Dominatrix Vicar

Sometimes you come across the strangest titles. This one belongs to the Daily Mail. It’s an interestingly worded article.*

The opening lines are these:

Some days she strides up to church wearing hot pants and biker boots.

Or she might opt for dominatrix-style red leather high heels to go with her six piercings including a nose stud.

Not the apparel you would normally expect from a Church of England curate.

It further goes on to talk about her “Partner” and her two kids. As much as “Partner” is the politically-correct term, perhaps “Husband” would have been better. The inflammatory title is obviously meant to sell papers. In the same way that I used it to try to get readers.

The article talks about Rev. Skye Denno, a new Curate at St. James Church, Dursley.. She has kept her unique punk-esque style, something that she’s comfortable with, and by the sound of it, something that her parishioners are happy with. The cut and thrust of the article is Rev. Denno’s belief, and quite a few others, is that the way forward is to try to remain “you”. It makes you more accessible, and more like a real person. This means that people feel more comfortable talking about religion, wherever they sit on the scale. This opens the door for dialogue, and dialogue is all good.

Rev. Denno wrote an article for her parish magazine. It shows the amount of work there is still to be done, even after having become a Deacon. She’s still learning her craft, and still praying and working with God on her formation. It’s an interesting read for those who are contemplating the same life. It shows the busy and difficult time that lies ahead.

Back to the main story here. Despite the wording of the article, and despite it being in the Daily Mail, the comments make for interesting reading. Let’s take a wander through some of the expected comments shall we?

Yet another reminder why I converted to the Catholic Church!

Nice role model – NOT.

Why to ‘women’ vicars have to prove a point?

– Pee, Redditch, UK, 8/9/2008 18:52

Or Perhaps:

Would she dress like that for a funeral service?

– Rik, York, UK, 8/9/2008 18:52

This will end in tears – or will rent the church apart.

– Bob, St Albans, UK, 8/9/2008 19:16

I suppose she would dress like that for a funeral, if that’s what you wanted.

I wonder if Bob from St. Albans is actually making a comment about the way that Churches are perceived, rather than making a comment about what his views are here. There, of course, the usual views about how Rev. Denno, referred to in the article as “Miss Denno”, which shows the sloppy reporting that is expecting from the Daily Mail when they can make an incensed point of their conservative readers. Most of whom probably don’t go to Church, but still expect the Church to be precisely as they imagine it, or how it was when their Grandparents took them that one time at Easter. Perhaps that’s being overly-harsh, but then not everyone stops to look at other sides of the coin. We are all guilty of judging people by our own standards.

That aside, these comments here are actually in the minority on the comments. Yes, that’s right, it appears that most people are behind her. They are even welcoming the modern outlook of the Church for accepting a women like the Rev. Denno. It’s refreshing to see that the public are still behind the Church. It shows that we can try new and different things. We may not take everyone with us, but sometimes, the new and different is what the majority want.

I doubt the Daily Mail expected that when they wrote the piece.

~Black Xanthus

* For a more balenced article, try Weird News