A concert that has a 'sexy' pole dance show was held at Protestant Saint-Guillaume Church in Strasbourg, France. As a result, the parish priest, Father Daniel Boessenbacher, allegedly received death threats.
Death Threats on Father Daniel Boessenbacher
Last week, a baroque music and performing arts organization called Passions Croisées (Interwoven Passions) contracted the church to perform two performances of the lyrical sequence Stabat Mater composed by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. These performances included dance and pole dance acts as well, The Guardian reported.
The crowd was left "gasping" after watching gymnast Vincent Grobelny, a two-time winner of the French pole dance championship, perform his pole dancing routine, described as talented, athletic, graceful, vulgar, and some would say sexy. It was mentioned that all 1,000 tickets for the show had been purchased within a short period. The priest acknowledged that "some didn't like it" and defined the evening's program as "flirtatious but soft."
Moreover, Father Daniel Boessenbacher mentioned that he contacted the authorities after discovering the threats in two separate letters from an unknown author. "There is no doubt this is about a show involving Stabat Mater and pole dancing," he said.
In one of the threatening messages, the sender said that parishioners "should be decapitated" and that "this is not a church; it's a cabaret." The other individual stated about the priest, "his head needs to be cut off because he handed the key to our holy church to a dancing serpent."
According to Euro News Culture, Boessenbacher posted on Facebook that he didn't plan to stay on the first day of Holy Week at the local police station. Yet, his willingness to have an open mind is tested whenever phony Christians send anonymous letters to the parish. The priest refers to people who claim to be Christians as pseudo-Christians since he can't find anywhere in the Gospels where Jesus encourages people to make death threats. Unsurprisingly, a complaint was sent in.
However, Father Boessenbacher seems unfazed by the threats, stating, "I believe the Church needs to open up to the world." Furthermore, pole dancing and opera will be combined in two performances that will also take place at the Saint-Guillaume church at the end of May and the beginning of June.
Cancellation of French LGBTQ Icon Concert at A Converted Church
A recent report from Barron's stated that on Wednesday evening, Apr. 5, Bilal Hassani, who competed for France at Eurovision in 2019, was scheduled to perform at a Roman basilica converted into a music venue in the city Metz, located in the country's northeast. Last week, a Catholic conservative organization, Lorraine Catholique, petitioned to cancel the event, claiming that the singer's performances were sexual.
It exhorted believers to hold prayers outside the church against what it termed "profanity" during the Holy Week coming up to Easter. The comments were reposted on social media by sources with ties to the far right. As a result, the producers cancelled the concert.
Accordingly, it was cancelled after a priest in France said on Tuesday, Apr. 4, that he had received death threats following a sold-out pole dance show at his church, which the local paper referred to as "sexy."
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French priest gets death threats after 'sexy' pole dance show held in his church https://t.co/KghsLnx5ht
— Guardian World (@guardianworld) April 4, 2023
