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When a tiny band of self-proclaimed satanists announced they would hold a “black mass” in front of the Kansas State Capitol, they wanted to inflame Christians. And they did, but it was not with the type of fire they intended. They managed to galvanize thousands of Christians with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Across the state, Catholics and their fellow Christians spent more time praying on Friday than they would have normally. Special masses and holy hours were held in Catholic churches in every corner of Kansas in reparation for the sacrilege planned at the Capitol.
Thousands gathered on the Capitol grounds to pray peacefully, outnumbering the handful of satanists by many orders of magnitude. So, when the satanists were screaming expletives at peaceful Christians, they didn’t look powerful or edgy. They looked rather pathetic.
Christians gather outside the Kansas State Capitol to counter satanists holding a “black mass” on Friday, March 28, 2005. (Courtesy of CatholicVote)
(Photo courtesy of Hannah Hiester/Catholic Vote)
Christians gather outside the Kansas State Capitol to counter satanists holding a “black mass” on Friday, March 28, 2005. (Courtesy of CatholicVote)
Christians gather outside the Kansas State Capitol to counter satanists holding a “black mass” on Friday, March 28, 2005. (Courtesy of CatholicVote)
Christians gather outside the Kansas State Capitol to counter satanists holding a “black mass” on Friday, March 28, 2005. (Courtesy of CatholicVote)
Those outside were perhaps outnumbered by those indoors across the street where the real action was, at Assumption Catholic Church. The Kansas Catholic Conference announced a special holy hour followed by a real Mass as an answer to the black mass. By the time the holy hour began, the church was already completely full. Local Knights of Columbus members directed the ongoing stream of people to another church a mile away, which quickly filled to bursting.
The so-called black mass ended in a whimper, when a single disturbed and hateful satanist entered the Capitol and got only a sentence out before punching a Christian and getting himself arrested.
Satanic Grotto leader Michael Stewart is led away by Capitol police officers after being arrested when he assaulted a Christian while attempting to perform the black mass ritual inside the Kansas State Capitol on Friday, March 28, 2025, in Topeka, Kansas. (Kansas City Star via Getty Images)
Earlier that morning, CatholicVote led a group in prayer outside the Capitol, hoping to avoid potential chaos later on. I asked the crowd how many of them would have driven for hours from all around Kansas to pray outside the state Capitol on a random workday? None, of course. And yet there they were – on a Friday in Lent, no less – focused on giving glory to God.
It’s a classic example of how God makes beautiful things out of our ugliness and chaos, answering the darkness by flooding us with light. As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or in the case of satanists, make saints.
Tommy Valentine is the Director of the Catholic Accountability Project at CatholicVote.
