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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Angra Mainyu had planned to use the host in a ritual black Mass next month.

Oklahoma archdiocese filed the lawsuit claiming the host had been obtained by "illicit means".

After the return of the host, the archdiocese dropped the lawsuit.

Angra Mainyu leader Adam Daniels said the host had been sent to him by a priest in Turkey who is also a Satanist.

The satanic group will instead us Black Forest bread for its ritual, which will take place in a municipal building in Oklahoma City.

The group will also hold a Satanic exorcism, designed to drive out the "Holy Ghost" from a person, it said.

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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