While casually perusing The Blog for Dallas Area Catholics a couple of weeks ago, I came upon a post that startled me. It said that a Satanic temple was going to open that very day in Spring, TX, a suburb of Houston which is less than an hour from my house. I noted that the lay Catholic apostolate, American Needs Fatima (ANF), was organizing a rosary of reparation from 5-6:30 pm. Emma and I immediately planned to attend.
The "church" is actually on Main Street in Old Town Spring, a favorite old-timey shopping area, frequented by families, and comprised for the most part of quaint little cottage shops. It was one of the last places that I would have thought to put a place for Satan worshipers, but then the whole anti-Christian revolution is about attacking the family by normalizing evil, so I guess I should wise up.
We arrived about 30 minutes early. As we approached the location, we noticed a crowd of people and a lot of police. We parked a block away, exited the car and made our way toward the rendezvous site. As we turned the corner onto Main, we spotted men and women with rosaries, a most welcome and reassuring sight, like spotting life preservers when you are a passenger on a sinking ship.
So we hurried across the busy street, dodging vehicles, and joined Our Lady's warriors. The rosary was being said in Latin; It was so wonderful. We sang the Salve Regina, and my soul soared with such tremendous joy to be out on the sidewalk with this group of strangers, able to sing and pray together in Latin. Then I noticed a bunch of reporters, and this guy dressed in black came out of the Satan place and was being interviewed. His black hair was brushed back smoothly from his face, and his neatly-trimmed black beard sharply outlined his features.
A reporter approached our group and asked a lady near me if she would consent to being interviewed. She said, "no." I don't know if he asked anyone else. I felt disappointment, knowing that the other side had taken full advantage of the eager reporter. About that time the leader of a small Protestant group a short distance from us started hollering into a megaphone. More people joined our little throng and some of them started a rosary in English during a lull in the Latin one. It was starting to feel a little chaotic and overwhelming. A small group passed by singing Amazing Grace. Glorying in the traditions of my Catholic faith, I was again thankful that our group had sung the Salve Regina.
About that time we spotted the Blessed Mother, borne aloft by a group of four men. I wanted to cheer. Then came more men with a giant banner. The ANF had arrived.
They were setting up across the street from where we were so that they would be facing the temple. Emma and I crossed over to join them.
I was getting ready to take pictures when a young man from the group approached me and offered me a large sign with the verse about Mary crushing the serpent's head. I accepted. Emma held one end, and I held the other. No more picture taking.
The ANF has a program they follow for these kinds of events. It was well organized and led. Emma and I were both enormously grateful to them. It was an honor to lend our support to this group who took seriously its duty to publicly battle Satan and make reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
We had been praying the rosary for about fifteen minutes, I guess, when the Protestant leader crossed the street to us and started yelling that we were no better than the satanists because we worshiped Mary. He was apoplectic and demanded to know why we didn't "preach Jesus." Two ANF gentlemen tried to quietly talk with him, but he would not stop screaming long enough to listen to their explanation. His behavior was really discouraging.
We knew only four other Catholics there, two from Queen of Angels, the SSPX chapel in Dickinson and two from St. Michael's, the SSPX chapel in Spring. Emma expressed her disappointment that there was no priest or group from St. Michael's. I wondered if the Satanists chose the Spring location because of its closeness to St. Michael's, where they could steal consecrated hosts from the true Mass and mock St. Michael at the same time. It's also a short drive to Bush Intercontinental, and Houston's Planned Parenthood complex is one of the largest in the nation.
Here's the link to the America Needs Fatima post on the protest, with pictures.
2 comments:
I've never knowingly made the acquaintance with the sort of person who would attend a "Church of Satan." However, I've seen some of the sick and insane things these sorts of people say and say they have done on various internet forums. Many such people are psychopaths, that is to say, they are pathological liars who misrepresent themselves, have diminished fear of punishment, tend to have money to burn and do drugs, and look for victims. They see themselves as predators, and devoutly religious people are among their favorite prey. Such people WILL, because of the very nature of the cult, attend traditional Church and try to ingratiate themselves. Their main purpose will be to get at the youth, especially the young sheltered girls. Meanwhile, clergy and misguided parents are telling Catholic men and women not to talk to each other.
One more thing: those people are in public to get attention, and they are loving those protests and making a note of who is there. If there's one thing the Bible and Church history says about these people, it's that you don't turn the other cheek or try to reason with them. There's only one way to deal with people like that if you can't avoid them.
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