London, England - A British vicar has created his own version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show to lure the faithful back into the fold -- a new twice-monthly church service for the Goths in his parish, complete with rock music and compulsory black garments.
The idea is the brainchild of Martin Ramshaw, associate Anglican vicar and resident Goth at the very traditionally named church of St Edward King and Martyr in the very well-heeled eastern university city of Cambridge.
"The service seeks to find new ways of making the life of the church meaningful to people from alternative, and particularly Goth, communities," Ramshaw explains on the church's website, www.st-edwards-cam.org.uk
"I am a Goth myself and realized that quite a lot of people I knew were spiritual rather than religious and were desperately looking for a spiritual home."
Held on alternate Tuesday evenings, the new 45-minute service is candle-lit -- though more in the style of English band Flesh Eating Foundation than that of Cambridge's world-famous Christmas Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.
The dozen or so worshippers that the service regularly draws usually pile into a nearby nightclub after prayers for a Goth event aptly named the Calling, Ramshaw explains on his dedicated website, www.thegotheucharist.org.uk.
The Gothic movement, which is generally keener on heavy metal than Hail Marys, is also suspected of dabbling in Satanism. But those acolytes who do venture through the hallowed doors of 15th-century St Edwards need not feel daunted even if -- God forbid -- they forget their all-black Gothic garb: Ramshaw is producing a special t-shirt for the service.
"It will be a long-sleeved black t-shirt with a quote from St John's Gospol's (sic) farewell discourse printed on the front and the back. The front will say simply 'If the world hates you...' and the back will say 'remember it hated me first'."
"I thought this could be one way of encouraging people into church that wasn't Bible bashing and would show people that Christianity can provide hope and support," the 34-year-old vicar adds on the church website.
Ramshaw, who started up the Gothic service early this month, is the latest member of the clergy in Britain to come up with a novel attempt to stem the haemorrage of churchgoers across the country.
A Methodist church near Oxford, the other most prestigious university city in England, is trying to attract younger worshippers by hosting a singles club, concerts for teenage rock bands and screenings of films such as "Back to the Future" and "The Mummy".