I'm Surprised No American Diocese Thought This Up First

One of the things I love about my paper is its weekly Notebook section. Like the movie of the same name, you can't help but cry -- in this case, however, the tears come from laughter. It's a very light, funny, whimsical page in the midst of very heavy stories on the church and its place in the modern world.

The Notebook is the place where The Tablet has devoted its coverage to papal vesture, so I've been honoured to lend my hand to it in turn.

Possibly the funniest story ever to ever appear in the 'Book, however, is in the current edition. As with all the best things, you couldn't make it up if you wanted to.

Here's the lede:

"A website for children has proved popular in an unexpected quarter. It is designed to allow the user to decide what a priest will wear and seems to have taken off in a big way among Anglo-Catholic priests in the Church of England."

If you find this surprising, you haven't been paying attention.

Maybe, though, in the deigning of Providence, it'll encourage more Anglo-Catholics to swim the Tiber. As if the dressiness isn't enough incentive, a senior post at ICEL should seal the deal.

One senior high church cleric said that it's important to remind the "children" (and, ostensibly, high Anglican clerics as well) that "Priesthood is much more than dressing up."

That is the most heterodox thing I've ever heard. What an insult.

Should you, too, want to play dress-up with Father, here's the link.

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