Religious privilege? What do you mean? I don’t see any religious privilege.
Oh, you mean this?
A Harvard club’s plans to stage a satanic “black Mass” were abruptly cancelled Monday after drawing fire from the Archdiocese of Boston and condemnation from the president of the Ivy League school.
Lucien Greaves, a spokesman for the New York-based Satanic Temple, told the Boston Globe late Monday that the event was called off because no venue was available.
“Everyone involved, outside of the Satanic Temple, got really scared,” Greaves told the newspaper. “And I don’t necessarily blame them, because I understand that they were getting a lot of vitriolic hate mail, and I don’t think they expected it.”
Greaves was not immediately available for further comment.
A petition to stop the black Mass had garnered 60,000 signatures, according to Aurora Griffin, president of the Harvard Student Catholic Association.
Well but you have to understand – Boston is an officially Catholic city. That’s been decided. The archdiocese gets to say what can happen in and around Boston because Boston is Catholic. They’re not going to say what can happen in your city…unless it too is a Catholic city of course.
The history of black Masses is murky, but Catholics say the intent of such ceremonies is obvious: to mock their rituals and beliefs. The Masses often parody Catholic sacraments, such as Communion, and liturgical vestments.
And obviously that simply cannot be allowed. No one can mock Catholic rituals and beliefs – that’s a national rule, not just a Boston one.
Harvard University President Drew Faust called the plans to reenact a black Mass “abhorrent.”
“It is deeply regrettable that the organizers of this event, well aware of the offense they are causing so many others, have chosen to proceed with a form of expression that is so flagrantly disrespectful and inflammatory,” Faust continued.
The Harvard president said she would allow the black Mass to continue, citing the value of free expression on campus, but planned attend a prayer ceremony Monday night at St. Paul’s Church in Cambridge. The Boston archdiocese scheduled the event as a protest to the black Mass.
Ok I’m going to drop the sarcasm now because I’m too disgusted. That’s just pathetic. We are allowed to be disrespectful of the Catholic church.
The Satanic Temple, which announced the Harvard club’s plans last week, is also behind an effort to place a satanic statue next to a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of Oklahoma’s state Capitol.
The temple does not believe in a real devil but advocates for religious tolerance and pluralism.
Greaves said black Masses began as a protest by people who felt oppressed by their local religious cultures.
But some Catholics say the “black Mass” is more sacrilegious than satirical.
Faust, a noted historian, said: “The ‘black Mass’ had its historical origins as a means of denigrating the Catholic Church; it mocks a deeply sacred event in Catholicism, and is highly offensive to many in the Church and beyond.”
So what? Catholicism is not some harmless pastime, it’s a massively powerful, harsh, coercive, patriarchal, sex-phobic, harmful religion and institution. However often you use the word “deeply” it remains what it is. We are allowed to mock it. “Sacrilege” is not a thing.
Robert Neugeboren, dean of students and alumni affairs at the Harvard Extension School, said Harvard did not endorse the student group’s decision to stage the black Mass. The school provides evening and online continuing education courses.
“While we support the ability of all our students to explore difficult issues, we also encourage them to do so in ways that are sensitive to others,” he [s]aid.
Except atheists, apparently, because fuck them, apparently.
Neugeboren said the Harvard Extension School worked with students to defuse some of the controversy surrounding the ceremony.
For instance, he said, a consecrated host – known by Catholics as the Eucharist and believed to be the actual body and blood of Christ – would not be used, he said.
Some Catholic bloggers had expressed outrage at the initial plans to use a consecrated host, calling it “sacrilegious to the highest extent.”
We’re allowed to be “sacrilegious.” We don’t buy any of the belief that make that word appear meaningful, and we’re allowed to say so.
Clooney had said the university’s reaction is insufficient, adding that Harvard’s “spiritual sensitivity” is at stake.
“Since there is no empirical way to show that one host is consecrated while another is not—consecrated hosts do not glow in the dark—there is also no way for anyone but the organizers to know whether a host used in a black mass has been consecrated or not,” Clooney said.
“Catholics at Harvard should not have to be worrying about where Monday’s host comes from.”
Ooh, ooh – he’s onto something here! There is no empirical way to show that one host is consecrated while another is not because “consecration” is a meaningless word, just like “sacrilegious.” Consecrating something doesn’t do anything, and that’s why there is no empirical way to show that one host is consecrated while another is not – see how that works? Extend that thought to all the rest of it and then calm the fuck down and let other people say what they like about Catholicism.
As the archdiocese notes, Pope Francis warned Catholics about the devil recently.
“Maybe some of you might say, ‘But, Father, how old-fashioned you are to speak about the devil in the 21st century!’ ” the Pope said during a Mass in April.
“But look out, because the devil is present! The devil is here … even in the 21st century! And we mustn’t be naive, right? We must learn from the Gospel how to fight against Satan.”
No, we should not, you benighted ignoramus. That kind of thinking gets you inquisitions and witch-burnings and genocides.
Dear Harvard: Magic isn’t real. Making fun of people who believe in magic isn’t sacrilege, it’s satire.
We must learn from the Gospel how to fight against Satan.
Uh-oh. I predict much wailing and teeth-gnashing due to an impending major bacon shortage.
Fuck the RCC and every one of those blighters. It seems we are going backwards in so many ways. I just hope it’s my perception of things…..
I get that consecrated crackers are significant to Catholics, and all else being equal (except that the Church keeps doing things that make it very unequal) I’d normally avoid disrespecting such, just because I prefer getting along with people to pissing them off.
But now they insist on prohibiting the dis-respection of wafers even when they *haven’t* had the magic words spoken over them? You can’t have it both ways, Reverend: either consecrated hosts are special and non-consecrated ones aren’t (and therefore we can do what we like with them), or you’ve just admitted it’s all the same, and the mumbo-jumbo does nothing. Or are they planning to confiscate the saltines I dip in my soup, because you never know if someone might have consecrated them?
I don’t waste time fighting fictional figures. I have enough to do fighting against global warming deniers, who are all too real. The devil can’t hurt me; they (GWDs) can.
Oh my god Eamon I never thought of that. They’re going to take all our crackers.
My Triiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiscuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiits
Interestingly, the NT is noticeably lacking in witch burnings and stonings. If only they would follow it strictly the way right-wingers advocate for the Constitution, they might conclude that they have no authority to do more than rebuke the demon and, if that doesn’t work, assume that it’s because their faith is lacking and go retire to their prayer closets.
(Yes, before anyone says it, I know full well that following it strictly and literally would also involve men ruling their households, women keeping silent and covering their heads, etc., etc. Please don’t read too much into a tongue in cheek comment!)
It’s really difficult to believe that the university president’s name is actually Faust.
I think there is more going on here than Faust giving in to pressure, or primarily a question of religious privilege either, though such considerations are not absent.
He will never admit it, but I think actual superstitious fear is involved. Not that Faust necessarily believes there’s a Devil, but he doesn’t want to risk it.
@ Eamon and Ophelia:
I can see just see it now.
Priest-in-Training Accidentally Blesses Entire Cracker Aisle
On Friday, newly-trained priest Father Jacobs went out to buy some groceries, like he did every every week. While he was out, he figured it would be a good time to get a little practice in before his first Mass.
“I was pretty nervous,” Jacobs said, “I kept asking myself ‘Will I remember all the words? What if I get the order wrong?'”
Jacobs decided to rehearse the prayers in his head. Unfortunately, he was walking through the aisle the held all the cracker products as he did so. Before he knew it, he had accidentally consecrated around $700 worth of merchandise.
“I truly didn’t think about what I was doing,” Jacobs admitted. “I was mouthing the words to myself, and before I could stop myself all of the food around me turned into the body of Christ.”
The Catholic Church has insisted that each and every consecrated item must be handed over, and has offered to recoup the store’s losses.
“It is an unfortunate accident,” a representative from the church stated, “but we simply cannot allow non-Christians to partake even in an accidental communion.”
The store, meanwhile, has had to place a recall order on all cracker products purchased after the incident.
“It’s quite a bother,” one representative said, “we’ve had to track down all of the purchases made after the priest’s… accident… and attempt to barter for their return. We’ve had to ruin quite a few parties that accidentally served Jesus with cool ranch dip.”
“At least the priest wasn’t buying wine as well,” the representative chuckled.
And that’s how we know it’s a satire. The real RCC would demand ‘contributions’ to offset the damages they suffered as a result of the market making the crackers available to begin with.
Awesome.
Well, I have the same reaction to this as I do to some fundy preacher burning Korans just to get attention; it just seems petty and small minded and unlikely to do anything except make the people doing it look like assholes and the people objecting to it look like superstitious children. I can’t decide who looks sillier, the Church or the self-styled Satanists.
A Hermit: I suspect if half the reason for doing it was to draw out the idiots in the church, then only one side really looks bad here. Also, I wouldn’t call making fun of religion (if that were really what was going on) being an asshole. I think that is covered by the first amendment (as is being an asshole in many ways, but that’s another path).
Maybe other Catholics should stop telling them they should worry about it, then.
The Archdiocese looks ridiculous but I guess a lot of people don’t see it as such. Maybe we can ask them if a cracker that is consecrated by a pedophile priest is different. Just to remind them that they really have lost all moral authority
Come on! You can’t make this stuff up – a guy named Faust is arguing against any kind of Satanic communion? There go hundreds of irony meters world-wide.
By Catholic doctrine, the host becomes literally the body of Christ; it’s called transubstantiation. If there’s no human DNA, it’s not consecrated. What’s that you say? Jesus is God and doesn’t have human DNA? You don’t know your catechism very well: