You probably heard a couple of weeks ago the odd story of the Italian priest who was planning what news reports called an online “beauty contest” for Catholic sisters.

The story had two lives. The first reports had Father Antonio Rungi announcing that the “Miss Sister Italy” contest would begin this month on his blog. His purpose, he said, was to show how “nuns are above all women, and beauty is a gift from God.” He asked sisters in Italy to send him photos and profiles talking about their spirituality, social awareness, charity, and other virtues, for his blog visitors to judge.

"This contest,” he said, “will be a way to show there isn’t just the beauty we see on television but also a more discreet charm. You really think all nuns are old, stunted, and sad? This isn’t the case anymore.

“Nuns are a bit excluded, they are a bit marginalized in ecclesiastical life,” he added. “This will be an occasion to make their contribution more visible. We are not going to parade nuns in bathing suits. But being ugly is not a requirement for becoming a nun. External beauty is a gift from God, and we mustn’t hide it.” He also said that sisters themselves had the idea for the contest, which apparently made it OK.

It's the understatment of the year to say Rungi was sending out some mixed messages. On the one hand he seemed to be making the case that beauty isn’t skin deep—but then called external beauty a divine gift. He wanted to point out spiritual beauty, but then to seemed to be saying physical beauty was important after all, and he made that point by stereotyping sisters in general and slapping down "old," "ugly," and "stunted" sisters those who did not have the “blessing” of physical beauty.

In his attempt to make the case for inner beauty he actually reinforced youth and outer beauty as standards of a woman’s value. In his concern for the marginalization of sisters, he marginalized them himself. And let's not forget his statement that the sisters are "above all" women; funny, I though a commitment to consecrated life was the essence of a religious vocation. And somehow he thought all this was going to promote vocations to women’s religious life.

Beyond what he said, what’s really scary is that Rungi apparently is a moral theologian and teacher.

Then, the other shoe—or perhaps it was a high heel—dropped: the denials and Run