On Sunday, Sept. 21, Parishioners at Immaculate Conception Church in Taft joined Catholics in Oklahoma and throughout the country in prayer to offset a black mass organized by a small group of self-avowed Satan worshipers in Oklahoma City. Immaculate Conception held an hour-long Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament after their 10 a.m. Mass.
The satanic ritual, said Father Jesus Francisco Lopez, pastor at Immaculate Conception, "is a sacrilege against the Church, a sacrilege against God."
"We unite in our prayers with people in Oklahoma City and throughout the country that Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament will protect us…will keep us away from the power of evil," Father Lopez said.
The church was filled to capacity for the Mass and Adoration. The Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Daughters of the Americas, the Knights of the Sanctuary and the Junior Catholic Daughters took a prominent place in the front of the church surrounding the altar. Catholics from other parts of the diocese were also in attendance.
Father Lopez said that people who worship Satan have become so bold as to deface and malign the Church. The Satan worshipers had initially planned to desecrate a consecrated host before the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City filed a lawsuit preventing this action and requiring the host be returned.
"We ask forgiveness for our sins, we ask forgiveness for us, as Catholics…at being so lax with our faith, being so sedentary, being so comfortable," Father Lopez said. "We ask the Blessed Sacrament to protect all the people who are in this church, to protect them from the powers of Satan, from the powers of darkness. Blessed Sacrament we come before you to worship you and honor you; to counter those who defame you with our prayer and our glory to you."