Archbishop Paul Coakley said he learned that some patrons of Oklahoma City's Civic Center were troubled and anxious about the possible after-effects of the September 21 black Mass.

"From the beginning we have taken seriously the dark and dangerous spirits being invited into our community," the archbishop said.

The prayers of exorcism were said the day after the black Mass, which had been performed by Dakhma of Angra Mainyu.

The devil worshippers said they staged the event to help stop people being afraid of the Catholic Church.

Civic Center spokeswoman Jennifer Lindsey-McClintock said now the space had been spiritually cleansed, more people would feel comfortable about using the building again.

Protestant leaders in Oklahoma City said they welcomed Archbishop Coakley's action.

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The event, scheduled for September 21 in the Oklahoma City Center Music Hall, will involve the desecration of a consecrated host taken illicitly from a Catholic Church.

The Black Mass will be staged by Satanist group Dakhma of Angra Mainyu, but it says the event has been toned down to allow it to be performed in a public government building.

Lawyers for Oklahoma City's municipal government say the occultists have a right to lease the public space under the US Constitution's first amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech.

Catholic Archbishop Paul Coakley said he was disappointed at the city's response.

"If someone had come to them to rent the Civic Center to stage a burning of the Koran or to hold an event that was blatantly and clearly anti-Semitic, I think they might find a way to prevent it," he said.

He said hate speech intended to ridicule religion is not protected by the constitution.

Archbishop Coakley urged churchgoers to prayer to St Michael the Archangel at the end of Masses until September 29.

Oklahoma City has 120,000 Catholics.

He said the host would be desecrated "in the vilest ways imaginable" and then offered to Satan.

It is believed the event will involve stomping on the host.

The black Mass is a "blasphemous and obscene inversion of the Catholic Mass", Archbishop Coakley said.

Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa released a similar message.

He urged parishioners to fast and pray for the event's cancellation.

As of August 8, only 13 tickets had been sold to the Black Mass, which will be monitored by police.

The leader of Dakhma of Angra Mainyu, Adam Daniels, is a registered sex offender.

Oklahoma City's city manager has received thousands of emails and phone calls demanding the cancellation of the event.

Writing in the National Catholic Reporter, columnist Phyllis Zagano noted that Oklahoma state has blasphemy laws and they should be enforced.

Sources

• Fox News
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Integrated Catholic Life

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City said this after an attempt to execute convicted killer Clayton Lockett by lethal injection on April 29.

A combination of three lethal drugs was being used in the state for the first time.

Lockett eventually died of a massive heart attack after the execution was halted.

He was seen writhing, breathing heavily, grinding his teeth and attempting to lift his head off a pillow as the second and third drugs were administered.

Prison officials later said an intravenous line became dislodged.

Archbishop Coakley said "how we treat criminals says a lot about us as a society".

Justice must be administered with consideration for the victims of crime, but this must be done in a way that doesn't contribute to "the culture of death", he said.

Given the fact that human lives are a gift from God, there should be very strict limits to the use of the death penalty, the archbishop said.

It should be used neither as a deterrent, nor as vengeance, he said.

"In general there are other ways to administer just punishment, without having to resort to lethal measures," he continued.

"The execution of Clayton Lockett really highlights the brutality of the death penalty, and I hope it leads us to consider whether we should adopt a moratorium on the death penalty, or even abolish it altogether," the archbishop wrote.

He prayed for Lockett and his family, prison officials and for Lockett's victim teenager Stephanie Neiman and her family.

In 1999, Lockett and accomplices kidnapped Neiman and three others; he shot her twice and watched as she was buried alive.

US President Barack Obama called the attempt to execute Lockett "deeply troubling".

He will ask the attorney general to analyse problems surrounding the application of the death penalty in the US.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin has stayed an upcoming execution as prison officials investigate, but she reaffirmed her support for capital punishment.

In total, 18 US states have abolished capital punishment.

Sources

• Archbishop Coakley statement
• National Catholic Reporter
• Catholic News Agency
• ABC
• CBC News
• Image: NBC