- ukpress article
An Italian priest and theologian says he is organising an online beauty pageant for nuns that aims to give them more visibility within the Catholic Church and fight the stereotype that they are all old and dour.
The Rev Antonio Rungi says the Miss Sister 2008 contest will start in September on his blog and will give nuns from around the world a chance to showcase their work and their image.
Rungi, a theologian and school teacher from the Naples area, said that visitors to his site will have a month to "vote for the nun they consider a model".
Nuns will fill out a profile that includes information on their life and vocation as well as a photo.It will be up to them to choose whether to pose with the traditional veil or with their heads uncovered.
The story continues here, from Reuters.com:
No nuns on catwalk, priest stops "beauty contest"
Aug 26, 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ROME (Reuters) - An Italian priest who had planned an online "pageant" for nuns has suspended the project, saying he was misinterpreted and had no intention of putting sisters on a beauty catwalk.
"My superiors were not happy. The local bishop was not happy, but they did not understand me either," Father Antonio Rungi told Reuters by telephone from his convent in southern Italy Tuesday.
"It was not at all my intention to put nuns on the catwalk," said Rungi, a priest of the Passionists religious order, speaking from his convent in the town of Mondragone.
Rungi's idea appeared in newspapers around the world after he wrote of a contest for nuns on his blog, called by some "Sister Italy 2008."
(full article continues at title link above)
Dear Fr. Rungi - the thought is appreciated. - THCblog
5 comments:
Oh, I'm so glad that got canned! My initial reaction when I started reading this article was one of anger, that even NUNS!!! are subjected to the sexualization of women. Please. Can people never ever allow women to "rise above" that and be seen as something more than their physical beauty, or lack thereof?
I think the priest who instigated such a travesty needs to have his head and heart examined.
I think, after reading his comments, that his heart was in the right place, considering that he was trying to clear up commonly held and erroneous views of Catholic nuns; it was the process that he came up with which was certainly questionable. I was immediately reminded of the recent idea of the European radio station that held the Miss Hijab contest... when hijab is supposed to be a symbol of modesty. People just can't seem to see inside a heart behind the outward person, can they?
i just saw the film "a nun's story" with audrey hepburn. have u seen it? i recently did a post on my blog about it: "TV: A GOOD HABIT."
I haven't seen it until your post - something to look into, for sure! I haven't really posted much on the nuns themselves in this blog, as most information is about Catholic women in general at mass, or etc. It would be interesting to find more information about the various styles of habits and so on for women who really do give their whole lives this way!
The Nun's Story is a great film but the book is better for a vivid picture of life in a pre-WWII convent.
I think Fr Rungi's heart ran away with his head. I too hate the notion that nuns are all shrivelled up miseries who were never pretty and never had a chance to catch a man. Possibly a travelling exhibition of photographs of nuns and convent life would be a more sensible alternative. Italy though is crazy about those types of shows so I think I see why he plumped for the idea he did.
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