From the Shrine: Captain Kirche!
I simply must swipe all of these from the Shrine. They are just too good:
Some pretty impressive pictures, I think.
Brandon at This Old Church is awesome:
Is there a prohibition against clerics using phasers?
So is The Lapped Catholic:
Everyone already knew the Curt Jester was awesome. Note the Star Fleet badge on the Papal Cassock:
Casey Truelove is especially awesome, because in addition to these pictures, he also said: "Incidentally, I really like the pun."
This is my favorite:
Jeremy Priest offers a video enhancement of Casey Truelove’s pictures.














































I love your blog, Father, but you’re a NERD! :P
Comment by Kradcliffe — 1 April 2008 @ 7:57 amGuilty as charged. I can even take my cellphone(s) apart and put them back together! And they work!
Comment by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf — 1 April 2008 @ 8:01 amHowever, I can’t imagine His Holiness splitting an infinitive. “Boldly to go where no man has gone before,” thank you very much.
Or actually, in keeping with the hermeneutic of continuity: “Boldly to go where innumerable saints have trod before.”
Comment by Tim Ferguson — 1 April 2008 @ 8:08 amCanon 1966 (2104 Intergalactic Code of Canon Law)
1.Use of Phasers by Clerics is banned except for the most grave reasons.
2. The Supreme Pontiff and other Patriarchs may authorize the use of Phasers for Clerics in Intergalactic Missionary Territories but only in self defense and only on stun.
3. Clamorous hunting by clerics is banned and clerics are subject to a just penalty.
Comment by Dan Jordan — 1 April 2008 @ 8:18 amAh, the miracle of photoshop!
Comment by Jim — 1 April 2008 @ 8:57 amYour ability to take your phone apart and reassemble it is legendary. However, I understand that you struggled a little with your iPhone while blindfolded and hanging from your feet listening to a Bernadette Farrell/Dan Schutte CD.
On headphones.
Comment by KK — 1 April 2008 @ 9:17 amKK: Who could do anything but barf while listening to that? Even right-side up?
Comment by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf — 1 April 2008 @ 9:19 amDan: Shouldn’t that be “Clamorous hunting of clerics is banned and clerics are subject to a just penalty”?
Comment by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf — 1 April 2008 @ 9:21 amDr. McCoy to Captain Kirche: “He’s DEAD, Ben!”
So who would the rest of the cast be?
Mr. Spock: Cardinal Bertone?
Comment by TNCath — 1 April 2008 @ 9:24 amDr. McCoy: Archbishop Ranjith?
Mr. Scott: Cardinal Comastri?
Mr. Sulu: Msgr. Marini?
Mr. Checkov: Msgr. Ganswein?
Lt. Uhura: Ingrid Stampa?
Nurse Chapel: Archbishop Ranjith’s secretary?
The Pope may be familiar with the German ST parody from German TVs Bullyparade which has three effeminate crewmembers: Caepn’ Kork, Spucky and Schrotti. There was recently a movie, which I must see since I missed it, called i think ‘Unser (T)raumschiff’ ~ ‘Our Dreamboat (Spaceship).’ If he ever appears I foresee il Papa straightening out the crew, since the trio prance around like liturgical dancers constantly giggling over tea time desserts and Prosecco. BTW it was all done in Bavarian (Bayrisch) accented German.
Comment by AlephGamma — 1 April 2008 @ 9:53 amTNCath;
Who to cast as the Klingons though? Extending this analogy begins to cause problems unless you want to cast some of the oppositional Bishops as Klingons and Romulans, but then this would imply some kind of general state of war to exist between the Holy See and the more liberal Bishops. Then again…
Comment by Chironomo — 1 April 2008 @ 10:31 amChironomo,
No way. I won’t touch that one with a ten foot crosier.
Comment by TNCath — 1 April 2008 @ 10:44 am“Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni!”
Comment by Guy Power — 1 April 2008 @ 12:03 pm“Feast of the Beaming-Up” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Comment by KK — 1 April 2008 @ 12:09 pmI think this is very sad..
Comment by Frank — 1 April 2008 @ 12:54 pmA shake your head sad way of the Catholic faithful using the internet!
We did not appreciate the art in NY of the ‘Chocolate Jesus’ and I’m sure we don’t want pictures of Our Holy Mother cut and pasted.
and I don’t see the point of dorking up The Vicar of Christ!
shameful
Frank,
I appreciate a call for decorum as much as anyone… but surely you can see a qualitative difference between a comedic portrayal of the Holy Father as a sci-fi HERO, as opposed to a (self-described) pornographic nude portrayal of Our Blessed Lord in chocolate?
In Christ,
Comment by Brian C. — 1 April 2008 @ 1:53 pmBrian
If it is appropriate to portray the Pope as Peter, at the helm of the Barque of the Church, or to have a nave in a church, it is surely appropriate to depict the Pope symbolically as the captain of a great starship.
And indeed, there is a ship of stone and water which navigates the
Comment by Maureen — 1 April 2008 @ 1:59 pmCircumsolar Route, and every soul on that vessel is in the Pope’s care.
Maureen: If it is appropriate to portray the Pope as Peter, at the helm of the Barque of the Church, or to have a nave in a church, it is surely appropriate to depict the Pope symbolically as the captain of a great starship.
That’s obsurd logic. “Peter, at the helm of the Barque” evokes general and universal truths. Benedict at the helm of a starship invokes all the secularist, anti-religious garbage from the pop culture series.
The more offensive artist assaults are nearly more preferrable to this simply because they are more recognizable. It’s like the difference between the obvious danger of a flood and the insidious danger of an undercut riverbank.
You could just as well place Benedict at the Jedi Council or the throne room of the DeathStar with all the pantheism of that series. Then you’d have room for Mary as Anakin’s slave mother. Or is that getting uncomfortable?
Comment by Cassanda — 1 April 2008 @ 2:48 pmJust how long ago was that thread claiming that traditionalists have good senses of humor?
Comment by Antiquarian — 1 April 2008 @ 3:20 pmWhere’s that fifth book of Aristotle’s Poetics when you need it…
Comment by Tim Ferguson — 1 April 2008 @ 3:36 pmAntiquarians, are Frank and Cassandra traditionalists? Do they even have a sense of humor?
All I can say is wow, there’s humorlessness and then there’s humorlessness. God save us from the Dead Serious.
Comment by JP — 1 April 2008 @ 4:03 pmSorry, don’t know where that “s” came from, Antiquarian.
Comment by JP — 1 April 2008 @ 4:04 pmDoes the fact that it is 1-April mean anything anymore?
Sheesh!
Comment by Brian Day — 1 April 2008 @ 4:14 pmAwesome! Freakin’ Sweet! I can’t tell you how many religious and philosophical debates my husband and I have gotten into when watching Sci-Fi—It rocks and any combo of our favorite religious hero and Star Trek is to be commended. My hat is off to you.
...And in response to Cassandra:
(Cassandra: Benedict at the helm of a starship invokes all the secularist, anti-religious garbage from the pop culture series)
Using secular things and “converting” them for our own use is a classically Christian thing to do. Read early Church history or Greek Philosophy or Paul talking to the Greeks at the altar of the uknown god. And Seriously—it is all in good fun. I can get worked up over the smallest liturgical details—because there are so many little things that are important and do matter and small ways to show respect. But these pics are just goofy fun for people who love Sci-Fi (despite it’s pantheistic, gnostic, or secular humanistic leanings) and are also devout Catholics. Just chillax.
I’ll probably open a can of worms here (I am inwardly wincing, but I can’t seem to help myself sharing this)—but a friend of mine did much the same thing a few years ago and it’s been on my fridge ever since, see this link if you’re interested: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20050815/5695_’The_Matrix’_Gives_Boost_To_Priesthood_Vocations.htm
Enjoy!
Comment by Turtle Girl — 1 April 2008 @ 6:27 pmSpeaking as a lifelong Trek fan and a traditional Catholic with a great sense of scientific curiosity and sense of humor… those are all simply HILARIOUS. My fav has got to be the one from the Curt Jester… only nitpick is that the com badge is TOS when OBVIOUSLY His Holiness is on the Enterprise D. Come on. :)
On a more serious note, just tonight I watched the Voyager episode (“Critical Care” I think) in which the Doctor finds himself captive in a society that only gives treatment to people based on how “useful” they are. He, of course, spends the whole episode fighting against t