Hundreds of Catholic protestors prayed and sang outside a satanic “black mass” held in a small theater in the Civic Center in Oklahoma City on Sunday, while only 42 ticket holders showed up to attend the event inside.

As NewsOK reports, about 1,600 Roman Catholics gathered Sunday afternoon to bear witness to their Christian faith, 1,200 of them crowded into the sanctuary, gym, and cafeteria at St. Francis of Assisi Church for a holy hour prayer service convened by Archbishop Paul S. Coakley. About 400 more gathered outside the church to listen to the service through speakers set up outside.

“Your presence here today is a powerful witness of your faith in the midst of a challenging time for our community,” said Coakley in his homily. “Out city has been targeted by dark forces.”

“[W]e know that Christ conquered Satan,” he continued. “The war has been won, Christ has conquered though skirmishes will continue until Christ comes to reign forever.”

Coakley said the procession afterward to the Civic Center was a reminder to Catholics that they are to be “as light, as salt, as leaven to bring hope and the light of Christ’s salvation to all.”

“For Catholics, it’s the most grievous offense against God you can commit,” Francis Slobodnik, who drove to Oklahoma City on a bus from Kansas, told NewsChannel 4 (KFOR.com). “We came down here to show our displeasure in a prayerful, peaceful way, to show our support for God and our faith and to stand up to satan.”

However, Anthony Leon, a member of the band scheduled to perform at the black mass, said, though he was not a satanist himself, “I respect their right to do what they’re doing so long as they leave us alone, we’ll leave them alone.”

According to KFOR.com, Jessica Holbert and Megan Czapoewski both purchased tickets.

“I just thought it might be interesting,” said Holbert. “I wanted to see what it was all about. Personally, I’m atheist, but I’m interested.”

“I actually traveled all the way from Louisville, Kentucky to be here,” said Czapoewski. “I’m someone who follows the more atheistic form of satanism, so I believe that I’m my own god. To me, this is coming to see another form of it.”

KFOR.com reported that while they reached out to local satanist Adam Daniels, who organized the black mass, he would not do an interview with them nor allow them inside the event.