. The obscene, demonic ritual was to be conducted by the New York based Satanic Temple, under the auspices of the Cultural Studies Club of the Harvard Extension School.
After days of evading responsibility for this abomination with disingenuous claims of “freedom of speech” and “academic freedom,”—not even Harvard was willing to defend the content of this atrocity— the university administration finally succumbed to the volcanic cascade of Catholic outrage. Following the cancellation, a hastily arranged second venue fell through, and organizers were reduced to a furtive performance, with a handful of attendees, under false pretenses, in the back room of a Cambridge restaurant.
Among the voices raised against this diabolic insult to Our Lord, the Holy Eucharist, and the Catholic Faith were the Catholic alumnae and students of Harvard University (and of nearby MIT), the Pastor and congregation of Saint Paul’s Parish in Cambridge, the Archdiocese of Boston, and the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts.
Perhaps as many as 1500 faithful participated in a Eucharistic Procession from the MIT chapel to Saint Paul’s, followed by a Holy Hour of Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, culminating in the rapturous, celestial harmony of the Tantum Ergo.
The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts organized a Rosary of Reparation (which turned out to be a Rosary of Thanksgiving) in front of Memorial Hall before the Holy Hour. It attracted eighty people and gained extensive media coverage.
The League wishes to thank all those who participated, including Brother Thomas Augustine—Catholic champion in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade struggle—and the brothers and laity of the Saint Benedict Center in Still River, MA; Brother Andre and those from the Saint Benedict Center in Richmond, NH; the members of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP); our own members; and, of course, Ambassador and Mrs. Raymond Flynn.
The media presence of the Catholic Action League included WFXT-TV FOX 25, WBZ-TV CBS Boston, New England Cable News, The Boston Globe.com, The Harvard Crimson, Catholic News Service, The New American, and even the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail.
Monday’s events constituted a clear and decisive triumph for the Faith and a defeat for the Adversary. They also represent an example of and an instruction on what might be accomplished if the slumbering Goliath of American Catholicism might be aroused from its torpor.
Harvard is the world’s richest, most influential, and most prestigious university. It long ago abandoned its Congregationalist founders and embraced an aggressive secularism. For much of its history, it has been anti-Catholic. Yet even Harvard proved to be reed in the wind when confronted by an angry and awakened Catholicism. The President of Harvard was among those in Saint Paul’s Monday night.
Much has been written about the so-called John Paul II generation of young Catholics. Perhaps history will record the events of May 12, 2014 as the first public victory of that generation, and with it the beginning of a profound generational change in the American Church.
A final word is in order about the bogus argument invoking free speech, used by some to defend the indefensible. Under the U. S. Constitution, there is no free speech right to obscenity, for a Black Mass is as obscene and pornographic as it is blasphemous and sacrilegious. There are no constitutional protections attached to the commission of a crime, and a Black Mass entails the theft and destruction of a consecrated object, a host. Lastly, the First Amendment right to freedom of speech does not obligate an unwilling third party, such as a university, to subsidize someone else’s speech with platforms or facilities. Incredibly, even The Boston Globe recognized that.
