Statement from the Washington National Cathedral: Policy Updates – Servicing Processing Fees at the Cathedral
At the Cathedral, our services are welcoming and available to everyone. After hearing concerns from members of the community, we realize that a required processing fee for passes to some holiday services is a barrier to worship. That was never our intent, and we apologize.
As a result, we have made some changes. For our most attended services, advance passes are still required, but there is no longer a required processing fee for advance passes.
Since 2009, we have used advance passes, and charged a small processing fee, for reserved seating at our most popular services. The processing fees helped to defray the cost of managing ticketing for thousands of seats.
Reserved passes also help us address strict capacity limits and safety requirements for the large crowds who come to the Cathedral each year. However, we never want finances to be a barrier to worship at the Cathedral, and it is clear that this fee has become a barrier.
Effective immediately, there is no longer a required processing fee for advance passes. For those who would like to voluntarily help, that option is still available.
If you already reserved your passes for Gospel Christmas (Dec. 22), Family Christmas (Dec. 23), Christmas Lessons & Carols (Dec. 23 and 24) or Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) and would like a refund of your processing fee for this year’s services, please contact reply@cathedral.org.
In the midst of these changes, some things remain unchanged:
- The Cathedral never charges for worship, and we never want financial concerns to keep anyone from accessing everything the Cathedral has to offer.
- Everyone is welcome to attend services, but we can only guarantee admission during our busiest seasons with an advance pass. A small number of same-day passes are available, space-permitting, at all services where passes are required.
- Many of our seasonal services do not require passes, including Advent Lessons & Carols (Dec. 3), Blue Christmas (Dec. 19), all Sunday services and our Christmas Day Holy Eucharist and Christmas Day Organ Recital (Dec. 25).
- All services are available online, with no fees or passes required, via cathedral.org. Admission to the Cathedral is always free for worship services or private prayer.
Many blessings to you during this holiday season. We look forward to welcoming you to the Cathedral!
