A satanic "black mass" scheduled for Monday at Harvard University on was moved off campus after outcry from school officials and the Boston Archdiocese, the New York Daily News reported.
Members of the Satanic Temple held the ritual at the Hong Kong lounge in Harvard Square instead.
An employee of the lounge told reporters the members were present but weren't performing any offensive acts.
"I haven't heard any complaining," the unidentified employee said.
Lucien Greaves, a spokesperson for the New York-based temple, told The Boston Globe that the ceremony -- organized by the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club -- was cancelled because it frightened so many people.
"Everyone involved, outside of the Satanic Temple, got really scared," Greaves said. "And I don't necessarily blame them, because I understand that they were getting a lot of vitriolic hate mail, and I don't think they expected it."
After the event moved to an off-campus spot, the cultural studies club announced it was no longer sponsoring it.
"The Satanic Temple has informed us that they will stage their own black mass ceremony at an undisclosed private location to 'reaffirm their respect for the Satanic faith and to demonstrate that the most powerful response to offensive speech is to shame those who marginalize others by letting their own words and actions speak for themselves,'" the club said in an email.
One student told the Globe he was disappointed in hearing the mass was cancelled.
"I understand it was supposed to be a reenactment of what a satanic mass would have been," said Dani Mellen. "I'm not totally sure, because I've never attended one. But I was excited to because I have a thirst for knowledge."
After learning of the scheduled event, the Boston Archdiocese claimed it would mock the Catholic mass.
"For the good of the Catholic faithful and all people, the church provides clear teaching concerning satanic worship," the archdiocese said. "This activity separates people from God and the human community, it is contrary to charity and goodness, and it places participants dangerously close to destructive works of evil."
Rev. Michael Drea, senior chaplain at the Harvard Catholic Center, decried the mass as well.
"The black mass is a contradiction to the Catholic faith and is rooted in hatred and bigotry," he told The Boston Herald. "The university shouldn't tolerate something like this under the guise of academic integrity."
