Sometimes, even this verbose blogger is at a loss for words.

News item: Tattooed reverend gets hate online as Canterbury Cathedral defends her appointment to leadership role.

Since I’m at a loss for words, I’ll let someone else speak, Moses, in Leviticus 19:28:

Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord. (KJV)

Tellingly, immediately following, in Leviticus 19:29, we read:

Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.

Tempting as it is, I will not attempt creating a nexus between those two verses, rather, let them stand apart in silent snarkiness. It is worth noting however, before our cultural mores were tossed into the trash in the 1960s, tattoos generally were found only on tradesmen and enlisted men in the armed forces, and rarely on women. The last few decades however they have become familiar adornments, ubiquitous even, among professionals, priests included, though not on Catholic priests, yet; given the wretched state of the Anglican Church these days however, it’s only natural tats would find themselves on the arms and torsos of her priests.

Now, striking a blow for women’s equality, the madre in the news item has indulged herself in those lurid self effacements which, owing to my upbringing, decades later still cause me to cringe. In all honesty, your Tatler cannot look at heavily tattooed people and take them seriously. I know I am not alone in this.

In the case of heavily tatted C of E clergymen, though some have protested them, it hardly matters, as the average Sunday attendance in Anglican (and Episcopal churches, stateside) is likely less than the number of those horrid images on their bodies.

h/t to G & T.