American bishop criticizes St. Paul’s Cathedral for partnering with nightclub company, says it’s losing the line between ‘sacred and secular’

Bishop Robert Barron spoke out to criticize a new partnership between London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral and the nightclub company Fabric. The deal, which reportedly grants Fabric exclusive rights to host concerts at the historic venue until 2030, has triggered a significant wave of backlash. 

As reported by the NY Post, Bishop Barron, a well-known American Catholic bishop, took to social media to express his disapproval of the arrangement. He argued that the move suggests leadership within the Church of England has lost sight of the vital boundary between the sacred and the secular. He also expressed his disappointment with what is happening with the church.

In his post, he wrote, “Word has just come down that St. Paul’s Cathedral in London — the second most important church in the Anglican world — has imitated Canterbury Cathedral in permitting ‘raves,’ nightclub-like entertainments, to take place in its confines.”

Cathedral officials say they are attracting young visiters

The bishop contended that the purpose of a sacred space is to serve as a location set apart from the mundane world to help reorient people toward the divine. He noted, “Accordingly, in the properly sacred space, one is lifted out of the conventional and introduced into the numinous. This is why Christian cathedrals are filled with images of the saints and angels and why their interiors are meant first to disorient us and then to reorient us toward the divine.” 

He further added, “The contemporary West is, quite literally, the first culture in human history that is in danger of collapsing the sacred into the secular, or better, losing any sense of the difference between the two.” While cathedral officials reportedly maintain that these events are intended to attract younger visitors, some observers argue that this strategy misreads what young people actually want. 

Catholic actor David Henrie shared his perspective on this trend with FOX News, suggesting that many young people are moving away from secularized environments in favor of traditional, ancient forms of faith. Henrie observed that younger generations are increasingly seeking out experiences like the Latin Mass in the United States because they offer a clear contrast to modern culture.

“I’ve seen it coming. I was one of those people who was not living a Christian life and then suddenly found the world was completely empty and was searching for something other worldly,” Henrie said. He added, “[T]hey want ‘Lord of the Rings Catholicism.’ You know, they want bells, smells, ancient expressions of the liturgy. That’s where the young people are flocking right now. That’s why you’re seeing the Latin Mass booming.”

As BBC reports, St. Paul’s Cathedral is reportedly planning for the first concert, though the artist for the debut event has not yet been named. Sandra Lynes Timbrell, the cathedral’s director of visitor engagement, stated that the goal is to use a “carefully curated programme of exceptional concerts” to reach individuals who might not otherwise visit the site. Meanwhile, Fabric co-founder Cameron Leslie described the collaboration as “an extraordinary and unexpected coming together of two very different parts of London.”

Bishop Barron remains firm in his opposition to the new direction for St. Paul’s. He said, “I’m really gratified by the overwhelmingly negative reaction to this development. It shows that Christians still have some fight in them. And one might ask the question: would something similar ever be permitted in the largest Mosque in London?” He concluded his critique by calling the use of the nave for such events a “pitiful surrender to ideological secularism.”