Pontifications

"Miss Understanding"! Sorry, but the nuns' beauty pageant is a bust...

Wednesday September 3, 2008

Categories: Catholic, Church , Pop Culture

I got the news--and that headline (well, the first half)--via RNS, which reported that the beauty contest for religious women that I wrote about the other day has been cancelled.

"My superiors were not happy. The local bishop was not happy, but they did not understand me either," Father Antonio Rungi told Reuters news agency from the town of Mondragone, near Naples. "It was interpreted as more of a physical thing," he said. "Now, no one is saying that nuns can't be beautiful, but I was thinking about something more complete."

And according to CNS, "Father Rungi said he was shutting down the contest and his blog in order to protect himself and the sisters from further misunderstanding. He said it was a shame that he had to cancel the pageant, because he had already received a great number of applicants."

Yes, this may seem like small potatoes to you, given everything else that's gone on. But everybody loved the story (or hated it).

Alas. No contest.

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Comments
Annette Lilley
September 4, 2008 11:55 AM

Nuns in beauty pagents!!?? Now I've heard everything. You'd think they'd have enough to worry about without a superficial thing such as a beauty pagent. Mother Teresa was one of the most physicaly unattractive people I've ever seen, but her glorious spirit made her glow with a radiance not equaled. This article wasn't worth taking the time to read.

DG
September 6, 2008 2:05 PM


When I first heard about it, I found the concept novel and intriguing. What would it be? How would they do it? Nuns in a beauty pagent. Interesting, fascinating ... that is, until my mind flashed to a visual of my first grade teacher, sr elizabeth in a bathing suit.

I loved sr elizabeth, but in a bathing suit ... enough said on that subject.

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David Gibson is an award-winning religion writer who specializes in writing about the Catholic Church, which he joined as a convert at the age of 30. He is the author The Rule of Benedict: Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World. He also wrote The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful are Shaping a New American Catholicism. He has written about Catholicism for leading newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, Boston magazine, Fortune, Commonweal, and America. Gibson worked in Rome for Vatican Radio for several years and traveled frequently with Pope John Paul II. He later covered religion for The Star-Ledger of New Jersey. He has co-written several recent documentaries on Christianity for CNN. For further information check out his website at dgibson.com.

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