More than 3700 people have signed a petition calling on the New South Wales Government to apologise to the Christian community after it was revealed a nightclub planning live exorcisms in a former Catholic chapel in Sydney received state support. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
The petition also calls on the government to withdraw its support for the venue, which has attracted controversy for its use of Christian imagery in its branding and entertainment.
Media reported that the Divine Playhouse, which originally launched as the Unholy Playhouse in what was formerly the Genesian Theatre on Kent Street, received a $100,000 grant from the state’s arts agency Create NSW.
Petition organiser Chris Nave said the venue’s current tenant is “ridiculing our faith.”
“As a Catholic, a Christian, a father and a NSW taxpayer, I am deeply saddened and angered by the existence of the Divine Playhouse and its apparent association with Create NSW,” he wrote on the change.org website.
“This is not simply a nightclub. Its branding deliberately uses Christian symbols, language and themes in a way that many Christians reasonably see as mocking Jesus Christ, the Cross and our faith.”
The gothic-style St John the Evangelist church was deconsecrated in the 1930s and was home to the Genesian Theatre for 80 years, before the building was sold in 2017.
Mr Nave said the petition was about ensuring the Christian community receives the same respect afforded to other groups.
Divine Playhouse creator Kat Dopper told media it had received “an overwhelmingly positive response” and that the name had been changed from “unholy” to “divine” in response to a “small number of people in the community who felt hurt by the use of the name unholy.”
On its opening night on July 8, about 70 Christians gathered across the road from the venue to pray the Rosary in peaceful protest.
Some carried a banner proclaiming “Jesus is King,” while others brought statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary and other devotional items. A few of the protesters were videoed attempting to speak to nightclub staff, who included people dressed as nuns in blue habits, through the front door.
The group plans to return to the site on July 17 for another hour-long Rosary.
FULL STORY
Petition gains thousands of signatures over government-backed ‘Divine Playhouse’ (By Alex Woolnough, The Catholic Weekly)
