What will this girl think of next? Not bad for a lady born in 1959. Barbie has been ordained as an Episcopalian Priest. This move is a 2nd career for Miss Barbie. A little bio from the Deacon’s Bench (which is a Roman Catholic site):
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, 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 Episcopalian Church began ordaining women in 1976. A handful of women were ordained before then but it wasn’t with the official sanction of the Episcopalian Church. The current leader of the church is Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, a real gutsy lady who is not without controversy. The American Episcopalian Church has undergone what many would consider a schism because of its official position on ordaining women and the role of gays in the church. I hope Barbie knows she is stepping in to a hornet’s nest.
Apparently Reverend Barbie isn’t for sale yet. Perhaps she will never be. The Mattel site sure isn’t featuring her. If there is enough interest, perhaps Mattel will ‘ordain’ her for sale. Should action figure dolls become religious figures? Today we have Reverend Barbie. There were rumors of Burka Barbie. Do we next have Taliban Ken? Rabbi Joe? Father What-a-Waste? Ayatollah Andy, G. I. Jesus? Where do we stop? Does having a ‘doll of the cloth’ cheapen religion or does it enhance it?
