Canterbury Cathedral’s ‘Rave in the Nave’ Draws Ire

One cannot help but be overawed when entering Canterbury Cathedral, whose origins date back to St. Augustine of Canterbury, the Benedictine monk sent by Pope St. Gregory the Great to evangelize the English in 597. Perhaps most famous for being the hallowed site of St. Thomas Becket’s martyrdom in the 12th century and the focus of countless pilgrims, including Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the famous Canterbury Tales, the cathedral’s vaulted Romanesque ceiling lifts your eyes and spirits to the heavens just as its architects had intended. ...And yet for two evenings last week all this revered history was set aside as 3,000 revelers entered through the cathedral’s great West Door — an entrance usually restricted to kings, queens, archbishops and civic leaders — to join a disco in full swing.