{"id":6690,"date":"2004-09-16T17:12:59","date_gmt":"2004-09-16T22:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/2004\/09\/16\/reality-priesthood\/"},"modified":"2004-09-16T17:12:59","modified_gmt":"2004-09-16T22:12:59","slug":"reality-priesthood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/2004\/09\/reality-priesthood\/","title":{"rendered":"Reality Priesthood"},"content":{"rendered":"

A church will have the chance to reverse its flagging fortunes with the help of a new TV show – Priest Idol.<\/p>\n

The church selected for the Channel 4 programme has a congregation of only nine, mainly ageing, regular worshippers.<\/p>\n

The show, to be broadcast at the end of next year, will hunt for a new vicar who can attract more people into the empty pews at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Lundwood in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.<\/p>\n

Backed by a small panel of advisers, the chosen vicar will receive a sum of cash to spend on whatever he or she thinks could turn things around.<\/p>\n

Cameras will follow the fortunes of the church over 12 months as the new incumbent tries to make a difference.<\/p>\n

A selection process will attempt to find the right candidate, who is likely to be younger than the average vicar, according to Channel 4.<\/p>\n

A spokesman said the programme is being made with the full co-operation of the local diocese. [Source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

You just can’t make stuff up like this and Priest Idol is a real unfortunate name for a show theologically. I wonder if it will be a song and dance competition or will be reviewed on the basis of a homily performance. Minus points for any heresies but added points for style. Maybe they could have a Cassock competition where they strolled down a runway with someone singing "There he is, Mass Presider." All I know is I would love to play the part of Simon Cowell for this.<\/p>\n

Now I wonder what could be next? Possibly Episcopal Survivor. Place a group of priests on a desert island and watch to see which one has the holiness and the administrative skills to become a Bishop. Or maybe "Who wants to be a Cardinal?" Well maybe not. Whoever wants to be a Cardinal probably should not be one. I do wonder if the questions were just taken from the Catechism how many Bishop contestants would need a lifeline?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A church will have the chance to reverse its flagging fortunes with the help of a new TV show – Priest Idol. The church selected for the Channel 4 programme…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}