If you ever felt alone…
If you ever felt rejected…
If you ever felt confused…
If you ever felt lost…
If you ever felt anxious…
If you ever felt wrong…
If you ever felt wronged…
If you ever felt unclean…
If you ever felt angry…
If you ever felt ashamed…
If you ever felt curious…
If you ever felt used…
… Then you might be interested to hear that Los Angeles’ Immanuel Presbyterian Church, also known as “the Helena church,” has been hosting My Chemical Romance listening parties.
As MCR fans know, the band filmed their “Helena” music video at the church in 2005 (and if you read The Fringe regularly, you probably also remember that the shared lore between church and band date back way further than that). To celebrate that bond, the church hosts events like Ghouls’ Day Out, welcoming emos and goths for photo ops, meet-and-greets with Helena actress Tracy Phillips, and more. But this month, Immanuel has added a new event to its repertoire — “My Presbyterian Romance” — where fans gather to discuss the band’s lyrics, as well as their religious parallels.
According to Pastor Andy Schwiebert, who’s been with Immanuel Presbyterian for more than eight years, My Presbyterian Romance was inspired, in part, by the positive response to Ghouls’ Day Out, an effort led by the production group SpooksieBoo.
“We’re seeing a really amazing amount of engagement, conversation, and interest — bigger than anything that the church has done for a long time,” Schwiebert says. With the band set to return to LA for a historic five-show run at the Hollywood Bowl in October, that tidal wave will only keep rising.
Immanuel congregation member Eric Esquivel, the driving force behind My Presbyterian Romance, got the idea for the event after noticing the fans clustered outside taking photos as soon as he began attending the church.
“There wasn't a whole lot of interaction between the church people and the kids that were around, trying not to make eye contact,” says Esquivel, who spent years working at Hot Topic as an assistant manager. “We started fostering these friendships with people who came to visit the church, but I noticed that there was never any official meeting of the minds between the two. They’re both kind of scared of each other.”
