Catholic headcovering?

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There are usually 1-3 women wearing a veil at our parish at the Mass I attend.
 
Most women cover their heads now because it helps them focus more/sign of reverence/makes them feel more feminine/pious/etc rather than helping poor Tom at the back pew, tbh.

Of course hair is part of attraction, I was focusing more on lust in that post, lol. I don’t think hair is inherently attractive though. I am sure I can put my hair in such a way that would make guys blind. (which is why I don’t understand the Muslim practice of hijabs that much).
 
Lea101 said:
Headcoverings can be for modesty but veiling today has hardly anything to do with modesty tbh.

It’s white/black lace, loosely draped over the head. Some women place napkins over their heads if they forget a veil.

(I’ve never ever heard of a man in today’s culture who would be aroused at hair, that is honestly quite creepy/weird to me)
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It was never about arousal. It was about virginity.

Long hair was a sign of virginity, purity. That’s why part of the punishment of a protsitute in later centuries was to cut her hair short

The vail and head covering was a symbolic representation of chasity because it was symbolic of long hair.

Yes - there was laws out in to place around head coverings, but that’s where they came from
 
Lea101 said:
Most women cover their heads now because it helps them focus more/sign of reverence/makes them feel more feminine/pious/etc rather than helping poor Tom at the back pew, tbh.

Of course hair is part of attraction, I was focusing more on lust in that post, lol. I don’t think hair is inherently attractive though. I am sure I can put my hair in such a way that would make guys blind. (which is why I don’t understand the Muslim practice of hijabs that much).
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Female head covering was always about femininity piousness, reverence, etc

Again, because head coverings is not about keeping guys from lusting after women, the head covering a symbolic for chasity.

A women who covers her head sends a message to men that she is chaste (whether she is or isn’t).

Head covering stopped being required in church when society no longer viewed women in society as unchaste for simply not covering her hair.
 
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Chantelle1989g said:
No. Men have a different set of rules. Men must NOT cover head in church, huge faux pas, but women can and do cover. Both are done for respect, just opposite actions.
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Well… laymen used to be able to wear a black zucchetto like Priests still have the option to wear today.

I think he reason men can’t / don’t wear head coverings is more because it’s culturally considered disrespectful and ill mannered for a man to wear a hat indoors.

(Or at least it was until Generation X came along)
 
I think i misinterpreted your statement regarding modesty as an attack on the veil itself. My apologies.
And “Patriarchy” has become a loaded term, synonymous with oppression. I do not hold to the belief that Biblical patriarchy is by design oppressive.
 
I guess it depends on the woman. Besides the fact that people can’t agree on what biblical patriarchy is (eg do women work, can they teach men etc), some women just don’t want any of it. I can’t seem to fully accept it although I would not align myself with the current feminist movement. Some would want a stronger patriarchy, others weaker.

I wasn’t putting down the movement, I just don’t do it personally but I honestly don’t care if others do it. I think it can look really pretty too
 
In the mass I usually go to, out of maybe 50 people there are usually at least one or two wearing some kind of head covering. One older lady always does, and then some girls (16-20something) occasionally do.
 
Lea101 said:
(I’ve never ever heard of a man in today’s culture who would be aroused at hair, that is honestly quite creepy/weird to me)
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The female head coverings in past times probably also had the secondary purpose of keeping all kinds of dust, dirt, desert sand etc. out of the lady’s hair. It’s likely that a lot of ladies didn’t have ready access to water or bathing facilities to be washing dirt out of their long, uncut hair on a daily basis, even in cultures like the Roman Empire where baths weren’t considered unhealthy. My own hair is only shoulder length and I live in a much cleaner climate, yet my hair is still a total dust mop.
 
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Throughout most of the history of the Church women covered their heads. While covering of heads may not seem to be modest we can see in the West as covering of the head was abandoned so was modesty. So there does seem to be a strong connection.
 
I wore a veil to a rural OF mass the other day for the first time and was surprised to find how connected I felt. There’s something about it. It definitely humbles me. It’s not about modesty, really. It leaves one with a sense of unworthiness. As though I’m not worthy to show myself before God. That then reminds me that God is truly present.

It also helps me to block out distractions. The lace folds around my face in a way where it’s kind of hard to see what’s going on beside me.

Every time I become nervous about the judgement i will receive wearing a veil to an OF mass, I think of Jesus and what He expects of me. I am also reminded of St. Padre Pio’s rules. Every woman who entered his church was strictly required to wear a head covering.

I have never seen anyone wear a veil before at an OF mass besides the wife and daughters of an ex Anglican priest. He gave phenomenal sermons.
 
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My parish has 5 Sunday Masses. I’ve seen maybe four ladies, all ages, who veil and several who wear stylish hats. Glad you asked this question as I’ve been thinking about it.
 
It’s not the hair that’s arousing per se. Most haircuts are designed to draw attention to the most attractive parts of the face (e.g. big ears can be concealed, maybe a long forehead is covered). So overall the haircut compliments the face to make it more attractive. Or put another way, the face appears more plain when the hair is not visible.
 
Over the last couple of years, I have wanted to wear a Mantilla. There are a couple of women who wear them a Mass. One lady had an issue with her Mantilla whilst given out communion. It became displaced forward and had almost covered her face and stayed that way until she finished

It reminded me of the days when I had to wear the nurses hat aka doily, if I bent down to get something the darn thing would become displaced on my head. No matter how many hair pins I used it still moved and obscured my vision.
 
In Proverbs we read about the wife of noble character, a woman who runs the family business, buys and sells property, all while raising the kids. And no discussion of the Judges of Israel is complete without Deborah, a woman who stepped up into a male leadership role and led Israel, even to battle.
And from what I’ve heard (still not Catholic) the Theotokos taught Christian pilgrims about her son right up until her death.
The point is Biblical patriarchy cannot function without strong women because God designed it that way. A woman might not be able to be a priest, but a man likewise cannot be an Abbess. A woman can’t be a father but a man can’t be a mother. To quote My Big Fat Greek Wedding: the man is the head but the woman is the neck, and she can turn him any way she wishes. 😉
 
@Chantelle1989g

Few do ware at Mass

1 Corinthians 11;6,10 For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, she should wear a veil. For this reason a woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels
 
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It is less about modesty (in the covering sense) and more about femininity and humility.
 
I have to say that no picture from the 50s and early 60s in my parish shows any female “veiling”. What you see are hats, kerchiefs, scarves, and, in winter, fur hats and knit head coverings of various kinds. The mantilla shown in the first picture made its appearance sometime in the mid 60s and was considered by older women an easy way to have something on hand to cover your head in compliance with a rule. The older teens considered it a fashion accessory.

I don’t recall any discussion of modesty in relation with the “cover your head in church” rule. It simply was one rule among several with which you automatically complied (three hour fast before Communion, genuflection before entering your pew, etc.) without questioning why.
 
adamhovey1988 said:
why can’t a Muslim concept exist in other cultures? Monotheism doesn’t only exist in Christian cultures. What specifically makes it a Muslim concept? Head coverings existed before the Advent of Islam.
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Certainly. And Christian women of the Middle East cover their heads when in the church, but not outside of it. In parts of India, it is a sign of respect, whether one is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian to cover one’s head in the presence of elders, as well as sacred places. In Eastern Europe it is a custom still retained among many, for married women to wear a scarf on her head.
 
I do. I don’t wear a veil, though. Usually a wide headband and occasionally a hat.

In my parish we have me, a mother and daughter from one family, another family in which the mother always wears a scarf and the daughters sometimes wear veils and one woman wears a hat. A few women either wear a headcovering occasionally or have tried it and not continued. I go to a very small parish so this represents about 15% of the grown women.
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