Archbishop Sues Satanists for Return of Consecrated Host

By David Lee
Courthouse News Service
August 21, 2014

http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/08/21/70622.htm

(CN) - A Satanist group stole a consecrated host in order to sacrifice it to Satan at an upcoming black mass, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Oklahoma City claims in court.

The Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley sued Adam Daniels and the Dakhma of Angra Mainyu Syndicate in Oklahoma County Court on Wednesday.

Consecrated hosts, small, unleavened wafers of bread, have undergone transubstantiation and are viewed by Catholics as the blood and body of Jesus Christ.

"To Catholics, the consecrated host is the most sacred, respected and revered thing in the world," the 7-page complaint states. "Because consecrated hosts are so precious, the Catholic Church has developed, over the course of 2,000 years, rules and institutions to ensure the integrity, protection of consecrated hosts."

Coakley claims Daniels possesses a consecrated host without authorization and that it "must have been procured from the Catholic Church by theft, fraud, wrongful taking" by Daniels or a third party.

The archbishop says the defendants have scheduled a black mass at the Cityspace Theatre in Oklahoma City on Sept. 21, where they intend to "desecrate and destroy" the consecrated host.

"Defendants describe what they plan to do with the consecrated host at the black mass: 'The consecrated host is corrupted by sexual fluids, then it becomes the sacrifice of the mass,'" the complaint states. "Defendants also plan to stomp on the consecrated host during the black mass. According to the defendants' website, black masses can include 'nudity, public urination, and other sex acts' and have included '[f]orms of bestiality along with animal sacrifice.'"

The Archdiocese did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.

Two weeks ago, Coakley denounced the black mass for desecrating the consecrated host "in the vilest ways imaginable."

"This terrible sacrilege is a deliberate attack on the Catholic Mass as well as the foundational beliefs of all Christians," Coakley wrote in an Aug. 4 statement on the Archdiocese website. "It mocks Our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we Catholics believe is truly present under the form of bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist when it has been consecrated by a validly ordained priest."

Coakley expressed concern that city officials have refused to cancel the black mass from taking place at a public facility.

"I have raised my concerns with city officials and pointed out how deeply offensive this proposed sacrilegious act is to Christians and especially to the more than 250,000 Catholics who live in Oklahoma," Coakley wrote. "I am certainly concerned about the misuse of a publicly supported facility for an event which has no other purpose than mocking the Catholic faith. I am especially concerned about the dark powers that this Satanic worship invites into our community and the spiritual danger that this poses to all who are involved in it, directly or indirectly."

Coakley asked his congregation to include the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel at the end of each mass until Sept. 29.

The Satanist group did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.

It will make "slight changes" to the black mass "so that a public viewing can occur without breaking Oklahoma's laws based on nudity, public urination, and other sex acts," the group said on its website.

Coakley seeks an order directing the return of the consecrated host and reimbursement for costs and attorneys' fees.

He is represented by Michael Caspino with Busch Caspino in Irvine, Calif., and Christopher Scaperlanda with McAfee Taft in Oklahoma City.