A group that believes there is an ancient and little-known connection between Christianity and cannabis plans to burn oil full of psychoactive cannabinoids inside the nation's largest Roman Catholic church during the solar eclipse on August 21.

Anne Armstrong, a longtime cannabis activist and leader of Rhode Island’s Healing Church, says she will be shocked if the group’s request for a chapel is denied by the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

Armstrong believes that “the church will say, ‘Welcome, Deaconess Anne, and what room would you like?’” But if she cannot reserve space, Armstrong says she will simply walk in and use a vacant nook off the cavernous building's central nave.

“It’s a big place, it’s a Monday afternoon,” she says, predicting turnout of about 75 people. "We don't need the basilica's permission to have a prayer service in a chapel."

Armstrong says infused olive oil will be put at the bottom of a metal censer and topped with incense for use during a prayer service. "We're timing it to coincide with the eclipse, there's a lot of interesting astrological things going on," she says.

The oil will be "full spectrum with THC," the cannabinoid that produces a high, she says. "The holy chrism must have THC in it to be effective," she says.

After a ceremony inside the basilica, Armstrong plans to take participants outside, where they will exhale cannabis smoke through a large ceremonial horn, a practice she says is borrowed from the Bible.

Armstrong views her advocacy as helping restore the Roman Catholic Church to its cannabis-positive roots. “There are some people in the church -- believe it or not -- who oppose me," she says incredulously.

Unlike some out-of-town activists with grandiose plans, Armstrong has a network of local contacts and a track record of follow-through.

Last year, Armstrong blessed a crowd’s cannabis before lighting a joint at a flagrantly illegal smoke-in on Pennsylvania Avenue. She returned to participate in a “die in” supporting veterans’ access to medical marijuana, toting a large depiction of the Virgin Mary. “That’s cannabis!” she told passersby, pointing to a fold of cloth.

Watch: Armstrong blesses marijuana at an April 2, 2016, smoke-in:



Thomas Venditti, a Pennsylvania man helping Armstrong organize the August event, says he filed the actual request to book a chapel at the basilica, with a specific room with comfortable chairs in mind.

“Oh, it’s going forward, absolutely. We’re just working out the logistics,” he says.

Venditti says he is founder of a group called Catholics for Trump. “I stand with President Trump, that medical cannabis is good and that under medical comes spiritual," he says.

Venditti can’t imagine lack of permission being a problem.

“It’s open to the public -- anyone can go there,” he says. “It’s like a museum, really.”

Jacquelyn Hayes, director of communications at the basilica, says a request was made Monday for use of a chapel on Aug. 21, though she says there was not much detail given about the event.

"I can acknowledge a request was made by someone who didn't leave a name, but did leave a phone number and email address," Hayes says.

Hayes says "anything like this is properly vetted" and that the church's rector will review the matter and make a decision.

Adam Eidinger, co-founder of the D.C. Cannabis Campaign, which frequently hosts bold protests -- such as rolling a joint in Jeff Sessions’ Senate office and smoking on federal land outside of Congress -- says it’s unlikely Armstrong will back down.

"Unless she's ill or something, she's going to show up and do it," Eidinger says. He adds: "I don't think people should freak out at all. It may violate some policies there, but it's a spiritual thing for real for her."

Anne Armstrong tells a child "that's cannabis" as she points at a depiction of the Virgin Mary during a May 20 rally on H St NW in Washington, D.C. (Steven Nelson for USN&WR)

Eidinger says he won’t be attending the event, both because he is Jewish and expects to be out of town, but says the cannabis campaign -- which led a successful legalization ballot initiative -- may end up helping Armstrong reach prospective attendees.

Eidinger gives some credence to Armstrong’s belief in a long-suppressed association between cannabis and Christianity, saying that on a recent trip to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem he noticed the unmistakable shape of cannabis leaves on the floor.

Armstrong says she plans to invite first lady Melania Trump and presidential adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump. She says the infused olive oil she's making is inspired by a recipe in Exodus 30:23. Some of the group's ceremonies are held at a Rhode Island well she believes is mentioned in Revelations.

Will church-goers get high?

Armstrong says they might, but says people drink wine during communion at many churches, and that a transcendental experience might be expected anyhow.

"Will they be impaired? Will they be unable to drive? I don't know," she says. "If someone goes to church they are probably going to drink some alcohol, too, and I'd be more concerned about that."

It’s unclear if police in the nation’s capital would charge participants with committing a crime inside the basilica. Arrests in the nation’s capital for marijuana crimes have crept higher since the 2015 implementation of legalization of personal use, primarily for dealing-related crimes but also for public use, which remains illegal.

On Monday, KMGH-TV in Colorado reported that three leaders of the International Church of Cannabis in Denver had been issued citations for alleged public consumption. The city attorney told the station that although the event was closed to the public, infiltration by undercover police made it public.

Cannabis churches have emerged around the country. Courts have not granted such organizations protection under the First Amendment to violate drug laws, though the Supreme Court in 2006 found religious use of ayahuasca is allowed under religious-freedom legislation passed by Congress to allow American Indians to use peyote. Armstrong believes a case her organization has pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit may pave the way for a new legal precedent for cannabis.

Groups claiming religious use of cannabis vary significantly. Unlike Armstrong, who insists she is adhering to longstanding Christian beliefs and practices, other organizations such as the Denver organization and the First Church of Cannabis in Indianapolis aspire to construct new communities that break with organized religion.

Update 07/19/17:

After publication of this article, Venditti says he was contacted by the basilica and agreed to cancel his request for chapel space.

Venditti says he was unaware of Armstrong’s precise plans and that he would not personally defy church leadership.

But, he says, “If it turns out Anne is going to be there and she’s going to do that, I may just go to watch because that would be a pretty radical thing.”

The basilica clarified it would reject any further effort to reserve space.