The general counsel for the Satanic Temple told a local ABC affiliate that the purpose of the suit is to determine whether the school board discriminated against the temple. read more

After protests that the event was offensive to Catholics, the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club initially decided to move the event off campus.

But another venue could not be found, so the club dropped its sponsorship of the re-enactment.

It was to have been performed by members of the New York-based Satanic Temple.

The Boston Globe reported that temple spokesman Lucien Greaves saying a black mass was performed later at a nearby bar, but this was not verified.

A consecrated host was not used, reportedly.

Greaves said he understood re-enactment organisers received lot of vitriolic hate mail.

The initial plan to hold a black mass on the Harvard campus prompted widespread outrage.

The Archdiocese of Boston held a eucharistic procession and a holy hour at a church near Harvard at the same time the event was originally scheduled.

More than 1500 people packed the Catholic church.

Among them was Harvard president Drew Faust, who earlier had decried the student sponsorship of the planned re-enactment as "abhorrent", but also defended students' right to free speech.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston had called the planned black mass "repugnant".

"There's a great fascination with evil in the world, but you know, it doesn't lead to anything good," Cardinal O'Malley told the Boston Globe.

Nearly 60,000 students, alumni, and faculty members signed a petition against holding the black mass on campus, according to a statement released by Harvard Rhodes scholar and Catholic Aurora Griffin.

The Harvard Extension club has continuously urged critics to widen their understanding of satanic worship.

On May 9, an unidentified spokesperson said the re-enactment was meant to be educational, not offensive.

The spokesperson told the Boston Globe that many satanists are animal rights activists, vegetarians, and artists with a strong sense of community.

Sources

• Boston Globe
• The Harvard Crimson
• Time
• Harvard University
• Image: Harvesting the Fruit

The re-enactment was to be at a pub on the Harvard campus on May 12 (US time).

Archdiocesan officials are organising Eucharistic adoration at a nearby church at the same hour, in response.

The Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club said the re-enactment they were planning is intended as an educational activity, as part of a student-led series exploring different cultures.

A black mass is an often obscene mockery by satanic cults of the Mass celebrated in the Catholic Church.

The ritual, for example, might substitute the bare back of a woman for an altar.

To complete the desecration, the black mass generally uses a consecrated host, which Catholics believe is the Body of Christ.

The Harvard club said an ordinary piece of bread would be used, not a consecrated host.

"Our purpose is not to denigrate any religion or faith, which would be repugnant to our educational purposes . . . ," the club stated.

But this did not mollify the Boston archdiocese.

It expressed "deep sadness and strong opposition" to the planned ritual.

"In a recent statement, Pope Francis warned of the danger of being naive about or underestimating the power of Satan, whose evil is too often tragically in our midst," an archdiocese statement noted.

"We call upon all believers and people of good will to join us in prayer for those who are involved in this event, that they may come to appreciate the gravity of their actions and in asking Harvard to dissociate itself from this activity," the statement continued.

Harvard Catholic chaplain Fr Michael Drea called the planned black mass "a matter of hatred".

"It's an affront to our Catholic sensibilities," he said.

While stopping short of endorsing the event, the Harvard Extension School said that it supported "the rights of our students and faculty to speak and assemble freely".

The black mass re-enactment will be performed by the members of New York-based Satanic Temple, while a narrator provides commentary and historical context.

Sources

• Boston Globe
• Fox News
• Catholic Culture
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: New York Daily News