What are churches about these days?

@ArishMell
I don't know what val is disagreeing with, but this Tiktok vicar in the picture is hot stuff packaged for the GenZ market in America. First, they let women in as pastors and bishops even, then they took in LGBTs, and now this hot chick with a loose collar.

@ArishMell
I disagree with the way she fools around with a vicar's collar. Look at that hair.

@sree251 All right, I take your point that in this photo she has loosened her collar, but that's not "fooling around with it"; and what is wrong with her hair?

We do not know how she wears her collar and hair during services, but anyway it's her work that matters and she's clearly "off-duty" in this portrait.

Yes I expect clerics to look smart, especially when formality matters such as a funeral, but a church is for worshipping God, not fashion.

(I've even seen occasional moans on SW from other people about congregants not dressed all stuffily!)

@ArishMell Doing Tiktok as if it's yet another thing to promote like that. So superficial that you even don't even notice that I'm not turning it into anything personal but have issue with the practise itself. It's about the means how one thinks to communicate instead of actually being a pastor. I'm just saying that one can't be church-like on Tiktok. That's all. Trying to get the next generation into church should have the same core as before. I can't see the presbyter part of being a priest there

@ArishMell
Loosened her collar? What else do you think this doll has loosened?


Off duty, you say. Is she ever on duty in service of the devil?


I can imagine what she worships, and it is not the Virgin Mary.


SW is the holy of holies where crazies dwell. I am a visitor.

@sree251 A visitor? No - you are a frequent contributor.

I'm afraid you have not explained why you want to so despise, even hate, this particular cleric. She has done nothing wrong, and no-one has to obey your tastes in dress.

She's a vicar or deacon in 2026, not 1926.

@ArishMell
Let's say I am a frequent visitor.


I don't despise this particular cleric even though she clearly despises the world she lives in. She is a parody designed to imitate and mock society.


Vicar of what? What is it that she is representing for you? Tell me, what are you worshiping?

@sree251 OK; frequent! :)

How do you think she is "mocking" anything?

Come on, be honest, tell us what you want Christian clerics to look like, and why.

Her rank and (probably C of E parish) church are not important.

Nor is her hair style.

Nor do I see the point of gratuitously attacking anyone for something so trivial as long hair in situtaions where it harms no-one.

What does she represent to me? A modern woman of God, of course.

For the record I am am agnostic from a mildly Anglican background, and at least two of my freinds are in the clergy; but if I were a practicing Christian I would be listening to the cleric's preaching, not fretting about something so utterly irrelevant as his or her hair!

@val70 I do take your concern about possibly cheapening the Church and its purpose by proselytising on TikTok, but I think that irrespective of the cleric's dress sense.

In what country does she work?

I suppose she thinks chipping away at antiquated fustiness that deflects from the church's real purpose, might encourage younger people to attend services, but I don't think it would work.

Not because she does not match other peoples' artificial dress rules, but because it does not ask if those she is trying to recruit want to be religious. If they do, it won't be because the priest has long hair, likes spaniels (or cats) and uses TikTok, but because they feel God important to them.

I'm not far off old enough to her Grandad, but if I were turn religious I'd not worry one bit if my local vicar or rector is a dog-loving, long-haired young lady. Why should I? Those characteristics would not matter, not even be my business.

It is the theology that counts, not mere Earthly fashion.

.....

Oh the irony of using TikTok though, considering its originating nation's official opposition to all religion!

@ArishMell I like that the sense of irony isn't dead yet. Only stupidity flocks to the edge of the abyss like this. The use of TitTok will do nothing for attendences, I'm sure of that. I've seen too many of these grandiose and inflated ideas. After some time you'll notice it's all air. Rather watch out how the wesleyan methodists work in their outreach programs. There's a real example of community work that both works and will bring in the next generations too

@ArishMell
Ok, let's hear what you've got to say about her theology.

@ArishMell
I think she is mocking traditional Christian norms the way two gay men becoming man and wife, and having kids through surrogates, are mocking holy matrimony between men and women.

@sree251 Come on, that's a meaningless question. We cannot judge a priest without knowing anything about her, never attending her services.

It might matter to her congregants but not to you and I.

Besides I wrote, "It is the theology...", not "It is her theology..."; clearly meaning any church.

@sree251 What "norms"? The Handmaid's Tale sort?

We do not know her stance on homosexuality and we know NOTHING about her other than mere appearance in an informal portrait.

So your "I think" shows only prejudice.

Do you judge everyone on mere looks?

Is your real beef that she is a young woman forming her own career, and as a priest?

@ArishMell
I was posing my question to address your question regarding my perception of her mission. I am not passing judgment on her.


Who cares? I have no interest in either her congregants or her mission.


What theology? Spit it out and let's validate the rationale of it's perspective. I doubt she has any grasp of divinity.

@sree251 You are doing it again:you are judging her without knowing anything about her.

Your last sentence openly states you believe she has no professional standing; despite having already said you don't care about her.

I don't know anything about her either, so I don't try to "validate" her theological knowledge. I know only she likely knows far more about Christianity (and possibly other faiths) than I do.

She will have studied it. I haven't. Have you? Are you a priest?

You have nothing to attack the woman for, yet you delight in doing so. Why?

@ArishMell
Stay focus on the topic of discussion between you and me. We are not talking about a specific third party. We are examining your clarity of perception and ability to think.


My last sentence was "I doubt she has any grasp of divinity". If you disagree, then tell me what divinity means to you. I believe that it is possible to judge a book by its cover. The picture of that slut with a loose collar spoke volumes to me. Does she reflect divinity to you? If she does, then tell me what divinity is all about.


Leave her out of this conversation which is a disagreement between you and me about divinity.


I did study the teaching of Jesus when I was in the novitiate studying to be a Jesuit.


I was not attacking anyone. This conversation is about divinity and sacrilege.

@sree251 I think you are trying to bully me.

Thank you for saying you have studied at least some theology, and I respect your having chosen to do so, but you are the one accusing anyone - a priest at that - of "sacrilege" for no reason and with no evidence.

@ArishMell
Definitely not.


I am not a priest. I couldn't cut it.

@sree251 There's honesty! I couldn't either, because being a priest is far more than simply preaching sermons and announcing the next hymn numbers. The hardest part must be the pastoral work and that demands more than just religious knowledge.

@ArishMell
Quite right. When faced with sorrow, such as death in a family, you - as the vicar of Christ - stand between the bereaved and that silence, an emptiness that dares you to act in its stead. I couldn't lie.

@sree251 Nor I. It is hard enough when a close friend loses someone.