I don’t have any idea what your clean, presentable clothing looks like, so please don’t take this as a personal criticism; I just want to comment on supposedly the priest “overstepping his authority.”
The priest is the liturgist, the presider. As such, he actually is very much within his authority to be particular about (a) which lectors read at his Mass; (b) how those lectors dress, (c) whether EMHC’s will be used, and how many, & whether there are dress requirements for them; (d) what kind of music he will allow & disallow; (e) how seasoned any altar servers must be; (f) what the Offertory intentions will be; (g) when, & how many, announcements will be made.
IOW, he can specify that any lay participating ministers who do not have proper dress, or do not want to wear proper dress, are ones which do not serve at Masses presided over by him. Now, as a practical matter, most priests – including assistant pastors, occasional guest priests, or rare visitors – tend to abide by the existing customs of that parish, in keeping with what the pastor has decided. But in my experience, lay ministers who enjoy their roles tend to comply willingly with mandates because it’s important enough to them to be included. So in one parish in which I participate in different roles, the pastor allows no jeans for anyone serving in ministerial roles in Mass. Men wear khakis or other non-denim pants, and non-athletic shoes. Female ministers also wear skirts or pants, no jeans. Mass-goers wear whatever, and I’ve never heard of anyone being taken aside. Young people on various committees making announcements at the end are often in jeans.
I also have tremendous respect for this pastor because the lectors are so very well prepared & read so beautifully; it’s clear that he insists on that. And he himself prepares his homilies beautifully and truly loves the scripture, which shows. (Hence his requirements for himself & his lectors when it comes to the reverence for the word of God, in oral preparation and in personal appearance.)
Nice reference! 