Daniels, the Oklahoma City "daster" (chief priest) and his wife Kelsey, are the local connections to The Satanic Temple in New York, which is seeking to erect a seven-foot high satanic memorial to Baphomet, the occult depiction of Satan at the Oklahoma State Capitol to counter the Ten Commandments monument. The New York temple is also the group that, in May, attempted to hold a satanic event at Harvard. It is reported that Daniels established the Oklahoma Dakhma of Angra Mainyu in 2011 and is recognized by the IRS as a religious organization.

The media reports that Daniels secured a consecrated Host from a Catholic priest in Turkey who has sympathetic leanings with this group. The archbishop considers the consecrated Host stolen property and has turned to the courts for help in protecting It from being profaned and desecrated by the "black mass."

"Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is truly present under the form of bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist and is the Source and Summit of our faith," Archbishop Coakley explained in an Archdiocesan news release Tuesday announcing the civil court action. "The local organizers of this Satanic violation are intent on using a stolen Consecrated Host illicitly obtained from a Catholic Church to desecrate it as a sacrifice to Satan. Through this legal action, I hope to avoid the profanation of the Host."

The archbishop was asking the Oklahoma court to order Daniels not to conceal, consume, damage, desecrate or remove the Host from the county and return It to him fully preserved.

The Roman Catholic Church has a different understanding of the Eucharist than Anglicans do. Anglicans believe in the "real presence" but do not define how it happens. Roman Catholics define the real presence as occurring as a result of the act of "transubstantiation," where the essence (substance) of the bread (host) and wine (chalice) are radically changed into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Godhead. Christ is therefore hidden and thinly veiled under the visible appearance of bread and wine.

The lawsuit explains that: "To Catholics, the consecrated Host -- including the Consecrated Host that is the subject of this action -- is the most sacred, respected and revered thing in the world," and that a person who takes It "for a sacrilegious purpose is automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church."

The "Oklahoman" newspaper reported that the Turkish priest, who originally sent Daniels the consecrated Host, has since died at the hands of the Muslims for his satanic beliefs and activities.

Wednesday, after receiving the archbishop's lawsuit and before the business day was over, Oklahoma County District Court Judge Dixon issued a restraining order and demanded that Daniels not to conceal, damage, or destroy the consecrated Host nor try to remove It from Oklahoma County pending a hearing before him on the Archdiocese's lawsuit seeking the safe return of the Host to the archbishop.

Thursday, bowing to pressure put on him by the lawsuit and through his attorney, Daniels turned the consecrated Host over to Archbishop Coakle. The return of the Host also came with a statement from Daniels that he no longer has in his possession any consecrated Host and that the planned satanic ritual will not use a consecrated Host. He plans on using German black bread instead.

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reported that Daniels said that he would return the Host only if the Oklahoma City archbishop would drop the lawsuit.

"Once the Catholic Church has dropped the lawsuit, they can collect it from my attorney," Daniels is quoted as saying. "I don't feel like wasting thousands of dollars fighting over a cookie."

Archdiocesan filing fees were $223.70. It has not been revealed whether the Host in question is a small individual people's host, a medium-sized priest's host, or a large congregational host.

"I am relieved that we have been able to secure the return of the sacred Host, and that we have prevented its desecration as part of a planned satanic ritual," said Archbishop Paul Coakley said in another Archdiocesan news release Thursday. "I remain concerned about the dark powers that this satanic worship invites into our community and the spiritual danger that this poses to all who are involved in it, directly or indirectly."

Friday, Archbishop Coakley dropped the lawsuit. The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City is one of three Catholic jurisdictions in the Sooner State. The two other Oklahoma Catholic dioceses are: Little Rock and Tulsa. There are 280,000 Catholic souls in Oklahoma of which 104,000 are in the Archdiocese.

ACNA Bishop William Wantland (IV Eau Claire-retired), an attorney and canon lawyer who lives in Oklahoma, told VOL, "We rejoice that Oklahoma City has been spared the stigma of allowing the Blessed Sacrament to be desecrated."

The Catholic Archdiocese was represented by Michael W. Caspino of Busch & Caspino, a religious practice group from the Busch Firm in Irvine, California.

"Today, Daniels agreed to return this sacred property. We stared down the devil and he blinked. We had no doubt the Court would respect our argument -- rooted in both Canon and civil law -- which maintains that all Consecrated Hosts belong to the Church," Caspino explained in a statement Thursday. "This is a tremendous victory for decency and respect for all religions. Any time anyone tries to desecrate this blessed property, we will stop them."

The California attorney explained that the consecrated Host was "[a] key part of the black mass" because the ritual is designed to "desecrate or destroy a Consecrated Host."

Daniels told the media that black mass is "a ritual that is similar to a Catholic Mass, but done in such a way that you are offering a sacrifice to Satan to receive his blessing."

In his pleading before the court, Archbishop Coakley quoted what the Dakhma of Angra Mainyu's website says about the use of a Consecrated Host in the black mass rituals.

"The Consecrated Host is corrupted by sexual fluids then it becomes the sacrifice of the mass," he quotes. "Black masses can include 'nudity, public urination, and other sexual acts' and have included '[f]orms of bestiality and other animal sacrifice'."

Perverted sexual acts are very much a part of the satanic ritual and Adam Brian Daniels is listed as a registered sex offender in the Warr Acres neighborhood of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. The 35-year-old was convicted in 2009 of sexual battery of a person over 16 in Shawnee, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma. The Busted! Offenders website states that Daniels, a 300 pound red head, has full body satanic design tattoos and is branded as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

"Without this sacred property, a black mass has absolutely no significance, so the group will not be able to hold its satanic ritual as planned," Caspino explained.

Even though Archbishop Coakley has been able to protect and defend the consecrated Host, he is still intent on barnstorming the gates of heaven through prayer and invoking St. Michael the Archangel to protect the people from the spiritual darkness that could come upon the City Oklahoma City by the "black mass."

"Since it seems this event will not be cancelled, I am calling on all Catholics of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to counteract this challenge to faith and decency through prayer and penance," the Archbishop announced.

He has called for all Archdiocesan Catholic churches to recite the Prayer of St. Michael from the Feast of the Transfiguration (Aug. 6) until the Feast of St. Michael and All Angles (Sept. 29). The black mass is scheduled for Sept. 21. He has also requested that his parishes especially honor the Eucharist with Holy Hours and Adoration and Benediction between the Feast of the Assumption (Aug. 15) and the scheduled black mass on the Feast of St. Matthew (Sept. 21).

"We will pray to avert this sacrilege and publicly manifest our faith in the Lord and our loving gratitude for the gift of the Holy Eucharist, the Source and Summit of our lives," the Archbishop added.

Finally, the Archbishop invited Catholics, other Christians and all people of goodwill to join him in prayer on Sept 21 for a Holy Hour, an outdoor Eucharistic Procession and Eucharistic Benediction. He also hopes citizens will contact Oklahoma City's mayor Mick Cornett to "express your outrage over this offensive and blasphemous sacrilege and this misuse of a tax-supported public space."

The Oklahoma Archbishop also questions whether the use of the civic center as the venue for the black mass is really an appropriate use of public space, but has been told by civic center officials that the Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall is a public building and the city must abide by the First Amendment and allow it to be leased to any group that agrees to abide by all laws and city ordinances.

"The Black Mass has been a feared ritual, and now it's being brought into the light," The civic center's website states as it describes the Sept 21 event. "This will be not only be enlightening but educational as well. This Black Mass will be conducted for the public to attend with certain adaptations to allow for a legal celebration. To attend the Black Mass event you must be at least 16 years of age."

This is not the first in recent memory that a black mass has caused a stir. Three months ago when the Harvard Extension School's Cultural Studies Club invited the New York Satanic Temple to perform a black mass on the Harvard campus as a "dedication to free expression" event. The uproar was so great that the Cultural Studies Club dropped its sponsorship and a scaled down version of the event was moved to an off campus Chinese restaurant.

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline