By French churches you mean Roman Catholic, right? The Washington National Cathedral is Episcopal. I don't think the leadership of the cathedral would say it is a consecrated space. In my mind a church as a "consecrated space" is a Catholic idea and has to do with the presence of the Eucharist in the tabernacle. If the Eucharist is not there, then it's just a room.

I think Protestants would say the cathedral is a space used for "worship and fellowship." Whether or not a prom is an activity worthy of the space is a reasonable question. But I bet it's a profitable activity and the cathedral needs money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. As a French person, that seems very shocking to me. No church in France has such events in their nave.

As I understand it, French churches also don't have many French people inside their naves.

PP you replied to. Ha! Quite right, there are less people going to church in France than before. Despite this, most people wouldn't be OK with such a frivolous event.

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. As a French person, that seems very shocking to me. No church in France has such events in their nave.

Thank you. I’m so glad to know that I’m not the only one shocked.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are they doing such sacrilegious events in the Nave? A few months ago they showed The Lego Movie. Now it’s a Prom with dancing and current music? It’s bad enough they have their gift shops open on Sundays (remember the Sabbath and keep it holy).

https://cathedral.org/event/seeing-deeper-cathedral-prom/

Tut, tut. God has no room for joy in his house. I take it you are not a DC Episcopalian!

You seriously don’t see this as inappropriate for that particular space? When they have an upstairs dining/reception area? No wonder the Cathedral is having trouble raising money.

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. As a French person, that seems very shocking to me. No church in France has such events in their nave.

As I understand it, French churches also don't have many French people inside their naves.

Interesting. As a French person, that seems very shocking to me. No church in France has such events in their nave.

Anonymous wrote:What are they doing such sacrilegious events in the Nave? A few months ago they showed The Lego Movie. Now it’s a Prom with dancing and current music? It’s bad enough they have their gift shops open on Sundays (remember the Sabbath and keep it holy).

https://cathedral.org/event/seeing-deeper-cathedral-prom/

Tut, tut. God has no room for joy in his house. I take it you are not a DC Episcopalian!

I think it's awesome that they are being creative about getting people in the space and are raising money at the same time. Churches can be intimidating to some and perhaps some events will have more people seeing it as a friendly space.

Is the Nave consecrated?

Anonymous wrote:How much money have you donated to the cathedral? They desperately need money to repair earthquake damage. They did not do these sorts of events before the damage. Make a large donation. If enough people to do that, they can do fewer of these events.

OP here. I am a Cathedral donor, mostly because I want to support the All Hallow’s Guild. This leadership of the Cathedral is cheapening it by holding these events — LEGO movie, yoga, Prom. I love the Cathedral and hate for it to be cheapened like this. I think they are turning a lot of people like me away.

How much money have you donated to the cathedral? They desperately need money to repair earthquake damage. They did not do these sorts of events before the damage. Make a large donation. If enough people to do that, they can do fewer of these events.

Isn’t it a consecrated space in the nave? The link is directly from the Cathedral, so it’s not another outside organization.

I once went to a private event at the top floor in the place where they have their Cathedral teas. That would seem to be an appropriate place for this event.

How is that sacrilegious?

Anonymous wrote:What are they doing such sacrilegious events in the Nave? A few months ago they showed The Lego Movie. Now it’s a Prom with dancing and current music? It’s bad enough they have their gift shops open on Sundays (remember the Sabbath and keep it holy).

https://cathedral.org/event/seeing-deeper-cathedral-prom/

The cathedral rents out the nave for all sorts of non-religion related events. It's not sacrilegious; it's Non-religious.

What are they doing such sacrilegious events in the Nave? A few months ago they showed The Lego Movie. Now it’s a Prom with dancing and current music? It’s bad enough they have their gift shops open on Sundays (remember the Sabbath and keep it holy).

https://cathedral.org/event/seeing-deeper-cathedral-prom/