Harvard, established in 1636, was the first university in the colonies that would become the United States.
It had a very Christian beginning, although that fact isn’t loudly proclaimed on its own websites. Its founder, John Harvard, was a Christian minister. Its first president was a minister. And the founding purpose of the college was to ensure a continuing supply of educated clergy for the New World.
In the past few days, Harvard has been much in the news regarding the possible celebration of a “Black Mass.” I doubt this is what the college’s founders had in mind. But the school declined to stand in the way.
Harvard’s president mumbled something about free expression and agreed to attend a prayer service set up by Catholics as an alternative to the Black Mass. And as the controversy swirled, the group planning this disgusting event, the members of the Satanic Temple, decided not to go forward. Well…at least they didn’t go forward in a public forum.
I wonder how the university would have acted had the event been a Ku Klux Klan rally with a ceremonial lynching…or a mock Muslim Pig Roast with hajib-clad women cooking ribs and chanting Jewish psalms. My guess is there would have been bold proclamations about the need to protect the feelings of minorities and other cultures.
In the case of the Black Mass, it offends Catholics, the only group that it is politically correct to offend in today’s America. But the Catholics reacted like Catholics and gathered at The Church of St. Paul in Harvard Square for a Eucharistic Holy Hour and solemn benediction.
Among the thousand or so who attended the St. Paul service was a group of consecrated women of Regnum Christi, who drove from Mater Ecclesiae College in Rhode Island to defend Christ in adoration and pray for those who would attack Him.
Taniele Tucker
One of the group, Taniele Tucker, described the experience:
While standing on the steps of St. Paul’s Church in Harvard Square a friend who was thinking of what he would say if he met any of the Satanists proposed the question to me: “Why do you care about the Satanic mass?” The fact is as much as their so called ritual is painstakingly offensive; I care much more about the ‘who’ than the ‘what’. It is precisely ‘who’ they offend, Jesus Christ himself that brought us together to pray and to witness to our faith in the Eucharist. No good son or daughter would stand by idly as someone completely disrespected his/her parent. I was filled with pride to stand (well, really to kneel) beside my brothers and sisters in the faith. Our prayerful gathering last night was also meant to say, “We care about the members of the Satanic Temple and we pray for you.” We are all his children and we love his holy Church. After benediction, the words we echoed after the priest reverberated off the walls in the Church. We prayed with greater faith than ever, voices booming “Blessed be God! Blessed be His Holy Name! Blessed be Jesus in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist!”
The organizers of the satanic mass expressed sorrow over the outrageous reaction to their freedom of expression. I chuckled as I scanned the crowd pressing against the church doors – young people taking selfies with friars and sisters, a man with his hat propped on an umbrella so his family could follow him, a man in a wheelchair making faces at his young neighbor in her stroller. Where is the rage? I call that passion. I call that joy. I call that HOPE.
It would be hard to think of something more offensive to Catholics that a Black Mass, which is literally a mocking of our faith and a desecration of Christ in the Eucharist. The Black Mass is a purely evil event.
When other religions are confronted with such an insult, they often resort to violence and outrage. Catholics embrace prayer and forgiveness. We will overcome evil with good, hate with love. We have faith.
