Oi! The vicar's a she-punk!

Somewhere between a loud chuckle and shaking my head at the latest antics of an irrelevant institution, I looked for substantive evidence in news articles of this lady caring for souls (you know, the kind of work that clergy are supposed to be doing). To no avail, of course. It may be that the media focused on Rev. Denno's outrageous appearance rather than her religious sensibilities, but I somehow doubt that is the case.

It is usually a long, slow road to oblivion, but the Church of England is speeding it up by leaps and bounds with nonsense like this. The C of E will be less relevant than Zorastrianism within a few decades, if not sooner. The church's current death throes are visible for all to see, but the religious progressives still insist on planning the same ignominious fate for the Catholic Church and other traditional denominations.

There are a lot of Episcopalian/Anglican priests and priestesses for the left, the heretics, to love - Gene Robinson and John Shelby Spong are the first two that come to mind. There are also a lot of fine clergymen for the small "o" orthodox to love as well - the Bishops of Nigeria and Sydney, Australia come to mind.

Mr. Dreher asked: Remind me why on earth anybody is supposed to take this church seriously.

I say: Nobody on earth takes this church seriously. As went the British Empire, so went the C of E. Not that the empire was a good thing, but the C of E had its moments. On the other hand, almost anyone who would throw stones occupies a glass house to some degree.

Forestwalker may be right. As someone who grew up in and around seeker-sensitive evangelicalism, I see no reason to suspect this woman is theologically liberal just because she dresses the way she does. There are plenty of people far to the left of my old youth pastors who dress far more traditionally, so I wouldn't take her clothes or her attitude as necessarily being indicative of anything more liberal what you'd find at an average evangelical congregation.

Not that the empire was a good thing

Says who? In general, most (though not all) of the places that were former British colonies are doing a lot better than former colonies of other colonial powers. I think the world today would be a much more fragmented, worse-off place had it not been for the British Empire.

"You have to go see a photo of this woman yourself."

I swear that I'm not trying to be difficult, but I don't see anything exceptional about her appearance at all. I wouldn't give her a second look one way or the other if I saw her on the street.

I looked at her picture and I have to admit that I saw nothing indecent in the way she dressed.

Well, I am an ordained Lutheran pastor with tattoos on both arms (down to the wrist on one arm), both legs and my chest, though I prefer rockabilly to punk these days. AND I actually believe the creeds and lead traditional liturgies! There is a vast underworld of non-traditional traditionalists out there, and most of us are under 40.

A fairly ordinary-looking young Englishwoman.

How much do you-all know about England and about young people in England? She looks positively stuffy next to most of my young Londoner friends. It's a bit unrealistic to expect her to dress like an American three times her age.

Good heavens!! Is this what passes for "punk" these days? This woman looks positively normal to me. A bit stodgy, really, if the truth be told. Now, back in the day, when my daughter hung out with punks . . . they had real punks in those days. Who would have laughed themselves silly at the notion that Rev. Danno was somehow shocking. Are those "dominatrix" heels? In your dreams. And to think you once lived in New York City! What has Dallas done to you?

Anyway, I think you're slipping. You managed to get "shacking up" and "tart" into your comment, but you failed to include "slut." It's really hard to work up a good head of steam without a slut or two.

First, she doesn't look out of line, and I'm speaking as a 51 year old. Second, the article says she went to Redcliffe Christian Church for Bible and Mission Training. At www.redcliffe.org, I found this statement of belief.

Our Basis of Faith

Redcliffe College was founded in 1892 and is one of the longest standing interdenominational and evangelical colleges in the UK. It is a member of the Evangelical Alliance, Global Connections and European Evangelical Accrediting Association.

We believe in...

The one true God who lives eternally in three persons - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The love, grace and sovereignty of God in creating, sustaining, ruling, redeeming and judging the world.
The divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which are the written Word of God - fully trustworthy for faith and conduct.
The dignity of all people, made male and female in God's image to love, be holy and care for creation, yet corrupted by sin, which incurs divine wrath and judgement.
The incarnation of God’s eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ - born of the virgin Mary; truly divine and truly human, yet without sin.
The atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross: dying in our place, paying the price of sin and defeating evil, so reconciling us with God.
The bodily resurrection of Christ, the first fruits of our resurrection; his ascension to the Father, and his reign and mediation as the only Saviour of the world.
The justification of sinners solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ.
The ministry of God the Holy Spirit, who leads us to repentance, unites us with Christ through new birth, empowers our discipleship and enables our witness.
The Church, the body of Christ both local and universal, the priesthood of all believers - given life by the Spirit and endowed with the Spirit's gifts to worship God and proclaim the gospel, promoting justice and love.
The personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to fulfil the purposes of God, who will raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to the lost, and establish a new heaven and new earth.
(This basis of faith is the one adopted by the Evangelical Alliance)

Anglican,

Speaking as a conservative Lutheran rather than as an Orthodox Christian, I found William Ledwich's book of some years ago, The Durham Affair, an interesting account of apostasy in the Church of England. The author became Orthodox.

Also of interest on pretty much the same theme is The Crockford's File, by William Oddie. He became a Roman Catholic.

If you are at all open to the Lutheran church, try reading Bishop Bo Giertz's novel The Hammer of God.

Best wishes to you, from a guy who married in the Episcopal Church, and subsequently left it, many years ago.

"epic fail"

ROFL

I was expecting some goth dominatrix and ended up with a woman who looks like about 50 people I see everyday.

Well, we must be patient with Rod and realize that he does not regard anyone as legitimate clergy unless he looks and smells like Rasputin, coming forth from clouds of incense.

Mr. Dreher asked: Remind me why on earth anybody is supposed to take this church seriously.

Maybe because this is a church that doesn't rape children, and then depend on the full authority of the church to shield the rapists?

Maybe the church is spending more time with people who don't attend, and can profit immensely by attending, rather than looking to traditional dress as a reflection of their moral standing?

But it certainly sounds as if she's been judged and found wanting by those who have no idea of her theology and values, doesn't it?

Rod, JennyJames has called your bluff and you just ended up with a hand full of nothing. Somebody owes somebody an apology ...

Her clothing aside, what the hell does the word "partner", in regards to the person named Joel, mean here?

Does it mean that they aren't married? That to me would be a bigger problem than her wardrobe.

Or is this some fresh hell new way to refer to even married people as partners so as not to priviledge heterosexuals with the historic terms husband or wife. If so that would be one more step in the death of the language.

I suspects that there is more than one big problem here.

FWIW, I can add some clarity here.

a) Joel is her Husband. Yes, entirely married. Gawd knows why they put "partner" in the article.

b) Skye is very active, enthusiastic and busy in the community, charitable works, etc. She is an exceptionally selfless and religious individual.

As stated above by Jenny. This is a reprint from another paper, twisted more than slightly in order to cast Skye in a bad light and ensure that people get wound up. Which it has. Please remember that what you read in a paper is there to sell the paper, and may (as in this case) bear only passing resemblance to the truth.

[i]I am a conservative,or traditional Anglo-Catholic, and have really, really, grown to despise liberals and look forward to the inevitable schism when we can throw crap like this vicar out[/i]

Is that [i]really[/i] the way to talk about your sister in Christ, Anglican? And someone you don't even know?

I [i]do[/i] know her, and she's one of the loveliest people I've ever met.

Methinks you care more about your beloved Church as an institution than you do about spreading Jesus's message of love. I'm probably wrong, but that's what it looks like from here.

Gwdihŵ