‘Jane the Virgin’ Candles: Cute Tchotchkes or Sacrilege?

Last updated on: March 3, 2015 at 1:59 pm by Kate O'Hare

‘Jane the Virgin’ Candles: Cute Tchotchkes or Sacrilege? 2015-03-03T13:59:30-08:00 Kate O'Hare

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Celebrity prayer candles are a thing.

Earlier today, Patheos‘ own Deacon Greg Kandra posted a link on Facebook to an Etsy site selling parodies of prayer candles featuring Catholic-themed pictures of “The Golden Girls.”

But it’s not just these four ladies. Apparently all kinds of celebrities get their faces plastered on prayer candles, complete with saintly robes, Sacred Hearts and all the rest — Saint RuPaul is especially charming — and obviously Catholics are expected to take it all in good humor.

Usually, we do. But sometimes, you just have to wonder.

I went to a press event for The CW’s “Jane the Virgin” in January, and we received boxes on the way out. The picture above shows you what was in them.

For those who haven’t seen it, “Jane” — an American version of a Venezuelan telenovela — stars Gina Rodriguez in the title role of Jane Villanueva, a Catholic girl saving herself for marriage. She goes in for a regular pap smear, but is instead accidentally impregnated with sperm from a cancer patient (who saved it before chemo, just for this purpose), which was meant for his (adulterous and nasty) wife.

True to its telenovela roots, the story is incredibly convoluted and packed with scandal. For example, the doctor, Luisa, that impregnated Jane is the lesbian sister of the cancer patient, Miami hotel owner Rafael (Justin Baldoni, whose own wife is pregnant with their first child).

Incidentally, there seems to be an unwritten rule now that there has to be a gay character in everything, and if they’re women, they have to be hot (unlike the ordinary-looking gay male couple on “Modern Family”). Work out the psychological underpinnings of that with fear and trembling.

Anyway, the botched insemination happened because New Age devotee Luisa was discombobulated after catching her female lover having sex with her assistant. She’s also a recovering alcoholic who had an affair with the woman who married her father, and the stepmother/lover later had Luisa committed to a mental institution (there were hallucinogenic drugs and a visit to an ashram somewhere in there).

On the other hand, Jane’s mother, Xiomara, defied the advice of her own mother to have an abortion and had Jane as a teenager; and Jane herself is having her unplanned child. And, despite her panicked advice to her daughter, Jane’s Spanish-speaking grandmother, Alba, told Jane she regretted ever suggesting an abortion and emphasized her love and gratitude for her granddaughter. Alba is also portrayed as a devout Catholic, and both priests and nuns have been featured on the show, in generally positive or at least neutral ways.

Obviously, “Jane the Virgin” is a very mixed bag for Catholics, but the show’s use of Church-related themes probably inspired the creation of the candles. The image of Jane (center) is especially cringeworthy, as it shows her holding a positive pregnancy test stick, and being surrounded by a halo of positive and negative sticks (but her holding a pregnancy-test stick is one of the show’s signature images, so it makes sense from a marketing perspective).

However, unlike a lot of the celebrity candles, these promotional items, while they resemble the general style of devotional candles, don’t feature any actual Catholic imagery.

Again, Catholics are asked to take all this in stride without losing their minds or threatening anyone. But it’s just another example of someone using the Catholic faith — along with, in this example, Hispanic Catholic culture — as props and window dressing, while not letting the actual tenets of the Faith derail juicy plot twists.

Oh, and Cosmo lauded “Jane the Virgin” for pushing the idea of being pro-choice to the Hispanic community, because why should they miss out on getting rid of unwanted babies?

None of this is surprising, because the show isn’t being run by a writer who’s a serious Catholic. But executive producer and showrunner Jennie Synder Urman does have talent, a track record in television and a lot of experience — including “90210” and “Gilmore Girls” — and that’s what got her this job.

I’ll keep saying it until it sinks in — you’re not going to be represented on TV if you don’t represent. We need to get into the entertainment industry, work hard and succeed. It’s only then that you get control of the message. And today, the message the media puts out has as great, or greater, an effect than family or faith on many in society, especially the young (and that also includes Catholic youth).

Avoiding and hiding from media may feel good in the short term, but if we are truly to make disciples of all nations, then it’s our duty to be in the game. You gotta be in it to win it.

Previous Post

February 28, 2015

'Finding Jesus': Notre Dame's Dr. Candida Moss on the CNN Series About Faith and History

Next Post

March 3, 2015 @MysteryExec Tells You How to Survive Hollywood Success

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books breaking news digital media Faith practice food interview jane the virgin media movies music NFL Pope Francis Showbiz 101 social media sports technology television Uncategorized video

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz