Editor’s Note: Raymond Arroyo of EWTN’s The World Over was joined by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, on March 20, 2025, to discuss the recent scheduling of a black mass within the city and the efforts of the archdiocse to have the event canceled. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

In what has become a First Amendment battle in the state of Kansas, the Satanic group has scheduled a black mass outside the state Capitol on March 28. A black mass is a blasphemous inversion of the Catholic liturgy. Here to tell us more and how he and the Archdiocese of Kansas City are responding, I’m joined by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas.

Archbishop, thank you for being here. As I mentioned, this Satanic organization, they call themselves the Satanic Grotto. They’re planning to go forward with this March 28 event. Can you explain to viewers what is meant by a black mass? What does it involve? I know a consecrated Host is somehow a part of this. And who are these people?

 Yeah, Raymond, you know, it’s hard to say what a black mass truly is because they’re different within Satanic groups ... different understandings of this. This group has claimed to have had a consecrated Host. Now, they’re saying they don’t. But what they want to do is they want to pray, within the Capitol, to Satan. And they say that they were going to defame this Host, but also destroy a Bible, destroy a cross. So the whole purpose of it is, really is, to mock Catholicism, particularly, but Christianity in general. And, yeah, it’s sad. Of course, we’re dealing with somebody who’s a disciple of the father of lies, so it’s hard to understand when they’re telling things what are true and what is not true. So right now, they’re claiming they don’t have a consecrated Host, 

But they told your staff they did have a Host at one point, right?

I didn’t hear that exactly. ... We took them to court just today, and it was there that they admitted under oath that they don’t have a consecrated Host. Our response to this is to invite our people to do what Satan hates the worst, and that is to pray. We’re reconsecrating the archdiocese to Jesus through Mary, and we’ll be having an hour of adoration and celebrating a Mass in a church that’s just across the street from the Capitol while the Satanic worship is going on. I don’t even like to use the term “black mass” because it’s not a Mass, but they’re doing this to try to mock Catholic liturgy and mock Christianity in general.

 

Archbishop, the Kansas City Attorney General, Kris Kobach, has weighed in, denouncing this planned event, arguing it should not be allowed on state property, as it involves the theft of and desecration of a consecrated Host. But if they don’t have that, Archbishop, if they now say they don’t have a consecrated Host, my question is: How do you defend this, given the freedom of religion? And I guess that’s what they’ll try to couch this as, and freedom of speech.

Yeah. My belief is that they exercise hate speech. We’ve encountered these people recently at an outdoor rally at the Capitol for the pro-life [Kansas March for Life], and they tried to disrupt it, and they used all sorts of vulgarity. And, of course, there are many families with young children present, a lot of youth present. And the governor has said that she will permit it. First, she said inside the Capitol; now she says outside the Capitol. They say they’re going to storm the Capitol. So, to me, this group is their intentions are violence. Their intention is to create chaos. And they’re exercising, really, hate speech. So to me, they can exercise their free speech, but why do we have to give them the Capitol or the Capitol grounds to do this? They can do that, wherever they like, but they’re not advocating for any kind of legislation. They’re simply trying to mock Christianity. And if they were trying to do this to an Islamic group or they were trying to do this to a Jewish group, I think it wouldn’t be allowed.

And to me, it’s fairly simple. But the governor ultimately has the decision on whether they’re allowed to use these spaces or not.

 

Well, Archbishop, the confounding thing, and we’ve seen this over the years with the Satanic Temple, which I guess is an affiliated group or a different group, but they kind of stage these mock religious rituals so they can invoke the freedom of exercise of religion under the Constitution, when actually they’re a protest group. They’re just trying to make fun of you and make fun of Christianity and test the bounds of the statute. I think that’s what this is really about.

Absolutely, Raymond. And what I’m encouraging is for people to pray. Pray that we live our own Catholic faith with greater integrity, but also to pray for conversion. These people are obviously very troubled, and they’re very confused. And you know, the Pope announced earlier this year the canonization of Bartolo Longo, this 19th-century figure who claimed to be a Satanic priest at one time but had this tremendous conversion and eventually built a shrine to Mary in Pompeii, and built orphanages and other things, and had this profound [conversion] and was the inspiration for John Paul II to do the Luminous Mysteries. He [Bartolo] had this great devotion to the Rosary after he reconverted. So all things are possible with God. We’re praying for the conversion of those that are very, you know, confused and disturbed. 

 

And Archbishop Naumann, as you mentioned, you’re reconsecrating Kansas to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On Tuesday, March 25, during a Mass on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, you will also hold a Eucharistic Holy Hour in a Mass on the 28th at a church across the street from the Capitol building at the time this alleged black mass is scheduled. Tell me about those events, particularly the reconsecration, and what you want them to achieve. What are you looking for here?

The Mass that we’ll be celebrating on the Solemnity of the Annunciation already was a scheduled Mass, where we were actually praying for pregnant couples. And we’ll continue to do that. But at the Mass, we’ll also offer this prayer of reconsecration. We’re encouraging people, even if they can’t come to the Mass, to make a consecration to Jesus through Mary; and by that, just reclaiming our identity as beloved sons and daughters of our heavenly Father and worshipping the one, true God revealed in Jesus Christ. So we want to respond to this desecration, this mocking of our faith, by just responding in prayer and drawing ourselves closer to Jesus Christ through his Mother, Mary.

 

Before we run out of time, this is not the only blasphemous incident that has occurred recently or is about to occur in Kansas. On March 15, St. Patrick’s Church in Wichita was vandalized. A statue was destroyed, candles broken, the American flag was burned, and the Satanic website of this same group, this Satanic Grotto, was spray-painted on a wall. This event gained national attention. President Trump is vowing to take a look into this incident. The Diocese of Wichita is under your jurisdiction. What have you learned regarding the incident at St. Patrick’s, and what do you make of these incidents? 

It’s difficult to unravel that, whether it really is the same group or another group that’s been inspired by what they’re doing. But it just is another sign that these groups, they don’t have good intent. I think they engage in violence and in hate speech, and so why would we give them a public forum to do these things? And I’m glad to hear that the president is aware of this, and I think it should be investigated as hate speech and action, violence against religious faith.

 

Archbishop do you know, has the Department of Justice reached out to you at all about this case?

Of course, Wichita is its own diocese. It’s in my province, but I know that Bishop Kemme is paying attention to it. But at this point, I’m not certain if the Justice Department has reached out.

 

Before I let you go, vis-à-vis the Eucharist, I know there was this controversy about whether this group actually had stolen a Eucharist, the Holy Communion during Mass. Do the relaxed rules of the reception of the Eucharist at Mass, does that make it easier for groups like this to steal and desecrate really the most sacred treasure of the Catholic Church?

We’ve reeducated our own people about how we ought to be very careful in terms of the distribution of the Eucharist, very vigilant, that if people are going to receive in the hand, they should recieve it in front of the minister, not walk away with the Host in their hands. So in that sense, I think Communion in the hand makes us to try to police this. But they’re also, you know, people can receive on the tongue and then take it out after they’re away from the Communion minister. So if they want to do this desecration of the Blessed Sacrament, I think it can happen either way. But I think we need to make our priests, our deacons and our Communion ministers very vigilant, very careful in the distribution of the Blessed Sacrament.

 

Archbishop Joseph Naumann, we will leave it there, and we’ll keep an eye on this situation. Thank you for the time.

Thanks, Raymond. And ask your viewers to pray for us.

Will do. Thank you.