Preaching fashion. Minister advises clergy on style

[Ian David]

By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | February 18, 2007

NORWELL -- There have been nearly four centuries of ministers at the venerable First Parish, but only one has had to worry about what color to paint her toenails.

Her nom de plume is PeaceBang, and in between drafting sermons and visiting the sick she has also become a sensation as a cheeky dispenser of irreverent wisdom about fashion and beauty for women of the cloth.

Some choice guidance: "We know Jesus wore sandals. He probably also bathed once a month, and you wouldn't do that to us, would you?" "When it comes to crosses, bigger is not better." And, "thou shalt not leave the house without thy Altoids."

In less than a year, PeaceBang has attracted the attention of a denominationally diverse group of clergywomen, including several in the United Kingdom and the career services director at Yale Divinity School, who have enlisted in what PeaceBang describes as her cause: "The defrumpification of the American clergy."

PeaceBang's real name is the Rev. Victoria Weinstein, and in town she is known as Vicki. She is the affable, affirming minister of the white clapboard church on River Street, the one with the "dears crossing" sign in the parking lot. PeaceBang is the name under which she blogs, and she agreed to blow her on line cover only reluctantly, consenting to an interview three months after first being approached by the Globe, and only after she disclosed her alter ego to her congregation.

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/02/18/preaching_fashion/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+City%2FRegion+News