Every Sunday, there are those who sit inside of Immanuel Presbyterian in Los Angeles for worship, but there are also those who linger outside. Most wear all black. The ones on Wilshire Boulevard hope for a peek inside the church, which was made famous by emo-rock band My Chemical Romance.
Longtime congregation member MarAnthony Aparicio, who has worked as worship director at the Koreatown church for 16 years, has welcomed My Chemical Romance fans who come from around the world on a pilgrimage to Immanuel, the location of the band’s beloved 2005 music video for the anthem “Helena.”
Aparicio said whenever the band performs in Los Angeles — they will during five shows at the Hollywood Bowl later this month — the number of visitors at the church increases. For a church like Immanuel, it might just be a dream come true to be considered a haven for those who may identify as the “broken, the beaten and the damned,” as the band put it in its 2006 song “Welcome to the Black Parade.”
Worship director MarAnthony Aparicio walks past lit candles before the start of My Presbyterian Romance night.
The church has never shied away from the association. Many volunteers like Aparicio were involved with Immanuel before the “Helena” music video was shot, and he credits himself and his music-loving colleagues for being part of the reason the church approved the band’s rental of the space.
This year, a small team led by volunteer Eric Esquivel decided to lean in and marry their two interests: My Chemical Romance and the words of Jesus Christ.
Without any paid promotion, the flier for the church’s event series, My Presbyterian Romance, garnered nearly 5,000 likes on Instagram.
A logo for My Presbyterian Romance nights hangs on a bulletin board at the church.
“We see so many people come here to see where the video was made and we knew we needed to embrace this phenomenon,” said Aparicio. “We don’t want to let it go. We’re here, we’re a church, but we are not the Helena church, we are Immanuel.”
At 7 p.m. on the first Wednesday of October, about two dozen attendees settled in the pews. “I thought. like, two people would come,” Esquivel said.
Dressed in a My Chemical Romance T-shirt and donning large gauged earlobes, Esquivel introduced himself as the former assistant manager of a Hot Topic store. His co-host, pastor Andy Schwiebert, stood in black slacks, a black button-up shirt and a red tie, a nod to the “Helena” video. Aparico, also in a My Chemical Romance T-shirt, was situated at the back of the pews projecting a PowerPoint presentation.
Guests introduced themselves by name, pronouns and a sentence about their relationship to My Chemical Romance. The crowd of approximately 20 was predominantly Gen Zers and millennials who identified as super fans. Next to them, a few Gen X members of the Immanuel community came to support without prior knowledge of the band. A Brazilian lover of My Chemical Romance and follower of the Baháʼí faith wandered in after seeing the sign outside just minutes before the event began.
Gerard Way, Mikey Way and Ray Toro of My Chemical Romance perform on stage at Dodger Stadium in 2025.
Fans react as My Chemical Romance performs on stage at Dodger Stadium.
To begin, Esquivel cued up the music video for the band’s song “Welcome to the Black Parade” on two projectors flanking the pulpit, which was illuminated by candles. As the title track from the rock-opera album “The Black Parade,” the five-minute, black-and-white video cements the concept album’s story: A cancer patient reflects on his life and mortality before dying. The Black Parade, a marching band, guides him into the afterlife.
“When I was a young boy / My father took me into the city / To see a marching band / He said, ‘Son, when you grow up / Would you be the savior of the broken / The beaten and the damned?’” the band’s frontman Gerard Way sings.
Whether or not you’re familiar, this fandom is anything but niche. “Welcome to the Black Parade” boasts over 1 billion plays on Spotify; the music video has 433 million YouTube views. To some members of the audience at Immanuel, it’s a core memory of their teenage years; to others, it was something brand new.
It’s likely the song and album will have renewed interest when a 20th anniversary edition is released by Warner Records on Oct. 23 along with My Chemical Romance merchandise.
Music director MarAnthony Aparicio plays air guitar before the start of My Presbyterian Romance night.
My Chemical Romance does not identify as a religious band, though the band, whose core members were raised Catholic, leaned into religious aesthetics in the “Helena” music video, which depicts a dramatized gothic funeral.
Some fans, including a few seated at Immanuel, interpret the band’s lyrics otherwise.
Attendees of My Presbyterian Romance broke into three small groups to answer lyric-centric discussion questions, one of which was: “Who gets called ‘broken, beaten and damned’ in our world today?” Murmurs about the power of politicians and unfair advantages of the rich were heard as participants warmed up to each other.
Each group shared their answers. Then Esquivel introduced the Scripture pairing: Psalm 34:18 and 1 Kings 19: 3-8. After reading the Bible passages aloud, the groups broke into a second set of questions, this time directly incorporating their faith.
Attendees gather in groups during My Presbyterian Romance night to discuss various thematic similarities between My Chemical Romance and Christianity.
One of the attendees, Brooke Nitti, discovered the My Presbyterian Romance event on Instagram. “I’ve been a fan of My Chemical Romance since I was 10 years old,” said Nitti, a 32-year-old living in Hollywood. “I grew up in a Christian household and I didn’t think these two worlds went together. My mom wouldn’t let me get [‘The Black Parade’] CD as a kid, but I called her to let her know that I was going to the church from the band’s music video. And she actually asked if she could live stream it.”
There was a live stream of the event, but it was cut short due to copyright issues during the music video. The church is looking into hosting Zoom versions of the lyric and Bible study, and church leaders have passed the curriculum to other Presbyterian churches interested in hosting their own version of the event. Over the next three events, Esquivel will lead discussions of song lyrics paired with Scripture, focusing on one song per week.
After an hour, the huddle of people wearing black T-shirts gathered in a side room for cookies and coffee and a chance to mingle.
Event attendees listen to “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance.
Benjamin Hunsaker, a 19-year-old living in Visalia, discovered My Chemical Romance a little over a year ago and also found out about the church event through Instagram.
“I wasn’t alive when the band was in their peak, but a friend in high school showed me the music. The lyrics really spoke to me,” he said. Hunsaker hadn’t initially connected his faith to My Chemical Romance’s lyrics, but once he drew those connections, he “I could relate to the lyrics in a new way, not just as something I could scream in my car to.”
My Presbyterian Romance
Where: Immanuel Presbyterian, 3300 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
When: 7 p.m. Wednesdays in October
Info: immanuelpres.org
