Brooklyn bishop ‘appalled’ over music video shot in Catholic church, will investigate

By Joe Bukuras

CNA Staff, Nov 2, 2023 / 14:13 pm

Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan is “appalled” that a church there was used to shoot a provocative music video, the diocese said this week, with the prelate set to investigate why the more-than-100-year-old parish permitted the controversial video to be recorded on its property.

A newly released music video by pop musician Sabrina Carpenter showed the American-born singer dancing provocatively on the altar at the historic 19th-century Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn.

The Oct. 31 music video of the song “Feather,” which has amassed more than 2 million views on YouTube, included scenes shot both inside and outside the church. Carpenter appeared at one point in the video with no pants while profane decorations lay atop and around the altar.

The video depicted several men fighting over the singer and eventually killing each other over her; their funeral coffins appear to end up in the Catholic church in the video. 

One of those coffins says “RIP B----.” Several items like cloths, candles, small statutes, a coffin, and a vase appearing to hold a dark liquid that says “RIP” are sitting on the altar, while the tabernacle remains hidden behind them and the church’s statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary looks down from atop the altar.

A Nov. 2 statement from the Diocese of Brooklyn to CNA said that Bishop Brennan “is appalled at what was filmed at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn.”

“The parish did not follow diocesan policy regarding the filming on Church property, which includes a review of the scenes and script,” the statement said. 

The parish reportedly told the diocese that the production company “failed to accurately represent the video content,” with the diocese adding that Brennan “is taking this matter seriously and will be looking into it further.”

CNA reached out to the church’s pastor, Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, for comment but did not receive a response before publication time. 

Mia Barnes, the director of the music video, also did not respond to a request for comment.

The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish was established in 1863, according to the New York City chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

For more than 100 years the church has been a home to Lithuanian Catholics, according to the Tablet, the diocesan newspaper.

In 2022 the church welcomed Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, where the leader pledged his country’s support for its southern neighbor Ukraine in the war that Russia had launched earlier that year, the Tablet reported.

Other articles from the Tablet show that the church has hosted other Lithuanian leaders such as Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius in 2019 and the former head of state Vytautas Landsbergis in 2017.

Annunciation is “the only church in the New York metropolitan area that offers a weekly Sunday Mass in Lithuanian,” according to the Tablet.

Joseph Bukuras is a journalist at the Catholic News Agency.  Joe has prior experience working in state and federal government, in non-profits, and Catholic education. He has contributed to an array of publications and his reporting has been cited by leading news sources, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Catholic University of America. He is based out of the Boston area.