Satanist leader's attempt to hold Black Mass in Kansas Statehouse sparks chaos and 4 arrests

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The leader of a small group of self-described satanists and three other people were arrested Friday following a scuffle inside the Kansas Statehouse arising from an effort by the group's leader to start a Black Mass in the rotunda.

About 30 members of the Kansas City-area Satanic Grotto, led by its president, Michael Stewart, rallied outside the Statehouse for the separation of church and state. The group also protested what members called the state's favoritism toward Christians in allowing events inside. Gov. Laura Kelly temporarily banned protests inside, just for Friday, weeks after Stewart's group scheduled its indoor ceremony.

The Satanic Grotto's rally outside drew hundreds of Christian counterprotesters because of the Grotto's satanic imagery, and its indoor ceremony included denouncing Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the Son of God. About 100 Christians stood against yellow police tape marking the Satanic Grotto's area. The two groups yelled at each other while the Christians also sang and called on Grotto members to accept Jesus. Several hundred more Christians rallied on the other side of the Grotto's area, but further away.

Kelly issued her order earlier this month after Roman Catholic groups pushed her to ban any Satanic Grotto event. The state’s Catholic Bishops called what the group planned “a despicable act of anti-Catholic bigotry” mocking the Catholic Mass. Both chambers of the Legislature also approved resolutions condemning it.

“The Bible says Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy, so when we dedicate a state to Satan, we’re dedicating it to death," said Jeremiah Hicks, a pastor at the Cure Church in Kansas City, Kansas.

Satanic Grotto members, who number several dozen, said they hold a variety of beliefs. Some are atheists, some use the group to protest harm they suffered as church members, and others see Satan as a symbol of independence.

Amy Dorsey, a friend of Stewart's, said she rallied with the Satanic Grotto to support free speech rights and religious freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, in part because Christian groups are allowed to meet regularly inside the Statehouse for prayer or worship meetings.

Before his arrest, Stewart said his group scheduled its Black Mass for Friday because it thought the Kansas Legislature would be in session, though lawmakers adjourned late Thursday night for their annual spring break. Stewart said the group might come back next year.

“Maybe un-baptisms, right here in the Capitol,” he said.

Video shot by KSNT-TV showed that when Stewart tried to conduct his group's ceremony in the first-floor rotunda, a young man tried to snatch Stewart's script from his hands, and Stewart punched him. Several Kansas Highway Patrol troopers wrestled Stewart to the ground and handcuffed him. They led him through hallways on the ground floor below and into a room as he yelled, “Hail, Satan!”

Stewart’s wife, Maenad Bee, told reporters, “He’s only exercising his First Amendment rights.”

Online records showed that Stewart, 42, was jailed briefly Friday afternoon on suspicion of disorderly conduct and having an unlawful assembly, then released on $1,000 bond.

The Kansas Highway Patrol, which provides security at the Statehouse, said two others who entered the building with Stewart also were arrested for unlawful assembly, Jocelyn Frazee, 32, and Sean Anderson, 50. Frazee had no bond set; information for Anderson was not available online.

Witnesses and friends identified the young man trying to snatch away the Black Mass script as Marcus Schroeder, who came to counterprotest with fellow members of a Kansas City-area church. Online records show Schroeder, 21, was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct, with his bond also set at $1,000.

A friend of Schroeder's, Jonathan Storms, said he was trying to help a woman who also sought to snatch away Stewart's script and “didn't throw any punches.”

The woman, Karla Delgado, said she came to the Statehouse with her three youngest children to deliver a petition protesting the Black Mass to Kelly's office. Delgado said she approached Stewart because he was violating the governor's order and Highway Patrol troopers weren't immediately arresting him. She said in the ensuing confusion, her 4-year-old daughter was knocked to the ground.

“When we saw that nobody was doing anything — I guess just in the moment of it — it was like, ‘He’s not supposed to be allowed to do this,’ so we tried to stop him," she said.

A priest and a group of Kansas legislators and visitors to the Statehouse pray the Catholic rosary on the ground floor in response to an attempt by the Satanic Grotto from the Kansas City area to hold a "Black Mass" inside, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Topeka, Kansas. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Karla Delgado, of St. Marys, Kansas, talks to reporters about a scuffle that occurred in the Kansas Statehouse following a Satanic Grotto rally outside, as her husband, Humberto, watches, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Topeka, Kansas. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Michael Stewart, the President of the Kansas City-area Satanic Grotto, speaks with reporters as the group's rally gets started outside the Kansas Statehouse, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Topeka, Kansas. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Roman Catholics are among the Christians counter-protesting at a rally by the Satanic Grotto from the Kansas City area outside the Kansas Statehouse, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Topeka, Kansas. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Christians counter-protest at a rally held outside the Kansas Statehouse by the Satanic Grotto from the Kansas City area, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Topeka, Kansas. (AP Photo/John Hanna)(AP Photo/John Hanna)

Christians counter-protest at a rally held outside the Kansas Statehouse by the Satanic Grotto from the Kansas City area, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Topeka, Kansas. (AP Photo/John Hanna)(AP Photo/John Hanna)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — Israel struck a hospital in northern Gaza early Sunday, forcing patients to evacuate as attacks intensified.

The pre-dawn strike hit Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, after Israel issued an evacuation warning, according to Gaza's ministry of health. One patient died during the evacuation because medical staff were unable to provide urgent care, it said.

The hospital, run by the Diocese of Jerusalem, was attacked on Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.

Hours later, a separate strike on a car in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, killed at least seven people — six brothers and their friend — according to staff at the morgue of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.

Israel said it struck a command and control center used by Hamas at the hospital to plan and execute attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers, without providing evidence. It said prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm, including issuing warnings, and using precise munitions and aerial surveillance.

The strikes came hours after Israel's defense minister said that military activity would rapidly expand across Gaza and that people would have to evacuate from “fighting zones.” Israel also announced Saturday the completion of the Morag corridor, cutting off the southern city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza, with the military saying it would soon expand “vigorously” in most of the small coastal territory.

Israeli authorities have vowed to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, 24 believed to be alive, and accept proposed new ceasefire terms.

The director of Al-Ahli Hospital, Dr. Fadel Naim, said they were warned of the attack before it was struck. In a post on X, he wrote that the emergency room, pharmacy and surrounding buildings were severely damaged, impacting more than 100 patients and dozens of medical staff.

The health ministry said the strike destroyed the ward for outpatients and laboratories and damaged the emergency ward.

Medical facilities often come under fire in wars, but combatants usually depict such incidents as accidental or exceptional, since hospitals enjoy special protection under international law. In its 18-month campaign in Gaza, Israel has stood out by carrying out an open campaign on hospitals, besieging and raiding them, some several times, as well as hitting multiple others in strikes while accusing Hamas of using them as cover for its fighters.

Last month Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis city, the largest in southern Gaza, killing two people and wounding others and causing a large fire, the territory’s health ministry said. The facility was overwhelmed with dead and wounded when Israel ended the ceasefire with a surprise wave of airstrikes.

The war started after Hamas killed 1,200 people during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack, mostly civilians, and took 250 people captive, many of whom were eventually freed in ceasefire deals.

More than 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza have so far been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive, according to the health ministry there, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count but says more than half of the dead are women and children.

Magdy reported from Cairo.

Khalid Ahmad holds a poster of his 17-year-old son, Waleed, who died in an Israeli prison, that reads in Arabic, "The hero prisoner Martyr, mercy and eternity for our righteous Martyrs," in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

A woman holds a sign as people take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 5,2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Palestinians wait for donated food at a distribution center in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian children receive donated food at a distribution center in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Displaced Palestinians flee from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Displaced Palestinians flee from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Two boys sit on a mattress as they ride on their family car while s fleeing from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)