ATLANTA–Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., provided an update on a so-called “black mass” scheduled for Oct. 25, calling for prayer and condemning any threats or violence against anyone involved with the event:

“My dear friends, Peace and All Good.

First, I want to thank you for your prayers, your sacrifices and your love for Christ our Lord. The Archdiocese of Atlanta’s Chancery office has been overwhelmed with calls, emails and messages of all kinds offering support for us in response to the revelation that a satanic group planned what they called a black mass in our community.

I am also asking, however, that you remember that ‘they will know we are Christians by our love.’ I continue to ask for prayer. I wholeheartedly condemn any threats, violence or dangerous behavior against anyone involved with this event or the location where it is set to be held. We must respond as Jesus would, with a love stronger than hate or violence.

I wanted to provide you with an update on continued response to this event. Legal representatives from the Archdiocese reached out to the venue and organizers of this event to demand that, if they had any consecrated hosts in their possession, they return them and not use them in their black mass. We were prepared to seek a court order if such a host was determined to be in the hands of the satanic group.

The Satanic Temple of Atlanta, through their attorney, responded saying they had no such consecrated host and no such consecrated host would be used in their black mass. While their letter continued to mock the Eucharist and our beliefs, it also demonstrated an understanding of how seriously we have taken this threat to our core belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. They called their event entertainment and defended their right to express their beliefs by mocking ours. But importantly, the representative for The Satanic Temple of Atlanta has now provided us with their assurances that they do not have, and will not be using at their event tonight, a consecrated host.

In preparation for the possibility of pursuing a court order, I signed an affidavit explaining to the court why this request was so urgent and serious. I wanted to share excerpts of it with you.

‘It is the conviction of the Catholic Church presented in its doctrinal teachings that the consecrated host is in fact the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, present under the form of bread and wine. It is only in the celebration of the Eucharist, which is also called the Mass, that the Consecrated Host is made such. The Eucharist is considered the source and summit of the whole of Christian life …

… In the Catholic Church the host is typically a small, unleavened wafer of bread, made from water and wheat flour. A host is simply a piece of bread. A Consecrated Host, however, is a host that has undergone transubstantiation and is now the body and blood of Jesus Christ. To Catholics, the Consecrated Host, making the person of Jesus Christ himself present, is the most sacred, respected, and revered thing in the world.’

As Catholics, we believe and profess that Jesus is really and substantially present here in the Most Blessed Sacrament. The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love in which we experience God’s unconditional love for us. We adore him with profound reverence because we love Him with our whole being.

While there will always be people who mock and blaspheme Our Lord in the public square, we know too, that he will be defended by all of us who love him.

What I ask of you now is continued prayer both in reparation for all insults to Christ our Lord, but also prayer for those who do not yet know of his love for them. Let us pray for those who turn to darkness. Let us pray that they will come to know that they are welcome in the arms of Jesus; that they will come to experience his true presence and experience true conversion.

May God grant you his peace.”