Miss Sister 2008
Several readers sent me in the following story.
ROME -- An Italian priest and theologian said Sunday he is organizing an online beauty pageant for nuns to give them more visibility within the Catholic Church and to fight the stereotype that they are all old and dour.
The "Miss Sister 2008" contest will start in September on a blog run by the Rev. Antonio Rungi and will give nuns from around the world a chance to showcase their work and their image.
"Nuns are a bit excluded, they are a bit marginalized in ecclesiastical life," Rungi told The Associated Press after Italian media carried reports of the idea. "This will be an occasion to make their contribution more visible."
Rungi, a theologian and schoolteacher 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 including information about their life and vocation as well as a photograph. It will be up to them to choose whether to pose with the traditional veil or with their heads uncovered.
"We are not going to parade nuns in bathing suits," Rungi said by telephone from his town of Mondragone. "But being ugly is not a requirement for becoming a nun. External beauty is gift from God, and we mustn't hide it."
Rungi said the idea was first suggested to him by nuns with whom he regularly prays and works. He hopes there will be dozens of submissions once the Web site is started.
The contest drew criticism from the association of Catholic teachers.
"It's an initiative that belittles the role of nuns who have dedicated themselves to God," the group's president, Alberto Giannino, told Italy's ANSA news agency on Sunday.
I wonder if they will have a pantsuit competition or is that reserved for American nun beauty contests (what a scary image)? This though is such a bad idea on so many levels. If you think bit nuns are being "marginalized in ecclesiastical life" why in the world would you marginalize them further. This story is getting coverage because everyone immediately realizes how silly this is. How about a spiritual beauty contest? "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." Though trying to book God to be a judge at a spiritual beauty contest is rather difficult and he is the only one fully qualified.
The contest is now canceled.
Known as 
I wonder how an ugly Albanian midget would fair in such a contest...
No doubt David Letterman and the rest are cranking up all the dumb jokes already.
"Most Spiritually Beautiful" would have more than just one winner, I think.
Only an Italian...
I wonder if they will have a pantsuit competition or is that reserved for American nun beauty contests (what a scary image)?
Those bizarre plaid skirts and those shapeless curly hair short cuts.
I think that it is a fabulous idea ! Is there already a beauty contest for the clergy/priests? Why not a mr./ms. beauty and brains blogger award?
Since when do nuns have a bad image? If I had to audition for a movie, who would get the part? Me? or Ingrid Bergman? We're talking about that today!
Priest beauty contest? Are you kidding? No no, what we need is episcopal kickboxing!
My money is on Arinze!
What a stupid stupid idea. (that's double stupids)
It sounds like a crazy idea, but this priest has done things before with the goal of reaching people who otherwise wouldn't look at the church (http://blogs.pioneerlocal.com/religion). What's wrong with that? You have to be innovative, as long as you are dignified.
OK, I get his point, I appreciate his point, and I think we have to look at this not from an American point of view, but apparently the European POV...which is amazingly secularized.
As a potential Sister at some point (if I ever get over myself and just take the leap), although I'd never be a candidate for beauty, I get what he's saying.
Let me explain before you flame me.
I had a friend in college, a great young woman, very holy, wasn't ugly by any standards, maybe average like everyone else, but had coke-bottle glasses. Frump girl. Especially with the glasses.
Well...one day, I was speaking to a friend who had never met her. And I'd never described her to anyone. She was just "Molly", my friend. And I learned she'd entered the Novitiate at the Poor Clares, a cloister. I told me friend, "I'm so not surprised."
He started laughing, assuming she was ugly. She wasn't. She was beautiful. And I hope to God she is praying for me. She wouldn't make a contest like this, but let me tell you...she was NOT an ugly woman, although with her glasses she'd be a candidate for "Ugly Betty" if you know what I mean.
For those who don't..."Ugly Betty" isn't ugly.
Sometimes we have to be insane to reach the insane masses. That being said..well, I'm sure this Father means well and my pic would never be chosen. But if people can see that real women, women who are NOT ugly by any stretch of the imagination, give their lives to God, therefore revealing to the world that earthly beauty means nothing when we can choose God....that says a LOT.
I've read that St. Teresa of Avila was a beaufiful woman. We have a long history of beauty in the ranks of the cloisters and the Sisters throughout the world.
Why not reveal that to the world in hopes that it might sway a worldly-minded woman to realize it's not all about sex, and physical beauty is transient?
Or maybe I should just stop here and let you all flame me now.
One other thing...I'm actually NOT a fan of what the priest is trying to do, was just trying to look at it differently in my above post. I truly thing that, while he means well, he is trivializing the true sacrifice made by women, and even keeping in mind the horrible things happening to Sisters and Nuns in India and other places.
I'm not surprised this story went all over the world. The lurid sexualization of nuns has been going on for centuries--since the Decameron, actually. And it's really disgusting, when you think about it. I'm sure it's the Enemy's way of sneering at the wonderful women who joyfully and wholeheartedly enter God's service.
The scandal of Fr. Rungi's remarks wasn't just the contest but his alleged sexualized praise of women religious based on their continents of origin. In the news reports I read, Fr. praised the physical beauty of African nuns and Latin American nuns in particular, especially the Brazilian nuns. Considering the sexual abuse of nuns that has been brought to light in Africa, I felt very creeped out by these comments. Also creepy was Father's attitude towards "wizened" elderly nuns.
I'm sure that the thoughts that go through his mind when he sees pretty nuns are innocent and add a bit of zip to his day, but they ought to have remained private. The man is, after all, 57 years old. He's not a gushing teen. Meanwhile, I believe there is such a thing as custody of the eyes.
There are tasteful ways to present religious life to women young and not-so-young. Sisters can do this for themselves (to paraphrase the Queen of Soul) at vocations workshops and, I hear, World Youth Day.
It's a shame the contest was cancelled. Like Julie, I knew a lady who became a nun. While my then girlfriend was not a beauty queen, she was a wonderful lady whose smile would light up a room and she was a fantastic person... Which is why I loved her so.
While she "dumped" me when she found God (really!), that didn't detract from my love for her. She apparently felt she couldn't have two loves in her life and I had to respect that.
And I think the good Father's intention was to draw attention to Sisters and their works...And to show them in a different light than the stereotyped one. Alas, we won't get to see that happen!
I'm starting my own contest.