St John’s Cathedral officially speaks out after the church became a filming location for an OnlyFans reality show — every word from the Archbishop is drawing attention
The Anglican Church has demanded footage filmed inside Brisbane’s St John’s Cathedral be removed from a Stan reality series staying producers misled the Dean about the nature of the program.
The Diocese says the production was presented to Dean Dr Peter Catt as a documentary exploring faith and the experiences of someone previously excluded from religious communities because of sex work, but the finished program instead featured adult-content creators and a filmed religious ceremony inside the cathedral.
The footage filmed in the 125-year-old Cathedral appears in episode six of Turned On: Dirty Sexy Money, Stan’s reality series following people working in the adult-content industry.
Stan describes the program as a glimpse inside the “controversial and opulent world” of the “global top 1 per cent of adult content creators”, featuring some of the industry’s biggest names, including UK performer Lily Phillips, who has built a large following on OnlyFans.
Phillips rose to international notoriety after a widely publicised “101 men in a day” stunt and has also been linked to the wider controversy surrounding fellow “sexfluencer” Bonnie Blue and attempts to target young men during Gold Coast Schoolies.
In the episode in question, Phillips seeks to reconnect with her faith before taking part in a ceremony at St John’s.
The footage shows Catt inviting the group to the altar and asking Phillips a series of questions including whether she turns to Christ, renounces evil and repents of her sins.
Phillips responds “I do” to each.
The group is also participates in Holy Communion, with images from the ceremony appearing in promotional material for the program, according to anti-pornography campaigner Melinda Tankard Reist, who raised questions about the use of the cathedral in a social media post.
Tankard Reist questioned how the cathedral came to be involved, including whether the archbishop had been consulted, what arrangements were made with the production for filming and whether the church received any payment.
She also raised concerns about a child appearing in the ceremony.
In a letter dated August 20, Brisbane Archbishop Jeremy Greaves told diocese members said he was “shocked by the content, nature, and intent of the program”, which he said did not align with the faith and values of the diocese.
He apologised on behalf of the dean and cathedral chapter for the “distress and anger” caused by the decision to allow the cathedral to be used as a backdrop for the program.
According to the archbishop, the producers’ original pitch was fundamentally different from what appeared on screen.
He said the program had been presented as a documentary exploring “faith, intention, and life’s complexities” through the experience of a person who had previously been excluded from faith communities because of past involvement in sex work.
The archbishop described the finished production as “clickbait, reality TV content” which he said attempted to validate the porn industry.
He said he “unreservedly condemn[ed] any attempt to validate an industry that exploits women and girls and contributes to degrading and unhealthy messaging around sex and sexuality.”
Most significantly, the archbishop said conversations with multiple cathedral staff suggest the program’s producers “misled the dean.”
Stan said permission to film at St John’s Cathedral was obtained directly from the dean during production planning.
It said the episode also includes a scene in which Phillips discusses her work directly with Catt on camera, arguing the footage “goes to the heart of any suggestion the church was misled”.
The diocese has since contacted the producers and requested that all vision, images and content featuring people other than Dean Catt be immediately removed.
That request specifically includes what the archbishop described as the “completely unacceptable portrayal of children in the cathedral.”
Stan said it immediately removed footage showing individuals after receiving a request from the diocese on August 20.
The dispute has also prompted the church to turn the scrutiny on itself.
Greaves acknowledged there are “a number of gaps” in the diocese’s policies and procedures governing approvals for filming in churches and other church properties.
He said the situation “should never have happened” and that he had ordered an immediate review of those policies and procedures to ensure proper due diligence is carried out before third parties are granted access to church sites.
The issue is particularly significant given the role St John’s plays within the Brisbane Diocese.
The Anglican Church describes the cathedral as a place of worship and a Brisbane landmark where people gather to celebrate, seek solace, converse and learn.
It says the cathedral community seeks to “bring Anglican tradition into dialogue with contemporary issues”, while striving for open-minded conversation, inclusion and encouraging people to reflect on how their beliefs can be put into action.
SOURCE: 7 NEWS
https://7news.com.au/news/st-johns-cathedral-demands-stan-scrub-footage-filmed-in-brisbane-church-from-sex-work-reality-series-c-22768528
