It never ceased to amaze me what some people consider appropriate to wear to Mass. I do have a solution when someone’s idea of modesty seems to be nonexistent. Simply have the ushers pass out fig leaves to these people when they come in. The usher simply tells them that even Adam and Eve when realizing they were naked sought recourse to fig leaves. Though as a result of original sin Adam and Eve’s apron of sewn together fig leaves must not have been seen as going far enough for God since he made for them a garment of skins and clothed them.
How cool would that be to have God as your tailor. "Where did you get that suit? Well it is an Almighty original."
24 comments
How about passing out choir robes at the door to those who are scantily clad?
I don’t see why churches in the US can’t follow the lead of St. Peter’s or frankly other churches in Italy (though they are not as closely guarded as St.P., if you are seen to be dressed inappropriately, you may be asked to leave) Ask people to cover themselves or ask them to leave.
At the Blue Mosque in Istanbul (and I suspect at other Muslim sights), for example, they hand out shawls to cover shoulders, legs, etc.
I agree, though, what passes for dressing up (for those who consider Mass an occasion worthy of dressing up) often leaves a lot to be desired (although not a lot to be imagined).
It may be meant as a joke, but it would be a valuable conribution!
I was at a recent weekday Mass where a woman in front of me was in clothes so tight I was actually surprised she could stand, sit and kneel without ripping seams or popping buttons. (Mea maxima culpa for looking.)
Fig leaves would make sense to me. Personally I’ve thought it would be a great design for a barbecue apron.
Lynn, would we also make them sing in the choir?
I went to an Orthodox wedding once, and on the invitations was an explanation of what appropriate dress for the ladies would be. Long story short, they had shawls to hand out to ladies who’d shown up wearing weather-appropriate (so to speak) clothing.
On the other hand, at least they’re coming. I can’t tell you how many times my schedule suddenly opened up such that I could make the noon or five pm mass, and all I had on was worn-out jeans and a t-shirt with silly writing or artwork. I don’t want to scandalize or appear disrespectful, but if the mass suddenly makes itself available?
Maybe I’m rationalizing. It’s also always seemed to happen when I was attending a college campus church, so I probably didn’t stand out that much…which isn’t a great comfort, but….
I never really understood the “at least they’re coming” argument. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that people are coming to mass, as oppose to staying at home watching TV; however at the expense of having other people, particularly men lust over you during mass isn’t a good thing. I’d prefer for that individual to not go to mass, or simply wait to go at an appropriate time. Mass shouldn’t be a convenience for you to stop by because you happen to be in the neighborhood. My errands and other matters which need tending, should revolve around the mass schedule. I should take my time to dress appropriately to mass. I also think that if you happen to be in the neighborhood and were only wearing jeans and a t-shirt with scribling on it; who’s to say that the person to the next pew would assume that you were mearly passing by? That person will then think “hmmmm, well I guess its ok to wear that”. It’s simply doing a diservice when people don’t dress up to mass.
Same thing goes to graduations! I’ve been to so many family/ friends school graduations, it being elementary school or a university, where I find myself being the only fool with a suit and tie! Helllllo! It’s a celebration, are we going to the beach afterwards?…………sorry, just venting.
Happy Easter eveyone! IF THERE’S A TIME TO DRESS TO THE 9’S…..IT’S EASTER!!!!
Ed,
Good Lord! I just read my post, geez I sound a bit on the rude side. My apologies, I didn’t mean to be so judgmental. I better look in the mirror before I look at someone else.
God Bless!
Now I find the “so men won’t lust” argument a bit hollow. After all, what a woman wears does not necessarily prevent men from lusting. That’s an Islamic argument. I think “self-respect” is a better reason to wear clothing that fits, appropriate undergarments, slips, cleavage containing bodices, etc. But that’s just me…
I recall the story (apocryphal?) about Blessed Pope John XXIII when he was Archbishop Roncalli, Papal Nuncio to Paris.
While attending a banquet, he was seated next to a woman whose neckline plunged more than modesty should permit. In the course of the dinner, Roncalli picked up an apple that was part of the centerpiece and handed to the woman. She said, “Thank you, your Excellency, but why have you given me the apple?” Roncalli replied, “When Eve ate the apple, she realized how little she had on.”
The simplest solution – why hasn’t anyone else suggested it? – is to turn the thermostat down to 40 year-round.
“Now I find the ‘so men won’t lust’ argument a bit hollow.”
I will buy that complaint when I can get a reasonable explanation for showing your butt crack or a ton of cleavage at Mass.
Mother Angelica’s Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament provides modest coverings for visitors who dress inappropriately, maybe we can do that at the University of the Philippines chapel. Oh wait, that would alienate the students who already go to class in shorts and spaghetti straps.
As a young woman I am particulary upset by immodest attire in church. I try to wear a blouse and shirt when I go, and it is really not that much extra effort to make sure nothing is showing that shouldn’t be.
To me, the larger question is: why does anyone think it’s appropriate to wear (fill in the blank) when worshipping the King of Kings?
If you went to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen of England, would you wear those lowrider hiphugging buttcrack showing ripped jeans and flipflops? (It doesn’t matter what gender you are.) Well, guess what? QE2 is NOTHING compared to the Almighty.
That’s what really bugs me.
I think we have lost the sense that JESUS IS IN THE TABERNACLE in a Catholic Church. I read somewhere that men walking past a Catholic Church used to tip their hats. At the Church.
Wow.
The Big Seester
No worries, Carlos. You make some good points, and I was hoping to get an outside opinion on some of my motivations (which I’m not 100% on, anyway).
When I go to mass at a campus chapel, immodest dress isn’t any bigger a problem (or is it?) than informal dress, so I just looked at the “what’s appropriate to wear” idea and wandered off in my own direction. By the same token, I tend to find painted-on tank tops and miniskirts more distracting, and I own lots of t-shirts, so maybe I’m biased.
I also just meant planning daily mass around my job–almost everyone I see there is dressed for work. Not that it’d be hard to convince me that ads on my chest are below par.
I try to look nice for Sunday, but while I sometimes have a button-down shirt in my office just in case, I’m not going to wear a suit to the lab on the off chance I can hit the 5 pm mass; the suit wouldn’t be nice for long. Even at places where Sundays are formal, I’ve seen people dress more commonly during the week.
I got in the habit once of skipping mass because I wasn’t well-prepared (it was missing confession in this case). I don’t want an excuse to pick the habit back up. It’s best to present yourself nicely to the King, but if He’s going to adjust my day–I know that sounds funny but when it comes to the sacraments I believe in very few coincidences–I’m not quick to refuse. Sometimes I dress up when I’m with my friends and family too, but I won’t refuse to see them if none of my dress shirts are clean, y’know? They already know me, so trying to act modest will ring false. I’m sure I can do better to edify rather than scandalize the others at church, but they’re not why I go (and vice versa).
“I think ‘self-respect’ is a better reason to wear clothing that fits”
Yeah, but these days I think the presumption amongst our youth is often that “fit” means “like a glove” and “self-respect” means “don’t hide behind modesty.”
I second Ed Pie’s comment about self-respect. For some young women, the idea is that if you RESPECT yourself and have good self-esteem, nothing should stop you from displaying your breasts and other body parts. It’s mostly breasts, though. It’s as if all of the T-shirts were designed for people whose necklines begin at their waists.
I see nothing wrong with wearing nice jeans (read: clean, not ripped, and serviceable, a polo or even clean t-shirt to Mass, and shoes. I don’t even have a problem with someone attending wearing their birkenstocks. Casual can be decent without being immodest. Basically I’m not going to judge anyone for what they’re wearing because I really don’t know their particular circumstances. Maybe they can’t afford a JC Penney wardrobe much less one from Neiman Marcus or Brooks Brothers.
Except Jeron, the jeans and t-shirt most wear cost more than the JCPenny wardrobe. My argument has always been a matter of modesty and understanding where you are. At one Church I was at as a seminarian, a church near a summer tourist attraction, the distribution of Communion almost became as an occasion of sin with the young ladies wearing things that were little more than strategically placed dental floss and postage stamps! Guys would come in muscle shirts, jeans that were scandalously threadbare (intentionally), and would wear hats in church! In homilies I have told people that they should wear the best they have (remember when Sunday best meant something?) and not just whatever happens to be comfortable. It is a matter of respect. I can’t believe it, but for several years, when Confirmation approaches, I sum up the dress code for girls as “Think Mennonite”, and I have noticed the young ladies have been much more modest in dressing every Sunday. I teach, and I hold the same opinion for everyone else as I do my students, “People will avail themselves of the lowest standard, keep the standard high and they will meet it eventually.” And Jeron, it is my poor people who dress properly for Mass. It is my rich I have the problem with.
‘at least they are there’ is the mother of all excuses for lowering the standards and dumbing down.
“Now I find the ‘so men won’t lust’ argument a bit hollow.”
I will buy that complaint when I can get a reasonable explanation for showing your butt crack or a ton of cleavage at Mass.
Now this is a bit stupid. Try reading the rest of my comment and tell me where I say “go cleavage & butt crack!” All I say is that if we assume women are responsible for men’s lust, we might as well don burkas.
“I think ‘self-respect’ is a better reason to wear clothing that fits”
Yeah, but these days I think the presumption amongst our youth is often that “fit” means “like a glove” and “self-respect” means “don’t hide behind modesty.”
Perhaps. But that doesn’t make my point any less valid! I thought we all agreed on basic vocabulary here, and were not adopting the the mall-grunge or mall-scuz standards.
For some young women, the idea is that if you RESPECT yourself and have good self-esteem, nothing should stop you from displaying your breasts and other body parts.
I’m not exactly sure “self-respect” is the term that would be used. Perhaps being “empowered” or “liberated,” or even having “self-esteem.” But “self-respect” does not enter the equation. And I suspect that I may be younger than many here and in closer contact with the youth in question. Not to mention well-versed in all of the feminist rhetoric that informs their screwed-up sense of self, since I have had graduate classes on the topic. But then, perhaps I have further discredited myself by admitting that.
Not disagreeing with you, Literacy-Chic, but I was just observing how tough a row to hoe the “dress modestly” thing is. If “self respect” is hard for people today to distinguish from “liberated” or “empowered,” then we probably need first to back up and explain how modesty doesn’t mean showing up in a plaid tent with a hood.
My point wasn’t to justify low standards. Some people simply can’t afford a nice outfit–the clothing on their back is all they have to their name. Is there a charitable way “You can’t come in, but St. Vinnie’s opens at eight am tomorrow so maybe you can find a suit there and come back for the weekday mass at five?” Kids who show up dressed for the beach obviously didn’t learn modesty or propriety outside the church, and if our first reaction is “bunch of fools shouldn’t be walking around in here looking like that,” then they’re unlikely to learn it from us, too.
Not that rich people have that excuse, and not that I think anyone in here is being sanctimonious about the underdressed. Maybe it’d be different if I were an usher, but if when I find myself tut-tutting the bad clothing choices other people make, it’s easy for me to keep doing it all through mass.
Thanks to the commenter who mentioned someone handing out shawls at a wedding. My wedding is in November so hopefully it won’t be a problem, but I just know some of my friends will show up dressed inappropriately (considering the lengths I went to for a wedding dress with sleeves and a decent neckline, they should all have no excuse for not covering up).
And Panda Rosa–lol on the fig leaf barbecue apron!
“Maybe they can’t afford a JC Penney wardrobe much less one from Neiman Marcus or Brooks Brothers.”
No need. Stores such as TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Gabriel Brothers enable you to get nice (even designer) clothes for less than they cost at Wal-Mart. I have dress pants that cost about $5, and shirts and sweaters that I paid about $3 for. And ebay has tons of inexpensive clothes.
Goodness, I think it’s scarier when people “dress up” these days. What’s available and fashionable for special occasions tends to be revealing. At least jeans and khakis are more likely to be modest.
I think it’s the mainstream church-going population that is most affected by fashion. The well-healed can afford Talbots,etc. The poor who shop in thrift stores have access to the more modest fashions of the past.
In any case, except for announcements, etc, it does seem that over-scrutiny of what others are or are not wearing is more dangerous than ignoring them altogether. I say this because I have seen and the awful results of parishioners and even clergy’s obsession. It’s not pretty. It always reminds me of that joke about the monk carrying the woman across the stream…
I take the point, Ed Pie! And I do agree that it is too easy to “tut, tut” over bad clothing choices through Mass. (Not the same as lusting, though!) The lack of training in modesty and self-respect is certainly part of the problem!