Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Online Ecclesiastical Marginalization

Posted on the Philippine Daily Inquirer today is the launching of a beauty pageant for nuns on the Internet. An Italian priest, Reverend Antonio Rungi, is said to be running a blog featuring nuns all over the world. He cautions, however, that there will be no swimsuits. He does this, according to the article, because he feels that nuns are a bit excluded and a bit marginalized in ecclesiastical life. “Miss Sister 2008” will be an occasion to make them more visible, he claims.

Just a few months ago, there was also news about the Church of England voting its support for women to become bishops. While women have been ordained as priests since 1944, they have yet to be allowed to become bishops.

The inchoate feminist in me would argue that the first scenario is not the antidote as the blogging priest would rather claim but a glaring exemplification of sexism and marginalization of women in the clergy done electronically. It still perpetuates the standard that women should be judged by their external beauty. On the other hand, the second would somehow matter more for women who aspire to be equal with men of cloth. Although officials say that women bishops are not possible until 2014, the second scenario certainly is a better and more significant change for women to “become more visible” as Reverend Rungi wishes to achieve.

It is a separate and long blog to discuss the changing morality that goes with modernity but certainly Reverend Rungi misses the point. And his blogging about nuns would surely raise more and more feminist brows.