Why weren’t we consulted about England’s great cathedrals becoming nightclubs?

When a group of Christians stood outside Canterbury Cathedral on a cool evening in February this year singing hymns and praying in reparation for the so-called silent discos taking place inside that sacred space, they were told they were overreacting.

“It’s only a silent disco,” they said. “It will help bring people in,” some well-meaning voices piped up. “The Cathedral needs the money,” so the official response went.

Catholics were told it was none of their business anyway.

Since then, and despite widespread criticism and a petition reaching over 3,000 signatures, there was yet a further disco held at Canterbury Cathedral, on none other than the Feast of the Assumption, along with tens of other similar events across the country.

Peterborough Cathedral, the resting place of Catherine of Aragon, will be hosting not one but two club nights in November. The first event – “Ibiza Classics” – takes place on All Souls Day. You will notice they’ve now dropped the pretence of these events being “silent”.

When you want to change the use of a building in England and Wales, you have to apply for planning permission for a “material change of use”. This is to allow the community to have a say and raise any objections. The stipulation recognises that a building, and what its owner does with it, has a material impact on the community around it.

The Church of England has consulted nobody about turning these sacred spaces into music venues. Why do we have a law that stops a shopkeeper turning his shop into a house, but lets the Church of England turn ancient Cathedrals into nightclubs without even consulting one person?

These brazen and entitled displays are worsened by the fact that there has been clear and vocal opposition.

RELATED: ‘Silent Disco’ at Canterbury Cathedral leads to more voluble protest

It appears as if the powers that be have decided that the future of these ancient sacred spaces should be one of laser lights and rowdy raves.

Manchester Cathedral seems to have been doing this for a while and even markets itself on its website as, “an ideal place to host an array of multi-faceted events, concerts, brand launches, conferences and intimate fine-dining and grand gala dinners”.

Earlier this year, the cathedral hosted gothic rock band Corpus Delicti whose song lyrics are so vulgar they belong in Dante’s seventh circle of hell, rather than in a 15th-century cathedral.

I can understand the appeal, particularly from a capitalist perspective – big spaces, brilliant acoustics, central locations. But there’s also an extra buzz that a cathedral provides as a nightclub venue – and that’s the element of taboo. Deep down, even those with a limited understanding of the sacred know that it’s an improper use of the space, something rebellious, like shouting in the middle of a library; and that will certainly be part of the attractiveness.

Let’s face it, the Church of England has dwindling numbers but valuable assets, so why not cash in on these? Well, if you’re going to do that, just be honest about what you’re doing.

These old cathedrals are expensive to maintain and declining numbers of Anglican Sunday worshipers mean they are unlikely to be financially sustainable in the long term. So, a partial change of use is not entirely surprising. But, if you asked the general public to give a creative list of alternative uses for these cathedrals, I doubt many, even the ardent atheist would put nightclubs at the top of their list.

Our cathedrals have a special place in the English psyche. They are “deeply intertwined with the history and identity of the nation” standing “as a symbol of continuity in a rapidly changing world” in the words of Roger Scruton. Many of us, even if not belonging to the Church of England, have a stake in these buildings, be it a spiritual or a sentimental one.

For Catholics, especially, these buildings have a sacred quality. They contain many relics and will have been the sites of a multitude of masses celebrated over the centuries.

As Scruton said, in the quiet of these old churches you can sense “the accumulated prayers of generations, the silent witness of faith that has endured through centuries of turmoil and change.”

That is why these events are so scandalous. I think it’s about time we said enough is enough.

RELATED: Rave in the Nave at Canterbury: if the Church of England doesn’t know what its cathedrals are for, can we have them back?

Photo: Donald Allister, the Bishop of Peterborough, enters the Gothic ‘West Front’ of Peterborough Cathedral, in Peterborough, central England, 26 September 2019. (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images.)

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