Bless Me, Father

Over at At Home in Rome, an intriguing calendar has been the topic of recent discussion.


In the Roman Priest Calendar*, the blogsite observes, “there’s not one ugly priest in the bunch. It’s not like they got a shot of some 90-year old . . . or tried to represent the entire spectrum. These priests are in their prime and they are all fairly or very good-looking.”

All of which begs the types of questions posed by At Home in Rome: “Who makes this calendar and why? Where do the profits go? Charity? What is the target market for this calendar? I mean, who really buys it?”

Well, judging from the looks of Mr., er, Father July (pictured below), or indeed any of the calendar's subjects, I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out either the target audience of this particular calendar, or the sexual orientation of the man behind the camera.


After all, as Christopher astutely notes over at Bending the Rule, “Underneath . . . the surface of so much muscular Christianity” is “homolove . . . The love of the male by some other males . . . Is it really any wonder that some of the best images of men were by Michelangelo? I think not.”

Perhaps Andrew Sullivan is onto something after all.


* At Home in Rome’s investigation (documented here) reveals among other things, that the photographer behind the “hot priest” calendar is one Piero Pazzi, and that 2007 will be the “fifth year running that Pazzi, a gondolier, has made the calendar.” There's been talk that the photos are fake, meaning in other words, that the calendar's subjects are not really priests. Yet At Home in Rome believes this not to be the case, and according to Pazzi, “the photos are all taken during public services and on the streets, in Seville, Rome, and Venice.”