English fashion designer launches updated clerical line for women

Camelle Daley, a London-trained fashion designer who founded the label House of ilona, has launched a new range of clerical wear for women in the Church of England. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Self This image is available for Web and print publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.

CANTERBURY, England (RNS) A London-trained fashion designer has launched a new range of clerical wear for women in the Church of England.

Camelle Daley, who founded the label House of ilona, says it’s high time for a shake-up among Anglican clergy who, like Roman Catholic priests, still wear traditional black shirt and collar.

Daley said she got the idea when a recently ordained friend said she wanted a new look for a new age.

The result?

Daley’s collection, now selling briskly, includes peplum dresses and tops, classic black dresses and a fitted green blouse with chiffon detail.

She has received hundreds of orders from women, who now make up one-third of the clergy in this country’s established church.

“Today, more than ever, women in ministry are complaining about the boxy, shapeless shirts on offer,” she said. “Why should a woman’s style go from stylish and elegant to manly and boxy when she is dressed in her clerical attire for ministering?”

Camelle Daley, a London-trained fashion designer who founded the label House of ilona, has launched a new range of clerical wear for women in the Church of England. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Self This image is available for Web and print publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.

The launch of her clerical clothes coincides with the 20th anniversary of the ordination of women as priests in the Church of England.

Within a year or so it’s likely that women will be consecrated as bishops.

“The style is not about flaunting the body,” added Daley. “It is about clothes that accommodate the female shape in cut and fit.”

For Daley, the latest line is a labor of love.

“I love designing,” she said. “This is my way of giving back to the women in ministry who have affected my life so greatly.”

YS/MG END GRUNDY

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Pope Paul VI to be beatified this fall: Will one miracle be sign of sainthood?

VATICAN CITY (RNS) After weeks of speculation, Pope Francis made it official on Saturday (May 10) that Pope Paul VI could become the latest pope poised to become a saint after a miracle was accredited to Paul’s intercession.

(1978) Pope Paul VI died Aug. 6, 1978, at the age of 80 after suffering a heart attack in his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, Italy. Religion News Service file photo This image is available for Web and print publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.

Paul VI died in 1978 after a 15-year pontificate. He is remembered by many for his 1968 ban on contraception and as the first pope to visit Israel before the Vatican officially recognized the Jewish state.

The Vatican said Francis had approved the decree authorizing the beatification of his predecessor, less than two weeks after the canonization of two other iconic popes of the 20th century — John XXIII and John Paul II.

The beatification ceremony is scheduled to take place Oct. 19 at the end of the Synod of Bishops’ meeting on the family in Rome.

At least one miracle is required for beatification, and a second miracle is normally required for sainthood. Francis, however, waived the second miracle requirement in the case of John XXIII. It is unclear whether Paul VI, born Giovanni Battista Montini, will be similarly fast-tracked.

Paul was elected in 1963 and implemented the reforms started by his predecessor, John XXIII, with the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). During Paul’s pontificate, he wrote seven encyclicals, including the “Humanae Vitae” (Of Human Life), published in 1968, which outlined a hard-line position on birth control.

The Vatican did not confirm details of the recognized miracle, but according to a report in Credere, the weekly magazine of the Pauline Fathers, it involved the birth of a baby in California in the 1990s.

In a recent report, the magazine said the fetus was in a critical condition during the 24th week of the pregnancy and doctors advised the woman to terminate the pregnancy. Instead, she reportedly placed an image of the late pontiff and a remnant of his vestments on her stomach and began praying to him.

The baby was born healthy at the 39th week of the pregnancy and witnesses were unable to explain the change in the baby’s condition. The Vatican launched official inquiries into the case in 2003, and medical experts officially confirmed the inexplicable nature of the child’s recovery last year.

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