Naturally, churches must make ends meet, but St Paul’s does not appear to be on the breadline, with a charitable foundation and a City of London endowment trust showing millions of pounds in assets. Whereas visitors to other European cathedrals pay nothing, Britain’s leading churches have ordained the Disneyfication of God. Even if charging and slick marketing are unavoidable, the pusillanimous behaviour of senior clergy suggests that the God industry has taken precedence over the voiceless and the vulnerable.
Whether or not the (former) Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s deserve to be pilloried in the way they have been over their handling of the Occupy London protesters, the mess that they have got themselves into surely exposes a gaping cavern where the foundations of moral and spiritual conviction should have been. The church is in grave danger of collapse, and neither public pomp nor private piety is likely to prevent the disaster.
Comments
Re: Quote: Mary Riddell: The Disneyfication of God
I too wonder why it is that I need to pay money (£15 a piece) to say a prayer inside St Paul’s, Westminster or even Yorkminster whereas I can stroll into the British Museum or the National Portrait Gallery and spend an entire afternoon there without so much as dusting off my loose change.
Luke 19:46?