Pope coat post hoax ropes most folks
Also, there was a new Easter parody play
It’s me, hi, I’m back from my unplanned hiatus. After almost two years of consistent weekly updates, I’ve been away for *checks notes* six weeks?? It turns out when WorldPride happens closely followed by Ramadan, Passover and Holy Week, this gay little religion specialist gets a little overwhelmed.
Honestly, without wallowing in self-pity or fishing for sympathy, burnout got me pretty bad and something had to give. Things ramped up pretty intensely with my day job which demanded a whole lot of my attention, but I’m really proud of the work I did during that time. I hope you’ll indulge me in highlighting some of it here interspersed with the best posts I’ve been hoarding.
There is a huge amount of material to cover, so I’m going to split this into two posts, today and tomorrow, which will hopefully balance out me being away for so long. Subscribe so you don’t miss out!
The Pope didn’t wear the coat but he’s cool enough to wear the coat, if he wanted to (and he should)
In late March, pictures of His Holiness Pope Francis in an extremely cool white puffer coat went viral on Twitter. It was giving ski slope drip. It was giving Young Pope. It was giving Balenciaga.
Many were fooled! (Not me though 🤞) The person who generated the image did so while high on mushrooms, which seems unfair because I would have done it normal.
The meme inspired a few more memes I liked, including 40k Pope and Pope at the Turnstile gig, both of which are 100% real and photographed with actual cameras.
Also while I was away the Pope nearly died, probably, but in the end he had a pizza party and baptised a baby instead. I, for one, am glad, because I’ve already had two senior Catholic officials die this year and I’d rather there wasn’t a third.
UPDATE: After writing these words in a draft, Father Bob, who was not a senior Catholic official but was widely loved by Australians, died on Wednesday. A greatly sad time for the church in Australia.
WorldPride episodes of Soul Search
This predates my absence but it was a contributing factor to me needing some time off (in a good way). They were really complex to make and I’m real proud of the final result. Meredith Lake and I made this double episode of Soul Search about queer Christians in Australia over WorldPride.
Praise God there was a new Easter parody play
The good folks at The Church of the Rock in Canada are back at it again, this time reimagining the Passion story in the world of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. This time Jesus is… Belle?? A woman???
Honestly that’s feminism and an A-OK for the ordination of women right there in my book. I’ve written about this church and its wild Easter plays before and I can’t even begin to describe how much I love them. Go you good things.
It was Ramadan and all cats are Muslim
The way they all meow when the man says “Ramadan” 🥺
Jesus’ (failed??) political movement
On Good Friday morning I co-hosted an hour of RN Breakfast with my colleague Siobhan Marin.
Siobhan took a look at a major global survey of Catholic women on their relationship to the church and appetite for reform (spoiler: it’s high!) and I spoke with Dr Robert J Myles about the political life of Jesus and class conflict in First Century Roman Palestine.
Robert is co-author of Jesus: A Life in Class Conflict, which was a good read!
Is it kosher to eat a hotdog finger if you don’t eat dairy at the same meal
Hey baby I hear the demons calling, green vomit and backwards heads
Russell Crowe, who has previously played Noah and Zeus, will soon be the Pope’s exorcist, in the film The Pope’s Exorcist.
The film’s title is inexplicably in a very similar font as the title screen from the hit American sitcom Frasier. My fiance says he will see the movie as soon as he can. I won’t though because I’m a scaredy-cat.
h/t @whoelsebutmitch for the title of this section
Schmeitgeist season 2
Rounding things out, an announcement! The ABC’s internet pop culture podcast Schmeitgeist is releasing its second season, and I’m in one of the episodes talking about Catholic aesthetics online.
The season teaser was released today, and you should subscribe if you haven’t already!
See you tomorrow for more religious ephemera from across the internet (but mostly Twitter this week).