By Elizabeth Gresosky
A city council meeting in Ottumwa, Iowa began with controversy this past Tuesday when a former council member opened with a “prayer” to Satan.
Matt Dalbey, who served on the city council from 2015 until 2021, apparently signed up to deliver the meeting’s invocation, but it seems the council did not know of Dalbey’s intentions or pre-approve his text.
Dalbey opened with “Dear, Dark Father” and pleaded, “let us embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat off the tree of knowledge” and ended with “Hail Satan.”
The meeting proceeded with the Pledge of Allegiance, and then another attendee, Rick Bick, approached the podium to condemn what had just happened.
“Let’s just reverse this curse that was put on our city. That ‘Hail Satan’ is not welcome here,” he said, but Council member Cara Galloway, who apparently has never stood for an opening prayer, tried to move Bick along and out of the way to wait for the portion of the meeting where citizens can speak.
At that time, Bick approached the podium again.
“I appreciate what Ms. Galloway is saying, but that was a curse put on the city. Most of you know that, and we need to just stop and reverse it,” he said.
At that time, Mayor Benjamin Foote offered a 30-second period of silence “to reflect on whatever it is we need to reflect on at this time.” Galloway objected, but the mayor overruled her.
The fact that this satanic invocation was allowed in the first place was enabled by a city council policy voted on and approved in January.
The policy states that it “is intended to acknowledge and express the City Council’s respect for the diversity of both organized and unorganized religious denominations, as well as other faiths, belief systems, or the lack thereof, represented and practiced among the citizens of the City of Ottumwa.”
Vade Retro Satana! The Ottumwa City Council in Iowa opened its October 6 meeting with a prayer to Satan. The man delivering the outrageous invocation basically pronounced a curse upon the city… In response, a courageous man in attendance stood up to make an act of reparation, saying: “That was a CURSE put on our city when he said ‘Hail Satan’ and ‘Oh dark god,’ and most of you know that. And we just need to stop and reverse it.” This reminds us how important it is for Christians to be involved in public life, giving public witness to Christ and rebuking the evil one. Just over a year ago, John Yep @USAYep, President of @CforCatholics, was given the opportunity to do the opposite, leading the October 1 Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting in Arizona in the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. America must never forget who we are called to be: One Nation Under Christ. Let us pray for the conversion of our country and for Christ to reign in every heart.
— Catholics for Catholics 🇺🇲 (@CforCatholics) October 7, 2026
Catholics for Catholics posted to X in response, “Vade Retro Satana!” which means, “Begone, Satan!” CforC also applauded the “courageous attendee” who made the “act of reparation.”
Last year, John Yep, president of CforC, opened the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting with the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.
“America must never forget who we are called to be: One Nation Under Christ,” CforC wrote in the post. “Let us pray for the conversion of our country and for Christ to reign in every heart.”
Iowa First Media also criticized what happened at the meeting as well as the policy, writing, “This is what happens when you have a city council who is too afraid to endorse a singular faith, or just doesn’t believe in one at all. Per the Invocation Policy, speakers are supposed to be chosen without preference for religion, belief, or nonbelief. Progressives believe that tearing down these barriers is ‘progress,’ but is it really?”
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