No Need To Counter The Black Mass With The Stripped And Barren New Mass: Planned Satanic Black Mass At Harvard Canceled

(WCVB) CAMBRIDGE, Mass. —A student group that was planning on holding a Satanic mass as part of an educational program has canceled the event after failing to find a new location for the mass

The Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club tried to move the event to The Middle East Restaurant, but officials there declined to host the event.

"Given that no other location has been willing to intercede, we will no longer be sponsoring this Black Mass," group officials said in a statement.

Harvard University's president said the satanic mass planned by the club was abhorrent and offensive, but defended the organizers' right to free expression.

President Drew Faust said in a message on the university's website that the origin of the black mass was to denigrate the Catholic Church, mocking a sacred event in Catholicism. She said the decision by the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club to stage the event Monday was "flagrantly disrespectful and inflammatory."

Faust said she planned to attend a Eucharistic holy hour and benediction on the Harvard campus Monday evening.

Student organizers said their intent was purely educational.

"The Satanic Temple has informed us that they will stage their own Black Mass ceremony at an undisclosed private location to "reaffirm their respect for the Satanic faith and to demonstrate that the most powerful response to offensive speech is to shame those who marginalize others by letting their own words and actions speak for themselves," group officials said in the statement.

The Archdiocese of Boston last week said the black mass mocks the Catholic Mass.