SYDNEY (LifeSiteNews) — A week after hundreds of young Australian Catholics knelt and prayed the Rosary outside a former Catholic church causing the blasphemous LGBT-themed revue being performed inside to be immediately shut down, Sydney’s archbishop weighed in to defend the faith against accusations of Catholic homophobia.
“The performances and promotions associated with Divine Playhouse at a former Sydney Catholic church are not neutral expressions of art,” Archbishop Anthony Fisher, OP, of Sydney wrote for The Catholic Weekly. “Social media images show a pig offering McDonald’s fries as the ’Body of Christ,’ male performers dressed as nuns, and events promoted under titles such as ‘Sunday Mess’ and ‘Unholy Confessions.’”
The archbishop described the show’s content as “a deliberate appropriation, sexualization, and denigration of symbols and rituals specific and sacred to the Catholic faith,” adding, “Claims that these events were not designed to mock Catholics are unpersuasive.”
“Many Catholics see this conduct as a deliberate provocation of people of faith,” Fisher said, further explaining:
For Catholics, the Eucharist is not a cultural motif available for parody. It is the sacrament at the heart of our worship — the presence of Christ himself, really and truly given. Religious habits are not costumes to be worn for a photograph or humour; they tell of women who have given their whole lives to God and to the service of others. The crucifix is not a prop; it is the image of a man dying out of love for those who mock him.
Archbishop Fisher said in no uncertain terms that critics of the Catholics who sought to have the performances shut down are wrong to characterize their objections as “an attack on the LGBT community.”
“The objection,” Fisher said, “is to the deliberate ridicule of beliefs and practices Catholics hold sacred.”
“For too long, anti-Catholic prejudice has been treated as a comparatively acceptable form of intolerance. We are entitled to ask that our sacred beliefs not be singled out for taxpayer-funded ridicule, and that when we object peacefully, our objections not be misrepresented as hatred,” he declared.
Pictures posted on X two weeks ago show young Catholic men and women praying and holding rosaries directly across the street from the church where the scandalous performances were taking place.
Catholics in Australia pray the Rosary outside a former Catholic church in Sydney, now converted into a nightclub, after a performance inside mocked Christian symbols, including the Eucharist. pic.twitter.com/hAhLHOwEwv
— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) July 18, 2026
Sydney nightclub has closed after Catholics prayed the Rosary outside a former Catholic church, now converted into a nightclub, following a performance that mocked Christian symbols, including the Eucharist.
Info: ABC pic.twitter.com/TvoX0Oazj1
— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) July 18, 2026
“Australian Catholics gathered from throughout Sydney to pray in reparation for the blasphemous performances taking place at a venue on Kent Street in Sydney’s central business district,” the prayerful protest sponsors explained on Instagram. Their video post continued:
More than one thousand faithful united in peaceful prayer, carrying Rosaries and lifting their hearts to God in reparation for the public offence against Jesus Christ.
Their response was not one of anger, but of faith — answering mockery with prayer, hatred with charity, and blasphemy with unwavering devotion.
It was a powerful witness that the Catholic faith will not be silenced. When Christians stand together in truth, prayer, and love for Christ, they become a light that no darkness can overcome.