Can a traditional priest wear a clergy shirt?

[bben15]

Below is a picture of an FSSP priest working in Africa. Are FSSP priests allowed to wear clergy shirts? It gets very hot in Nigeria, so I was wondering if he is allowed to swap his cassock for a short-sleeved clergy shirt? Does the FSSP allow this? If not, I feel sorry for him. He must be very hot.

remnantnewspaper.com/images/fssp-priest-2.jpg

God bless you for answering my question.

 

[YoungTradCath]

I’ve never heard of it. Besides, if it is so hot, they can buy white cassocks.

 

[malphono]

I suppose one would have to ask the FSSP, but considering that they seem to wear suits at times, I would guess the shirt might be acceptable.

Besides, if it is so hot, they can buy white cassocks.

Yes, indeed. That’s the way it was traditionally dealt with in warm climates, and it still seems to be relatively common. Even for bishops.

 

[PacoG]

We have an FSSP priest “in residence” in our parish (he is assigned to the hospital chaplaincy in the three hospitals in our city). The two or three times I have seen him, he’s in a black suit and white color (and here in South Texas it gets extremely hot this time of year…before we got a strange out-of-season cool front yesterday, we had 45 consecutive days of 100+ weather).

 

[George_Stegmeir]

Priests in tropical areas were know to wear short sleeved shirts with the Roman Collar well before Vatican II. I saw this as a boy in South Florida in the 1940’s and in the Phillipines in the 1960’s.
What difference does it make anyway? They were clearly identified as priests.

 

[CatholicGuy22]

Yeah of course! As a priest you have to be practical too. A black cassock will only slow you down in hot temperatures. If your job requires moving around a lot than I see nothing wrong with wearing a clerical shirt. The cassock is not appropriate in all situations.

 

[R_C]

I believe FSSP always wears the cassock. When this means heat and it bothers, they offer it as a sacrifice.

To be clear: priests are not doing anything illicit when they wear something other that the cassock. These priests have a given charism, and they keep up with it. Just like some religious orders have a specific habit.

 

[L_Marshall]

Yes. The custom varies by country though.

Before the 1950’s in America, and also the UK, it was common for priests to wear the cassock while on church grounds, but change into a clerical suit when leaving.

This differs from predominately Catholic countries, where it was common for Catholic priests to wear the cassock all the time.

Clerical apparel is decided by the local bishop’s conference, and sometimes it is necessary to ditch the cassock.

In Mexico, during anti-clerical regimes, priests were forced to wear civilian clothing outside the church, or else they risked punishment or violence. This is why you see picture of the Cristo Rey martyrs who were priests wearing civilian clothing.

In more modern settings: sometimes priests are asked not to wear their cassock when visiting prisoners, because it would be very easy for a prisoner to reach through the bar and grab hold of a corner of the expansive garment, easier than it would be if the priest was wearing a clerical suit.

Likewise, sometimes cassocks are forbidden in hospitals because it would be very easy to have it contaminated if a corner were to drift into some bodily fluid, or touch some other contaminated object.

While it’s very nice to see a priest in the cassock, and it’s a wonderful reminder of our Catholic identity, sometimes it has to be laid aside so that a priest can minister more effectively.