The Archbishop of Sydney has called on the New South Wales (NSW) Government to withdraw funding from an LGBT group that held "unholy nights" in a former church, where performers dressed as pigs distributed fries as a mock Communion.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney said that the production Divine Playhouse had mocked, degraded and deliberately provoked the Catholic community as he expressed his concern at its government funding
The event took place in St John the Evangelist Church, which is deconsecrated, where it was reported that attendees at the July party were dressed as nuns and choirboys with promotional material advertising “Confession” and “Adoration”.
In response, Archbishop Fisher published an open letter and petition to NSW Arts Minister John Graham noting the government reportedly provided an AU$100,000 grant to Divine Playhouse and called the programme a sexualisation and denigration of Catholicism.
He wrote that while he recognised and upheld the right to freedom of expression and did not seek to stifle free speech, he said the Church was “deeply concerned” that the government was “financially supporting productions that mock, degrade or deliberately provoke the Catholic community”.
“At the time, we were told that the NSW Government may have been misled about the intentions of the group when the grant application was made. An examination of the funding was promised, yet no satisfactory public explanation or outcome has subsequently been provided.
“Nevertheless, Divine Playhouse has now returned under Unholy/Divine, appearing to double down on what can only be described as a deliberate mockery of the Catholic faith. The promotional material for events planned at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in October features three inverted crosses and promises Adoration, Confession, Hymns and Processions.
“These are not merely incidental references to Christianity. They involve the deliberate appropriation and, in our view, sexualisation and denigration of symbols, language and rituals that are sacred to Catholics. But the principle at stake goes far beyond the mockery of Christianity.”
Archbishop Fisher asked the New South Wales Government to consider whether it was “ever appropriate for public funding to be allocated to the appropriation, sexualisation, ridicule or deliberate degradation of the sacred beliefs, symbols and rituals of any religious community”.
“No believer should be expected to accept the use of their sacred beliefs as material for ridicule simply because it is presented as artistic expression. Freedom of artistic expression is important, but it does not follow that every artistic project must be financially supported by public funding,” he wrote.
“The Government cannot credibly call for religious tolerance and social cohesion, while quietly funding intolerance and division based on religious belief. For many members of the community, the issue is therefore not simply the existence of a controversial artistic production.”
He noted that the issue centred on public money being used to support programming which “deliberately mocks and degrades Christians”. He then petitioned Graham to “undertake that no government funding will ever be allocated to the ridicule of religious belief”.
Archbishop Fisher concluded: “Our faith is not a prop, a punchline or a source of sexual entertainment.”
The opening of the “queer arts space” provoked protests outside. The Telegraph reported that the Catholic apostolate Fit for the Kingdom described it as a “hateful blasphemy that mocks what we hold most sacred”.
Divine Playhouse, which now operates under the name Unholy/Divine, plans to host a three-day event at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) in Sydney in October entitled “Unholy Funeral”. It has advertised that the last night will allow attendees to “confess” their sins and “surrender to a night of delicious indiscretion and very naughty art”.
