Punk Curate

A funny little story in today’s Mail

Some days she strides up to church wearing hot pants and biker boots.

Or she might opt for dominatrix-style red leather high heels to go with her six piercings including a nose stud.

Not the apparel you would normally expect from a Church of England curate.

Skye Denno

But punk rocker Skye Denno insists it is her way of serving God.

Miss Denno, 29, who admits to a taste for lager and the Sex Pistols, is two weeks into her appointment as curate at the Church of St James the Great in Dursley, Gloucestershire.

‘It’s been great,’ she said. ‘My clothes and how I look haven’t been a problem.

‘I think it makes me more approachable and I haven’t heard any grumbles. At the most people have been a little surprised.

‘I did walk down the street in biker boots, hot pants and dog collar and got a few looks. I don’t do it to be difficult  –  it’s just me.

‘The Church can be quite cliquey and it’s important for me to keep it real and not be another stuffy, middle-class vicar.’

Dunno what the problem is. You should see the way I dress sometimes. What’s far more disturbing is this paragraph:

Miss Denno moved to the town with her partner Joel and their two young children last month to take up her new role.

Hang on a minute, did the reporter just write "partner"? Not husband? Partner? Didn’t Paul have something to say about that in regards to Christian leadership? I’m sure the ordination service includes this question:

Will you endeavour to fashion your own life and that of your household according to the way of Christ, that you may be a pattern and example to Christ’s people?

Ordinands – By the help of God, I will.

Surely some mistake then to ordain someone in a sexual relationship who wasn’t married? Is this just a sub-editor’s mistake or a real issue? The article refers to her as Miss Jeno. Are we really in the business of ordaining deacons who aren’t married but sexually active?

A piece in her local paper clarifies the matter:

Now married to Joel and with two children, Sophia, five, and Felix, three, her life is at a slower pace but her beliefs, both spiritual and social, remain as strong as ever.

Sorted. Lovely. More power to her.

5 Comments on “Punk Curate

  1. David:
    I found this story also on another conservative American Anglican website. I had the same reaction to the sentence regarding a partner and the use of the word dominatrix, until I googled her name and found out that she was married and that the S-M term was the reporter’s word, not hers. It’s easy to judge someone based on media coverage, but then to find out the coverage may be stilted through the use of language or bias.
    I usually like your coverage of stories, but most of all I like your pieces with a theological bent to them. They give me something to think about. KEEP it going!!
    Joe

  2. For her sake I hope she has spent some time training in an Anglican context because, my goodness, she will be in a very Anglican context as a curate.

    I predict a riot.

  3. For any foreigners reading: “Partner” in British English can indeed mean “life-partner” (I would not advise you to call a spade a spade a la FrDarryl unless you are sure of your audience or very well-built); confusingly, however, its older sense of “business partner” is still very much alive (at least insofar as old-style partnership businesses are still around), so be careful before you jump to too many conclusions! Yes, mate is (rather low-brow) slang for “friend”, although if you use it too much you will sound like a Cockney or an Australian.  Tout compris?  : )  : )

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