Admonishment from the Pulpit - No Shorts!

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ames61:
Either I’m misunderstanding you, or you misunderstood me. I do support him. Unfortunately some do not, and have written the bishop, who in turn supports the people.
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I think he meant “continue supporting”

When you get asked to dull it down when talking about matters of Church Dogma and Strict Beliefs during Church, that’s just sad. If it angers people, they should take a long look at their beliefs
 
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JimG:
I guess there’s nothing wrong with that. And you probably wouldn’t want to wear shorts in Anchorage anyway.
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Actually, T-shirts & Shorts are normal in the summer. We’ve had temps in the 90’s before. Normal summers are mid 70’s or so. 😃
It’s just the winters that are cold (Mmmm -20…Time to go snowmachining…)
 
People will oftentimes dress better for a date than for Mass. I believe we can’t judge individuals, but we shouldn’t abandon the standard for a few exceptions to the rule.

I put it like this: if your best friend died trying to save your life and you went to his funeral, how would you dress to honor him? Now, at Mass you ARE going to honor your best friend who DID die to save you. How are you going to honor HIS sacrifice for you when YOU actually deserved HIS punishment?

I also challenge people on this board to go and sit outside any Protestant church or Jewish synagogue and watch them come out of services. These people are decked out to honor their God and they don’t have a tabernacle with the true God dwelling therin. We do and we come to Mass looking like BUMS.

No we can’t judge individuals, but we need to look into our own hearts and see where our priorities of honor lie.

Rich
 
In the summer, I attend the earliest morning Mass, otherwise, I get too overheated, have trouble breathing, and can get heat stroke. Even so, I would not wear shorts or a tank top to Mass. As a matter of fact, I never wear stuff like shorts and tank tops in public at all, not even in my own yard – but that’s just me.

By the way, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the workman wearing his work uniform (jeans, boots, etc.) to daily Mass, and then going directly to work. If I were a lifeguard, though, and had to go directly from daily Mass to my lifeguard job, I would definitely wear a dress over my swimsuit! 😉

Khakis can be suitable dressy – I see men wearing khakis, shirt, tie, a navy blue blazer, and deck shoes – and they look just fine to me.

Crazy Internet Junkie Society
****Carrier of the Angelic Sparkles Sprinkle Bag
 
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awalt:
Pardon me for throwing a dissenting voice in, but here is what I believe we are taught:
  1. The way someone dresses in Church should denote respect - for the Church, for God, for Jesus.
  2. People have day to day lives, and their attendance in Church doesn’t remove responsibilities, and sometimes their dress has to reflect that. For example, I see a guy in weekday Mass a lot that wears jeans and a work shirt, with work boots. Everything is clean, but it’s hard-labor work clothes. Do you think God admonishes him for going to weekday Mass before what is likely a very hard job? Maybe he is able to punch the clock just in time, but cherishes Jesus and wants to go to Church?
  3. We are not to judge others, only God is.
  4. Some of the examples mentioned here, like scantily clad women, not dressing up just because it’s inconvenient, is wrong IMHO but I don’t judge 🙂
I wear clean shorts to weekday Mass at times where I have something immediately after it outdorrs that requires it. I don’t think that is wrong, I have dressed nicely, not provacivately, and I am there to celebrate and adore Jesus. Seems ok to me…
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Our dress is affected by two issues really, dressing up and dressing modestly. Dressing up reflects our priorities, that we are aware that we are visiting the throne room of the King of Kings. Dressing modestly also reflects this, but also reflects a concern for the sensibilities and struggles for virtue of those around us.

I think we should wear our best to mass, whatever our best is, particularly on Sundays. That being said, our best can be clean, pressed jeans, if that is our best. I am disappointed by those who wear suits to work, or dress pants, and shorts to mass. It makes me wonder if their dress reflects their priorities. On the other hand, the guy who works in the field all week and scrubs his fingernails the night before mass so he has clean hands to receive our Lord, is demonstrating his priorities, even in jeans.

With respect to modesty, while we are not called to judge others, we are called to instruct the ignorant. Many young girls have no idea of the effect of what they wear. I teach chasity to our youth, and when we discuss modesty we talk about how dressing modestly respects the others struggle for virtue. Often their response is “its not my problem if he has dirty thoughts, I thought the body was beautiful, made in God’s image etc” Then we talk about the physiological causes of lust, men being more visually oriented, and the fact that Church should be one “safe” place for men to come and not be bombarded with the same images they can see on the cover of Cosmo at the checkout stand in the grocery store. Some of them take this to heart, some don’t. I am sad for those who don’t as they dont realize that in dressing to highlight a “part”, they are attracting men who are attracted to their “parts”, not their person.

I’ll close with a funny story regarding dressing for mass. Last summer our priest wanted to try to encourage our servers to wear more appropriate foot gear than flip flops, so he was visiting with the servers after mass, all of whom happened to be girls at that mass. Using the vernacular of his youth, he said “Ladies, I get really distracted when you wear thongs to mass. . .” The girls were aghast, he was flumoxed and repeated, “you know thongs. . .” pointing to their feet. Boy did they breathe a big sigh of relief as they said “okay Fr” and scurried out of there.
 
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CatholicCid:
I think he meant “continue supporting”

When you get asked to dull it down when talking about matters of Church Dogma and Strict Beliefs during Church, that’s just sad. If it angers people, they should take a long look at their beliefs
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Thanks.

I agree with you, and I do think he does a beautiful job of conveying the beautiful truths of the faith. Before he came here I was praying for a priest who would challenge me spiritually. God delivered! Gotta love it.
 
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ames61:
Any homily he gives which might startle people out of their complancency, whether regarding the dress code or politics or essentials of the faith, can and has resulted in letters of complaint, not to him, but to the bishop. (personally I see that as a lack of charity to not offer him the chance to respond before sending a letter to the bishop, but . . .) The bishop has a definite tendency to be sympathetic to the more pastoral side of things, and has made that pretty clear to Fr. Fr has found his effectiveness has been somewhat compromised by the flurry these talks have generated and is working on getting the same message across in a way that doesn’t cause undue hard feelings while staying faithful to the message.
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Are you referring to Fr. Perrone? Have people complained about him? If the bishop is getting letters from people who have a problem with any priest conveying church teaching, they ought to congratulate him for doing his job. Society is in a mess and its because they “can’t handle the truth.”

Anyone who goes to church ought to expect admonishments from the pulpit.

Church is a hospital for sinners not a museum for saints. This means there should be lots of such talk from the pulpit.
 
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Isidore_AK:
Not to sound like a heathen, but I wear jeans & a T-shirt to mass every week. Its all I ever wear. I don’t even own a suit (nor do I have the money to spend $100+ dollars on a suit…if I could find one that cheap), I don’t have the money to spend more than maybe $10-$20 on a piece of clothing. I wear the cleanest, newest pair of blue jeans I own (I have 4 pairs of pants usually), and one of my better shirts, and a clean pair of tennis shoes (a pair for work & a pair for everywhere else).

I would prefer to dress up a bit, but its frankly beyond my means…and even if I did have a little more money, I have better places to spend it than on nice clothes. I have no problem with people dressing within their means (obviously), but I still think there should be some standards…people dressed in beach attire should change before mass. Flip-flops & shorts just don’t cut it at Mass. I also wish that the younger females would refrain from the tight tops & low cut tight pants…they’re too distracting. I do get offended by people who act like you have to wear a suit to mass…I’m doing the best I can, and spending hundreds on a nice suit is out of the question, not to mention the dry cleaning expenses, when you have $80 to buy food after paying your essential bills.

Attire should be clean, and in good repair. Not revealing or skimpy in any way. Shorts might be OK, depending on the style & length. This is what my Wife & I aspire to…
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I don’t think Father was suggesting that people show up in expensive suits and attire. I think what he meant is that some overly casual clothes are unnecessary for most people. I see nothing wrong with cotton slacks and a polo shirt for a man, with decent shoes that aren’t tennis shoes.

I myself just go in my cotton pants i wear for work and a simple top and decent shoes.
 
In Florida, many people think that they are on an eternal vacation, thus there is a plethora of casual dress in many places…our church, mainly senior citizens who grew up in the pre-Vatican church, still dress well for Sunday Mass…daily Mass has a few attendees ready to flock to the golf course or pool or exercise room, so we see shorts. Last summer, signs were posted on all the church doors and in the bulletin requesting proper dress. Our Pastor refers to modest dressing in homilies. The big problem is with the younger crowd, teens and pre-teens…but unfortunately, their parents never got the message and the attitude of “God should be happy that we are here”…prevails. Example is the best teacher. Blessings. :cool:
 
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mercygate:
I was there the first Sunday Fr. Eusebius arrived. He was outstanding!
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When did he arrive? I do like him too - although, I’m getting partial to all of the priests there. I think they are all good. No pun intended, but he has the face of a peaceful angel and the tranquility of a stoic contemplative. I say “pun” because his order does focus on the angels and they are contemplative.

I think he logs more hours in the confessional than any priest I’ve seen. He goes in there frequently outside of posted confession hours and people respond. I’ve never seen so many people go to confession like they do at the Grotto. This is good.
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mercygate:
I think that book was *Priest, *where Fr. Perrone is profiled in a whole chapter.
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Yes, he is in one of the 10 chapters in the book and his is entitled Overcoming Opposition from Within and Without. (Hit the link I provided and it shows you the book). I’ve read it and it is fascinating. Quite frankly, God was sneaky and lured me to the chapter to teach me a thing or two about my past. As I read the difficulties he went through as an orthodox Catholic, all I could think of were those times when I poked fun at people just like before shifting towards orthodoxy myself. Here I was, my ship sinking and in need of help and who do I turn to? An orthodox priest much like the kind I once ridiculed or made comments about. Needless to say, I was back in confession since God gave me plenty of flashbacks as I read the chapter. Guess who heard that confession! I felt awful and had to offload it and I couldn’t think of a better man to hear it. Yes, God is sneaky.

The book features “Portraits of Ten Good Men in the Priesthood Today” and I’m continuing to read. Great book!
 
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Isidore_AK:
Not to sound like a heathen, but I wear jeans & a T-shirt to mass every week. Its all I ever wear. I don’t even own a suit (nor do I have the money to spend $100+ dollars on a suit…if I could find one that cheap), I don’t have the money to spend more than maybe $10-$20 on a piece of clothing. I wear the cleanest, newest pair of blue jeans I own (I have 4 pairs of pants usually), and one of my better shirts, and a clean pair of tennis shoes (a pair for work & a pair for everywhere else).

I would prefer to dress up a bit, but its frankly beyond my means…and even if I did have a little more money, I have better places to spend it than on nice clothes. I have no problem with people dressing within their means (obviously), but I still think there should be some standards…people dressed in beach attire should change before mass. Flip-flops & shorts just don’t cut it at Mass. I also wish that the younger females would refrain from the tight tops & low cut tight pants…they’re too distracting. I do get offended by people who act like you have to wear a suit to mass…I’m doing the best I can, and spending hundreds on a nice suit is out of the question, not to mention the dry cleaning expenses, when you have $80 to buy food after paying your essential bills.

Attire should be clean, and in good repair. Not revealing or skimpy in any way. Shorts might be OK, depending on the style & length. This is what my Wife & I aspire to…
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My Easter Suit was 8.00 at Salvation Army.
 
netmil(name removed by moderator):
My Easter Suit was 8.00 at Salvation Army.
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I haven’t seen anything at Sally Anne’s that isn’t dated to the 70’s…and there’s no way I"m going to mass Disco style… 😃
 
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Isidore_AK:
I haven’t seen anything at Sally Anne’s that isn’t dated to the 70’s…and there’s no way I"m going to mass Disco style… 😃
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Really?
Ours has great clothes.
Mine was a classy creamy pink. I wore it again for my daughter’s First Communion.

However, in some modern parishes, Disco is more than appropriate. 😉
 
Shorts are a relatively “new” fashion item. People used to get along fine without wearing them, even before air-conditioning became standard. Today, in the most climate-controlled atmosphere ever available, people dress as if they are traversing the Sahara with nothing more than a palmetto fan.

I have absolutely no problem with someone attending a weekday mass dressed in blue jeans, work clothes or casual clothes. As a female, I prefer women to wear skirts or dresses, though I understand that many will not. But shorts, sleeveless shirts and tank tops (on either sex) are just not acceptable, in my opinion. I’m not a big flip-flop fan, but shoes aren’t really much of an issue to me. I’ve never yet been offended by someone’s foot thong. 😉

I do think that we ought to make an effort to dress up for Sunday mass. After all, Sunday mass is an obligation, whereas a weekday mass is not. However, the degree to which people dress up on Sunday will vary due to their personal financial circumstances. I certainly don’t think, though, that someone who wears a suit and tie for work should show up for mass in Dockers and a polo shirt.

Our priest as my TLM parish made another announcement on modesty recently, because of the hotter weather. He also mentioned that we should be concerned not only about how much flesh is exposed, but also how tight/figure-forming the clothes are. Many young women wear clothes that are “modest” by the standards of exposing flesh, but are so tight and form-fitting that they leave nothing to the imagination.
 
We must all remember that when we go to Mass, Our Lord is physically present in the tabernacle. Sure He created us and knows all of our bodies inside and out, but that doesnt mean that for that reason we should not dress properly. I dont live that far from a Baptist Church (and it is located in a poor part of town), but I have passed by there on some Sundays and see the ladies wearing hats, girls with clean pretty dresses, men and boys wearing suits and they dont even have Our Lord physically present!! The statement that “God doesnt care” is a lame excuse. Wearing shorts, sports jeans, tank tops, etc., just shows us what WE think of God. Lack of respect. (Is it any wonder that there is a lack of respect in the Eucharist?) Many people make the excuse, especially if they are on vacation that they are going to the beach or just came from the beach etc. Well??? If you knew you were going to some ritzy night club while on vacation, would you leave your suit behind and go to that club in shorts and flip-flops? No, you would pack your suit. So while on vacation, if its going to be a Sunday, pack some good clothes for mass, for crying out loud. Many people will think about mass only as the last item on their agenda. Or, will go ONLY if they have the time.

Our priest and deacon do bring it up on occassion during the homily.

I still remember as a child that during a wedding, the priest made the best man take off his coat and put it around the brides shoulders because she was wearing a low-cut wedding dress. Another time, another priest made the altar boy go to the sacristy and bring some tissues for this lady and made her remove some of the lip-stick before he gave her communion because she had so much make-up on she looked terrible.

We may not act or be disrespectful to Our Lord in our hearts when we wear jogging shorts to mass, however, the Bible warns us about giving scandal. And it’s scandalous to reveal too much in what we wear to mass.
 
I know that some claim they dont have $$ to buy dress pants and can only afford jeans. Heck, they arent cheap either. So next time you go buy clothes buy one pair of jeans and one pair of dress pants to wear on Sundays. Make it a sacrifice for Our Lord.
 
Funny you should talk about Sunday mass in Detroit. I was in St. Joseph’s Church in Howell on Sunday at the noon mass. Again another church with no air. We were dying. But the priest said, just like yours, that if you think your hot, try standing in my shoes. Everyone felt bad for him because we knew how we felt and could only image how hot he was (it was more noticable because he had to wipe his brow a number of times). Anyway, we don’t wear shorts to mass, never did, never will. No sleeveless shirts, no tank tops, no short skirts. But, my 4 year old can wear shorts. Nice dress shorts with a nice polo shirt and nice clean shoes. I don’t think it is fair to bake him when he can’t fully grasp the concept. I probably allow him to until he makes his First Communion, after that he joins the Eucharist Sweat Club.
 
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dsproule:
. But, my 4 year old can wear shorts. Nice dress shorts with a nice polo shirt and nice clean shoes. I don’t think it is fair to bake him when he can’t fully grasp the concept. I probably allow him to until he makes his First Communion, after that he joins the Eucharist Sweat Club.
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A little boy in shorts is the most darling thing on Earth!!! (can you tell I only had girls?)
 
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dsproule:
But, my 4 year old can wear shorts. Nice dress shorts with a nice polo shirt and nice clean shoes. I don’t think it is fair to bake him when he can’t fully grasp the concept. I probably allow him to until he makes his First Communion, after that he joins the Eucharist Sweat Club.
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Last Sunday a little boy about that age came into Mass dressed in khaki shorts, white shirt, tie, blue blazer and carrying his beanie. Looked like a picture from the 1930’s. I couldn’t help but smile.
 
I agree the excuse “god doesn’t care what I wear to Mass” is lame.

However, If someone can’t afford Sunday clothes for their family they should attend dressed as nice as they can. Their Priest will understand as should the parishioners.

I still say no shorts.
.

TJD
 
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