Archbishop wants $100k queer arts grant pulled. Catholic schools got $749 million.

Anthony Fisher says Divine Playhouse mocks his faith, while the institutions he leads can still legally sack queer teachers.

Told by Paige Turner · 1 October 2026

Sydney's Archbishop Anthony Fisher wants the NSW Government to pull $100,000 in arts funding from Divine Playhouse because it uses Catholic imagery, which is fascinating timing given Catholic schools in NSW alone received $749 million in taxpayer money this year and can still legally sack teachers for being queer.

Fisher launched a petition this week calling on Arts Minister John Graham to withdraw the Create NSW grant, arguing the queer arts project—formerly Unholy Playhouse, now Divine—mocks and degrades Catholicism with its programming of "live exorcisms," "Sunday mess" events, and its upcoming UNHOLY/DIVINE resurrection tour at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The project was evicted in July from its home in a 158-year-old deconsecrated church on Kent Street after Christian groups protested the opening night, where some attendees wore nun and choir costumes. Developers Revelop, co-founded by billionaire cousins Anthony El-Hazouri and Charbel Hazzouri, used an obscure 1800s law called "offensive trade"—originally written to regulate foul smells and industrial waste—to terminate the lease.

Fisher's open letter to Graham says he recognises "the right to freedom of artistic expression" but argues "no believer should be expected to accept the use of their sacred beliefs as material for ridicule simply because it is presented as artistic expression." He takes particular issue with the October programme's promotional material featuring three inverted crosses and promises of adoration, confession, hymns and processions, calling it "the deliberate appropriation and, in our view, sexualisation and denigration of symbols, language and rituals that are sacred to Catholics."

The Minister told the Sydney Morning Herald the government can't withdraw the money because it's already been spent setting up the venue before the eviction. "I don't really support people mocking each other, but the idea that government is going to say yes and no to who's performing on stage is not a principle that we accept," Graham said. "It's up to companies to determine what they're performing, and we'll be continuing that approach."

Organiser Kat Dopper, founder of events company Heaps Gay, changed the name from Unholy to Divine twelve hours before the July opening to avoid offending people, and still received constant death threats and homophobic messages, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Both Dopper and Revelop have said they will challenge and defend the eviction legally.

The Order of Perpetual Indulgence—Sydney's queer nuns—had thoughts. Sr Rosacea of the Immaculate Complexion told QNews: "If $100,000 for four months of queer creativity is such an outrageous use of taxpayer money, perhaps we should have a little chat about the 749 million NSW taxpayers' dollars going into Catholic Schools. Institutions which have taught plenty of people that their sexuality and relationships are sinful or wrong." She pointed out that if the new rule is that NSW government money shouldn't fund something because a community feels mocked, degraded or harmed by it, "please likewise return to the coffers our $749 million."

Catholic schools in NSW received $2.9 billion from the Australian Government and $749 million from the state in 2024, according to Catholic Schools NSW's own website. About 80% of the funding distributed by Catholic Schools NSW comes from government. Despite this, it remains legal in Catholic schools to discriminate against LGBTQIA+ staff and students, and teachers have lost their jobs for being in queer relationships.

Greens MP Cate Faehrmann told parliament the government had previously funded and supported Mardi Gras, and said: "This happens in so many different communities and it is an acknowledgment as well that under the Catholic faith the LGBTQIA+ community has been discriminated against, persecuted and traumatised. For a lot of people, this is their way to celebrate where they are now. Sometimes [it] involves a little bit of a thumbing of the nose to faith. I say that is OK."

The Order of Perpetual Indulgence had one final message for the Archbishop: "The Catholic Church and some Evangelicals' persecution complex is becoming quite the production and frankly, the costumes are starting to look expensive. As RuPaul says—get off the cross, we could use the wood!"