Washington National Cathedral, officially known as “The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington”, has long been a beloved landmark in Northwest DC, dear to those of us who live in its shadow and revel in the pealing of its bells. I have enjoyed walking the grounds numerous times with friends, attending the beautiful Evensong services, and finding solace in the vast, cavernous interior marked with presidential tombs, soaring Gothic arches, a piece of moon rock, and magnificent stone masonry and fine tapestries marking biblical scenes. While the Cathedral has never stood out to me as an especially holy site (accustomed to the smell of incense, I find the lack of it in any church to be rather unsettling), it has always been, in my mind, a place of great importance in national history, and therefore, possessing of a kind of secular sacred aura along with its denominational role as a Protestant cathedral.
Its Gothic towers have stood crowning the city for over a century now, over half the time this new city has existed so far on the historical map. The two western towers, seemingly immovable despite the damage wrought by the 2011 late-summer earthquake and the much more titanic shifts in Episcopal doctrine over the years, beckon all to an edifice which many still think of as a sacred space long associated with silent prayer, angelic choirs, and solemn organ fanfares. Despite the Cathedral’s recent hosting of decidedly political venues such as memorials dedicated to the late Matthew Shepard (whose murder at the hands of his former drug dealer and lover The Episcopal Church continues to inaccurately claim was a result of his killer’s homophobia), the atmosphere in the sanctuary itself has always been one of sublime contemplation conducive to solemn worship. That is, until now.
As TEC shifts away from espousing any doctrines even remotely resembling Christian orthodoxy, this reverence long associated with the Cathedral edifice is apparently endangered, as such a reverent atmosphere stands in stark contrast to the picture presented in Robert Knight’s Washington Times’ article, “National Cathedral goes off the deep end with tai chi and yoga in the nave”. Knight reports disturbing developments at the Cathedral which will shock even veteran watchers of TEC’s steady spiritual, theological, and demographic decline.
In his January 17 article, Knight observes some of the more extreme, unorthodox methods that the Cathedral has resorted to in a desperate attempt to garner much-needed revenue as it continues to struggle to retain and revive its halting membership. These methods include hosting tai chi and yoga meditation sessions, football practices, and whatever else people are willing to pay for the privilege of doing in the nave of what purports to be the Christian cathedra of a supposedly Christian bishop. In the subtitle to his article, Knight asks what should be an obviously absurd question to any Christian: “Would Jesus have made a church into a gym for alternative religions or debate site on gay equality and gun control?” Evidently, the Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean of the Cathedral, thinks that our Lord would have had no problem with such things.
How these desperate measures in any way represent an adherence to or desire to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission is a question I would appreciate talking with Rev. Hall about some time, though, in all humility, I would rather do so in his office than risk having to inadvertently stumble upon a New Age meditation session or football work-out in the nave of what is supposed to be a dignified Christian house of prayer raised to the glory of the Triune God. I share with you Mr. Knight’s article, in all its pointed insight, humor, and snarky glory:
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The Episcopal Church-run National Cathedral in Northwest Washington, D.C., has hosted many events in its storied history, from Martin Luther King’s final Sunday sermon before his assassination, to U.S. presidents’ state funerals.
Last week, it was the site of “Seeing Deeper,” a five-day exploration of “expansiveness, immediacy and insight.” . . .
. . . Like the rest of the liberalized Episcopal Church, the cathedral is bleeding parishioners and donors, so it is now resorting to charging $10 for tours.
Less spiritually uplifting than the Creation Sculptures, but eerily appropriate, is the gargoyle in the shape of Darth Vader on the northwest tower. You can get a Darth Vader T-shirt in the online gift shop, which at one time was selling Darth Vader bobbleheads. Seriously.
Last week, the cathedral, which has already celebrated same-sex “weddings,” jumped the shark.
“You see a cathedral, but you don’t see anything being done with it. I’m trying to get this place back to its roots.”
So said the Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean of the cathedral, who is quickly turning the place for the nation’s most solemn occasions into Flip Wilson’s Church of What’s Happening Now.
Don’t believe me? Try this snippet from The Washington Post:
“‘I want to skateboard down it — or have a paper-airplane contest,’ Mr. Hall, a tall, white-haired priest, said Monday as he watched about 100 people practice tai chi in the football-field-long, rectangular nave.”
That’s right. The nave — the heart of the church leading to the altar. They took out the seats to stage activities including yoga sessions during five days of “Seeing Deeper.” I wonder if they have given thought to renaming the nave as the “navel,” as in contemplating one’s own?
The cathedral’s website promised that “written prayers, yoga mats, zafu meditation cushions, poetry, and mandalas to draw and color” would be “available as reflection tools.”
For those unfamiliar with Eastern religions, you use a zafu during a zazen (sitting) meditation session. Mandalas are geometric patterns representing the cosmos, and are used in Hinduism, which has thousands of gods, or in Buddhism, which is godless.
I’ve been searching the New Testament for support of Mr. Hall’s assertion that the cathedral’s transformation into a multipurpose center with mandalas would fit into Jesus’ ministry, but so far, no luck.
Many great cathedrals now house heretics, but the physical majesty of these buildings at least preserves a sense of holy ground, where people can contemplate the awesomeness of God and the condition of their souls. Now, even that’s been compromised.
Of course, real ministry is found in the heart, not in particular structures. Jesus warned us not to confuse showy religious practices with true repentance and love for God. Although Jesus might feel more at home in humbler environs than a cathedral, He preached at times in the grandest building of His 33 years on Earth — the Temple in Jerusalem.
But can you envision Jesus of Nazareth converting a cathedral into a handy gym for alternative religions and “public-policy debates on topics including gay equality and gun control?”
Mr. Hall seems able to do so: “If I get people together and say, ‘Let’s talk about God,’ we’ll get an argument. But if I say, ‘Let’s all pray together and experience the divine together in our own way,’ people can enter that in a much more creative and less-judgmental way.”
Translation: Don’t let Jesus and the Bible get in the way. In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” That doesn’t leave much room for the kind of spiritual smorgasbord we’re seeing now in Western nations, especially across the pond.
As The Washington Post informs us, “Long ago, many European cathedrals removed their chairs and now commonly use their spaces for events ranging from corporate parties and arts-awards ceremonies to events that can attract youths, such as ‘rave masses,’ where drugs are forbidden, but loud music, dancing in bikinis, and light shows are encouraged.”
Please don’t bring this up at the National Cathedral’s next vestry meeting.
Robert Knight is senior fellow for the American Civil Rights Union and a columnist for The Washington Times.
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