His Grace Archbishop Fisher Confronts the Blasphemy of Divine Playhouse
Archbishop Anthony Fisher has publicly confirmed what Family in Danger has been saying since day one: the fight over Divine Playhouse is not about hating gay people. It is about refusing to allow the holy Eucharist to be mocked.
The Archbishop Says What We’ve Been Saying Since Day One
On 28 July, His Grace Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP published a striking defence of ordinary Catholics in the Catholic Weekly. He confirmed that the objection to Divine Playhouse was never about the building being a former church, and never about the sexuality of the people running it. It was about the deliberate mockery of the holy Eucharist, Confession and religious life under the guise of so-called “art”. On its launch night, Divine Playhouse featured a performer dressed as a pig handing out fast food fries as a parody of The Most Holy Eucharist, drag performers dressed as nuns, and event nights branded “Sunday Mess” and “Unholy Confessions.”
How We Got Here
Family in Danger was early to report that an LGBT nightclub, had moved into the deconsecrated St John the Evangelist Church on Kent Street. “Unholy Playhouse” which had quietly renamed itself to “Divine Playhouse” shortly before opening, was backed by a $100,000 grant from the NSW government.
We petitioned Revelop, the property developer that owns the building, to cancel the lease. Days later, we reported “SUCCESS”: Revelop issued a breach notice, stating that the club’s conduct had “insulted and mocked the sincerely held religious beliefs of millions of Christian Australians.” That notice has since become a full termination. Divine Playhouse was given three days to clear out of the building entirely.
Now the Club Wants to Sue the Landlord for Standing Up
Rather than accept that a property owner is entitled to decide what happens on his own land, Divine Playhouse founder Kat Dopper has called Revelop’s decision “unlawful and unjust,” and is now raising money for what she calls “the fight ahead.” She isn’t doing it quietly either, a petition backing the club has drawn more than 17,000 signatures, and a GoFundMe for “legal costs” has raised more than $36,000.
NSW law has empowered property owners to end a lease over offensive trade since 1842. Revelop isn’t inventing a new rule to punish a tenant it disagrees with; it’s using a power that has always belonged to landlords, for exactly the kind of situation Divine Playhouse created, a business whose conduct provoked genuine public disturbance and put its own neighbours at risk of confrontation.
Family in Danger backed Revelop’s decision the day it was made and we continue to back it now. A private landlord should not have to spend a cent defending his own lease in court because he refused to host the extreme ridicule of a faith held by millions of Australians. Ridicule that could constitute religious vilification.
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Also read: LGBT Group Opens Blasphemous Club in Old Catholic Church
The Politicians Who Showed Up to Cheer the Opening Are Still Defending It
This was never a case of politicians being dragged reluctantly into a fight that had nothing to do with them. Deputy Lord Mayor Jess Miller, the Minister for Music and the Night-Time Economy John Graham, and the state’s own 24-Hour Economy Commissioner, Mike Rodrigues, all personally turned up to the club’s opening night. The same night that a performer in a pig costume handed out fries as a mock Eucharist and where drag performers played nuns.
After the lease was terminated, Miller said it was “not my place” to judge the club’s content, while making sure to voice her sympathy for its finances. Graham called the termination “a step backwards for Sydney.” Sydney’s Lord Mayor, Clover Moore — herself a self-professed Catholic — called the closure “disappointing and concerning” and has put council staff to work searching for a new property the club can occupy.
This is not the first time Moore has taken this same crowd’s side against her own Church. Back in 2021, her council co-sponsored a concert by Heaps Gay, the same group behind Divine Playhouse, promoted using an image of St Mary’s Cathedral, which Archbishop Fisher publicly called “insensitive.” Moore’s response then was the same as it is now: the city stood with the LGBT Community against Catholics, and said there was “no place for hate or intolerance.” Cate Faehrmann, a NSW Greens MP, isn’t just defending the $100,000 of taxpayer money already spent on Divine Playhouse, ; she’s now demanding the government hand over a further “$200k emergency rescue package,” and has pointedly reminded Graham and Rodrigues, in her own public statement, that they showed up in person to champion the venue and have gone quiet since. Even the Night Time Industries Association’s James Thorpe piled on, insisting that “offence cannot become a mechanism for eviction.”
Not one of these figures has had a word of sympathy for the Catholics whose faith was mocked to make this so-called “art.”
Taxpayers Are Still Waiting for Answers
Archbishop Fisher’s article confirms that Premier Chris Minns has promised to examine the $100,000 Create NSW grant that helped fund this entire spectacle — and that promise still hasn’t turned into an answer. That hesitation is telling from a Premier who has spoken candidly and publicly about his own Catholic faith and its importance to his family, and who has said Christianity “must not be forgotten” in this state. The same government that rushed through anti-protest, hate speech laws after the Bondi attack, in direct consultation with the Jewish community, has yet to explain why Christians who peacefully object to the mockery of their own sacraments are met with silence, or worse, accused of the very hatred they are protesting.
References
- Fisher, A. “A pluralist society protects both art and faith.” The Catholic Weekly, 28 July 2026.
- Family in Danger. “LGBT Group Opens Blasphemous Club in Old Catholic Church.” 9 July 2026. https://familyindanger.org.au/articles/lgbt-group-opens-blasphemous-club-in-old-catholic-church
- Family in Danger. “SUCCESS: Revelop gives notice to blasphemous club in Sydney.” 15 July 2026. https://familyindanger.org.au/articles/success-revelop-gives-notice-to-blasphemous-club-in-sydney
- “Officially Over: Divine Playhouse Given 3 Days To Vacate After Lease Terminated.” Star Observer.
- “Premier Minns should stand up for artists, not culture-war outrage.” qnews.com.au.
- “LGBTQ+ theater troupe fights back after being kicked out of venue for “hateful blasphemy.”” LGBTQ Nation.
- “Church converted into LGBT nightclub at centre of huge row after being forced to shut just three days after opening.” GB News.
- “Unholy mess: New queer arts venue faces doubtful future.” Limelight.
- “Sydney’s Divine Playhouse shut down after protests.” Pedestrian.tv.
- Faehrmann, C. “Government must step in with urgent funding package for Divine Playhouse organisers.” catefaehrmann.org.
- “Sydney Keeps Saying It Wants A Nightlife. Then It Shuts Down The People Creating One.” Yahoo News.
- “’Christian Lives Matter’ protesters try to drown out queer concert with prayers.” qnews.com.au, February 2021.
- “Chris Minns celebrates Christianity.” The Catholic Weekly.