Archbishop Paul Coakley of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City said a Eucharistic holy hour and procession will begin at 3 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 21 at St. Francis of Assisi Church to overcome the “public act of blasphemy in the form of a so-called black mass at the Civic Center in Oklahoma City.”
A column titled “The Hour Has Come” was released by the archdiocese Sept. 19 in preparation for the satanic event.
The archbishop wrote, “In spite of an overwhelming outcry of alarm from around the world, our city leaders will allow this outrage to take place in a publicly supported facility. They will not accede to the reasonable requests of local citizens to stop this outright mockery of the Catholic Mass nor the reasonable concerns of so many that this satanic ritual invokes powers of evil and invites them into our community.
“Even though our city leaders apparently do not take this threat seriously, I do. As a Catholic priest and bishop I have witnessed in my ministry the battle between forces of good and evil in both ordinary and extraordinary ways. It is not merely a struggle rooted in human weakness and ignorance, though these are certainly the source of much suffering and mayhem in our lives and in our world. Demonic activity and the chaotic forces of evil are very real. The madness of war accompanied by increasingly brutal acts of terror, the violence in our schools and communities are all evidence that something is terribly wrong.
He said a “number of blessings that have accrued through this trial.”
“I am grateful for the significant legal victory that allowed us to regain possession of the consecrated host that would have been desecrated during the black mass,” he said. “I am deeply grateful for the strong response to our appeal for prayer throughout the Christian community. People across Oklahoma, throughout our great country and around the world have responded with prayer and fasting. We have been given an opportunity to express our faith in the Lord and our profound gratitude for his gift of the Eucharist through acts of devotion. Many of our Catholic people have been appealing to St. Michael the Archangel for heavenly protection against the powers of evil in our world.”
The archbishop would like citizens to remain peaceful if they intend to oppose the event at the civic center.
“I urgently ask everyone to avoid confrontations with those who might oppose them,” he said. “Our witness ought to be reverent, respectful and peaceful. I urge those who might plan to attend the black mass in order to pray or to protest not to do so. Please do not enter the venue. It would be presumptuous and dangerous to expose oneself or others to these evil influences.”