_Washington_ (mailto:w...@ashington) Post April 8, 2010 The Rev. Barbie She's been a princess, a firefighter, a Marine and a ballerina. After years of soul-searching, Barbie has finally found her true vocation. _Meet Rev. Barbie_ (http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/rnstext/barbie_gets_ordained_and_has_the_wardrobe_to_match/) , a plastic Episcopal Priest. Rev. Barbie, the creation of Rev. Julie Blake Fisher, an Episcopal priest in Kent, Ohio, _has her own Facebook page_ (http://www.hs.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=search&gid=105139079524495) and comes dressed in the _latest trends in clergy-wear_ (http://beautytipsforministers.com/2010/03/28/the-genius-of-the-rev-julie-blake-fisher/) . Fisher created Rev. Barbie for use in her own youth ministry: "I thought the children would like to practice playing with the vestments and learning what they are," she told Religion News Service. Over the years, Barbie's many vocations have served as inspiration for young girls. And although Mattel has not endorsed Fisher's improvised Reverend Barbie, the plastic priestess has emerged at a critical moment in Christian history, especially for women.
Debates rage within Christianity about the role of women in ministry. The Episcopal Church began ordaining women in 1976, but that policy and others have led to a schism within Anglicanism. Many evangelical and Pentecostal churches still keep women out of senior leadership positions as a matter of theology, and the Catholic Church, of course, does not ordain women to the priesthood. Rev. Barbie's timing, like her fashion sense, is impeccable. _Lisa Miller's Newsweek cover story this week asks "What Would Mary Do?"_ (http://www.newsweek.com/id/235882) and explores the current Catholic sex abuse scandal through the perspective of women. The article concludes that greater female involvement in the upper-echelons of the church could have led to a child-first response to the abuse. Miller's findings mirror the analysis of the Vatican's own newspaper, _L'Osservatore Romano _ (http://www.vatican.va/news_services/or/or_eng/index.html) which declared in March that women in leadership could have helped the church better address and perhaps prevent the crisis. _A translation reads_ (http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2010/03/vatican-daily-on-abuse-where-were-women.html) : In the sorrowing and shameful situations in which the molestation and sexual abuse by ecclesiastics on the young entrusted to them come to light, we can hypothesize that a greater, non-subordinated feminine presence would have been able to rip the veil of the code of masculine silence ["omertà"] that in the past often covered over in silence the denunciation of misdeeds. Indeed, women, religious and lay, would be by nature more inclined to the defense of the young in cases of sexual abuse, ridding the church of the evils that these guilty attitudes have procured for it. If the church is looking for "non-subordinated" women to join its leadership, the generations of Catholic women who grew up playing with _President Barbie_ (http://www.amazon.com/2000-Barbie-For-President-Doll/dp/B00004YRVK) are eager candidates. What would Rev. Barbie do? And how would the church be different if real women could rule? By Elizabeth Tenety | April 7, 2010 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- April 5, 2010 NEWS FEATURE Barbie gets ordained, and has the smells-and-bells wardrobe to match By Leanne Larmondin (RNS) With her careers as veterinarian, astronaut and U.S. president behind her, Barbie has at last found her true calling: as a second-career Episcopal priest. The 11.5-inch-tall fictional graduate of Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif., has donned a cassock and surplice and is rector at St. Barbara’s-by-the-Sea in (where else?) Malibu, Calif. She arrived at the church fully accessorized, as is Barbie’s custom. Her impeccably tailored ecclesiastical vestments include various colored chasubles (the sleeveless vestments worn at Mass) for every liturgical season, black clergy shirt with white collar, neat skirt and heels, a laptop with prepared sermon and a miniature, genuine Bible. Apparently a devotee of the “smells and bells” of High Church tradition, the Rev. Barbie even has a tiny thurible, a metal vessel used for sending clouds of incense wafting toward heaven. The Rev. Barbie, who in less than a week had drawn nearly 3,000 friends on her _Facebook page_ (http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?URL=http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=76&uid=105139079524495#/group.php?gid=10513907952 4495) , spends most of her time in the office of the Rev. Dena Cleaver-Bartholomew, rector of Christ (Episcopal) Church, in Manlius, N.Y., near Syracuse. The doll, her wardrobe and portable sacristy were a gift from Cleaver-Bartholomew’s friend, the Rev. Julie Blake Fisher, a priest in Kent, Ohio. “I got a phone call from my husband who said a large package had arrived;Julie had told me that she was making something for me. She used to be a dressmaker and she makes gorgeous stoles, so I thought she was making me a stole,” said Cleaver-Bartholomew. “When I came home and there was this enormous box, I knew it wasn’t just a stole!” Fisher had made Episcopal Priest Barbie and a few vestments two years ago for the children in her parish to dress. “I thought the children would like to practice playing with the vestments and learning what they are,” said Fisher. The Rev. Barbie was a hit with both the children and a local group of women clergy, including Cleaver-Bartholomew. When Cleaver-Bartholomew later got called to her parish in New York, Fisher knew the perfect gift for her friend. “I thought, `I don’t have time to make her one of her own; I’ll just send her Episcopal Priest Barbie for her farewell gift,”’ said Fisher. “But then, when I sat down to start to package everything up, I thought `What if I added this? What if I added that? What if I made this? It would just take one more day.“‘ One more day turned into 100 hours of painstaking labor, and “before I knew it, it was Episcopal Church Barbie—High Church Edition,” Fisher said. Barbie’s clergy garb is the real deal, made from dress patterns that were crafted or adapted by Fisher. Barbie’s collared blouse was cut down from the fabric of a genuine clergy shirt; the chasubles and alb are made from real silk and linens. Her capa nigra (black funeral cloak) sports pewter buttons. Her nearly-complete Bible was originally sold as a keychain. The thurible was crafted from a teeny tea ball. Episcopal Church Barbie’s popularity exploded after she got a shout-out on the popular blog, BeautyTipsforMinisters.com. A “Friends of Episcopal Priest Barbie” Facebook group has grown exponentially since its March 31 inception. Many of the Rev. Barbie’s online admirers asked about her career aspirations. “How long till she is Bishop Barbie?” asked one. Fisher has found a calling of her own: She responded that her next project will be Episcopal Priest Barbie: Cathedral Edition. She promises an African-American Bishop Barbie, a Hispanic Ken doll who will be cathedral dean (rector) and his African-American friend, Stephen, will be a deacon. Barbie’s little sister, Kelly, will be an acolyte. For her part, Cleaver-Bartholomew thinks Barbie could be a tool for evangelism for the Episcopal Church—particularly for conveying that “we have a sense of humor, we can be fun. “Barbie’s very versatile that way,” said Cleaver-Bartholomew. “She’s open to new possibilities, so evangelism is definitely in her future.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- (RNS1-APR05) The Rev. Julie Blake Fisher, an Episcopal priest in Kent, Ohio, created "Episcopal Priest Barbie High Church Edition" for a friend, the Rev. Dena Cleaver-Bartholomew, when she got her first pulpit assignment in Manlius, N.Y. For use with RNS-BARBIE-PRIEST, transmitted April 5, 2010. RNS photo courtesy the Rev. Julie Blake Fisher.
_______________________________________________ Centroids mailing list: [email protected] http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com Archives at http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/
