Do you feel more at ease with priests/religious who wear street clothes?

[Eric_Olsen]

Would you feel more comfortable having a physical done by a doctor who instead of wearing a lab coat, wore street clothes?



So why would I prefer to confess my sins to a guy in blue jeans?

Holy Orders is a special sacrament.
If you are ordained then you should dress the part.
Obviously if the priest/nun can’t where clericals if they are on the beach swimming, etc. But if you are out on the street, why should you be ashamed to wear clericals? I remember when I was little I used to see far more nuns and priests in their clericals than today.

 

[lizaanne]

Growing up around the Church, and with Priests in my family, I can tell you this…Priests (and nuns) are people too!

Yes - but not just ordinary people.

Yes, they took the Sacrement of Holy Orders. But that does not make them zombie-robots.

This is absolutely insulting to those priests and religious who wear their clerical garb exclusively and devoutly.

Don’t you think it gets old, having the apple-polishers come around all the time? Don’t you think it gets old, that everyone that sees them in “clerical dress” feels the need to carry on conversation limited to church or religion?

Any good priest or religious would consider such OPPORTUNITIES a chance to share their Faith. And not an intrusion.

Think about it…

They can’t hang out with guys, or they’re accused of being gay.

This is extremely twisted thinking - I know priests who “hang out” with male friends and parishioners while dressed in clerical garb, and I doubt very seriously any of these men are afraid of ridiculous suspicions like this. That is playing into the hands of a sick and twisted society.

They can’t hang out with gals, or they’re accused of having an affair.

And why would a priest WANT to “hang out” with gals? That does not sound like appropriate behavior for a priest, regardless of what he’s wearing.

They can’t hang out with parishoners, or they’re accused of showing favoritism.

Again - this is petty and childish. If a priest can’t handle scuttlebutt in his parish, taking off his cassock and collar is not going to fix that.

Sometimes, their only escape is their families, or getting into street clothes and getting out a little and hoping they aren’t recognized.

Ok - now this one gets me hot… ESCAPE??? What priest needs to ESCAPE from serving God!!! Such priests needed to more seriously consider their vocation BEFORE ordination if this is a problem for them.

Several months ago, I was on a service call at a supermarket in a nearby town. I saw one of our priests there, in jeans, sweatshirt, and ball cap. I deliberately avoided him, but our eyes met, and you could see it in his eyes…“dang, I just can’t escape…”

I feel very sorry for him that he is ashamed of his vocation. There are others in society who can’t “escape” either - the guy who does the sports on the news, the mayor, the local politician. But those are jobs - not vocations. There is a distinct difference you seem to not realize. You just don’t take off the collar and become “not a priest” for awhile.

Give 'em a break. You expect them to be perfect, and in perpetual prayer. You make your expectations so high, they can’t help but not meet them.

I never ever expect anything of the sort. I expect them, however, to be proud to serve God at all times - even when they are broken, sinful, and human. I am not the one who tells them what bar they need to meet, they set that bar for themselves when they took their vows.

Off my soapbox

Thank goodness, and hope you stay there.

~Liza

 

[mford]

Lizzaane !

 

[Deborah_Kloos]

Priests and nuns made a commitment to live a consecrated life, set apart from others. They need to wear the clothing that identifies them as clergy when they are on duty. The clerical clothing is a special indicator that these people dedicate their lives to God and can be trusted by people. When the priest or nun has a day off then they should be able to dress casually. They have free time too so they should be able to dress comfortable like anyone else.

 

[anamchara]

What about if a priest is swimming?
youtube.com/watch?v=pc2x7omMXSQ

that was funny.

I guess it depends on where we are. I wouldn’t like a priest wearing regular clothes while doing his job. I do expect them to have their collar on while at Church events as well i.e crab feeds etc…hmm maybe I do like it better if they always them. I don’t know now :shrug:I’ll have to think more on it. excuse this rambling post.

 

[Uncle_Norbert]

We’re running out of priests, plain and simple. Bury your heads in your archaic ways if you must.

I wonder how many of you that expect so much from your priests and nuns are willing to live that life yourself. You didn’t, did you?

Why does one priest cover two to three parishes all over the country, when we used to have two to three priests per parish? Why are so many of them from foreign countries?

Bark at me all you like, it’s called “shooting the messenger”. You can’t deny the reality that Holy Orders is not attracting an adequate following. So, what do you propose as a solution?

Insist that your clergy be always “properly attired” in your mind?

Yah, that’s the ticket.

 

[lizaanne]

We’re running out of priests, plain and simple. Bury your heads in your archaic ways if you must.

Archaic ways? So what’s next, throwing out the Eucharist as well? What do we need that for anyway - we can dance around and pray, that should be sufficient.

I wonder how many of you that expect so much from your priests and nuns are willing to live that life yourself. You didn’t, did you?

No - and that’s why it is a VOCATION, and not a job. One is called to the life, they don’t just answer an ad in the paper as many do for their jobs.

Why does one priest cover two to three parishes all over the country, when we used to have two to three priests per parish? Why are so many of them from foreign countries?

Because this country (USA) has been culturally and spiritually raped by just plain bad timing and the twisting and distortion of Vatican II.

Bark at me all you like, it’s called “shooting the messenger”. You can’t deny the reality that Holy Orders is not attracting an adequate following. So, what do you propose as a solution?

I propose that priests start acting like priests, nuns like nuns, and they will be the living breathing examples for our young people to follow in their steps.

Insist that your clergy be always “properly attired” in your mind?

Yah, that’s the ticket.

Actually - I do believe that that IS the ticket. There are convents where the sisters wear the full habit and they are bursting at the seams with young women wanting to join their order (sorry, can’t recall the name of the order this moment). They are inspired by the life these holy women lead, not by the fact that they can wear jeans at the park, or when they have “days off”. I’m sorry - I don’t take a day off from being a wife, priests and religious don’t take days off from their vocations either.

~Liza

 

[mford]

I would suspect it precisely because in the late 60’s and 70’s priests and nuns have ‘hung up’ the habit and clerics and opted for street clothes and a secular way of life that resulted in the vocations crisis of the late 20th century. But that trend is reversing and it is primarily the example of zelous religious who embrace their vocation, wear the clothes proper to their religious affiliation that the seminaries and convents are once again seeing increased numbers. Uncle Norbert 's arguments seem a bit out of step with the trends in the Church and the new JPII generation of priests and religious.

 

[Uncle_Norbert]

How many of you actually know a priest or a nun PERSONALLY and in depth…not through the Church?

mmmmmmmm…if you did, you might see it differently.

Have it your way. Who’s gonna do your Benediction 20 years from now? You’ll be lucky if you get a Mass instead of a Communinon Service.

I’d rather have a priest in jeans and cowboy boots, than no priest at all.

God doen’t care what you wear, he cares what’s in your heart. You’re focused on clothes, I want PRIESTS around in 20 years.

 

[lizaanne]

I want PRIESTS around in 20 years.

I do as well - we actually agree on something!

However - I want priests who are living breathing examples of the vows they have made. Not someone I would pass on the street and not even notice.

I think it is a sad sad thing that (some) priests and religious feel their appearance doesn’t mean anything. But I think that is finally starting to change with the young men coming out of seminary now. Yes - they are fewer in number, but from what I’ve experienced, they are full of zeal and holiness, and are just dying to wear that collar, and some even a biretta if they are able. May God bless them for that - and I do believe He will.

~Liza

 

[Uncle_Norbert]

It’s not a matter of feeling comfortable. But I take them more seriously when they were their habbits or clerics.

Maybe they don’t always WANT to be “taken seriously”, as in treated like a priest…sometimes they just want to be treated like a PERSON.

A well-known priest in our diocese had long hair, a bushy beard, and rode around on a motorcycle…and he was a FABULOUS and VERY SPIRITUAL and DEVOUT priest. He headed up many encounter weekends and such.

 

[edward_george]

I know a good number of priests “in depth” as you say, because I live about 200 yards from a monastery. It’s a Benedictine house that runs my college, and the monks all have a lot of contact with the students. All the monks also proudly wear their habits (and the priests sometimes wear clerical shirts instead) as they go about their prayer and work. It makes them visible witnesses of the life of evangelical perfection, and thus attracts vocations–their numbers are slowly, but steadily increasing, mostly due to the fact that even though a lot of the kind of thinking that you’re expositing negatively influenced them and their whole order in the 70s, they stuck to their guns and remained Catholic. They really don’t see wearing the habit as any big deal, and in fact most of them tend to view it as a privilege. Two of the brothers will profess solemn vows this weekend and be invested with the final piece of the habit, the monastic cowl, and knowing them as I do, I am certain that they both will appreciate the significance of it and wear it (when appropriate) as a reminder of their commitment to God.

I also have an uncle who is a priest, and he wears his clericals a lot of the time–even though he is retired, and even when he is home visiting his family. So yes, I do know a number of priests really well. The kind of priests that don’t like wearing clericals or reject them for the reasons that you do are not the kind of priests likely to foster vocations–it wasn’t until I came to my college in a far more orthodox diocese (where priests still wear cassocks, even) that I began to seriously consider a vocation. My own diocese (where priests not only don’t make use of the cassock, but some even look down on those who do) has a major vocations crisis; no vocations have come out of my parish in over 30 years.

All in all, wearing clericals is a sign that one is serious about his vocation as a priest. I currently am discerning, and I for one am one of those that Liza describes as eager to wear the cassock and collar–It is a tremendous honor to wear those, but also a sign of great responsibility, and I anxiously await the opportunity to take on that responsibility.

-ACEGC

 

[Uncle_Norbert]

Lizanne sezs:

Ok - now this one gets me hot… ESCAPE??? What priest needs to ESCAPE from serving God!!! Such priests needed to more seriously consider their vocation BEFORE ordination if this is a problem for them.

Oh, come on now…even devoted stay at home mothers need a break. EVERYONE needs (and often takes) a break now and then. Maybe some hide it better than others.

My late uncle was a very devout and dedicated priest. His “escape” was to come out to our house on Sunday afternoons.

Sometimes he would read his breviary while there. But he was able to do so without countless interruptions from people who thought he was to do nothing but sit around in a cassock in prayer, waiting for them to come in with their questions and concerns.

He took me to countless Cubs games, to the Milwaukee Zoo, to Starved Rock State Park, to the beach at Zion, and numerous other places.

We talked about almost anything BUT religion. Priesthood is a VOCATION, not a VACUUM.

He always had a model train layout in the basement of his rectory, until his final assginment was a church whos rectory didn’t have a basement. That’s when he gave his trains to me. It turned into a lifetime hobby pursuit.

If I see my priest out and about, in street clothes, I recognize him, don’t you?

 

[edward_george]

Sometimes he would read his breviary while there. But he was able to do so without countless interruptions from people who thought he was to do nothing but sit around in a cassock in prayer, waiting for them to come in with their questions and concerns.

I think you’re setting up a strawman in all of this. I am yet to encounter a Catholic who thinks that the priest “sits around all day in prayer waiting for them to come in with their questions and concerns.” Even the Benedictines here, most of whom are 70+ years old, get out and do work in the parishes nearby. One of them, a Cuban, says Mass at a Hispanic parish close by. Another (who is well past 75) fills in for diocesan priests when they are out of town or whatever.

I think the strawman you’re setting up here is that the people who think that priests should wear their clericals see priests as superhuman, and demand a whole lot of their priests. On the one hand, a lot is expected of priests by the Church. On the other, I know of no Catholic who demands as much of a priest as you say people do. I also know of no priests who don’t get a break every once in a while; canon law provides priests a month of vacation every year, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Even the monks here can take vacation occasionally. They need to rest too, just like the rest of us. What I’m saying is that when any other person is “on duty,” he wears the clothes appropriate to his position–a policeman wears his uniform, for example. A priest, by virtue of the ontological change brought about by the sacrament of Holy Orders, is always “on duty.” He doesn’t stop being a priest simply by going off the clock at the end of the day. He must continually be a sign of Christian witness and above all–of rejection of worldliness. That is the whole significance of the black coloring of clerical clothing. Black symbolizes that the priest has died to the world and put on Christ.

-ACEGC

 

[Uncle_Norbert]

I’ve seen the word “strawman” bandied about on these forums before. Though I thought I had the “gist” of the term, I guess I really don’t. Please elaborate.

So, in your words, a Priest is on duty 24/7?, unless he is on his Canon-allowed vacation?

As I read some of these posts, and from other observation, I DO believe that many Catholics see their priests as “superhuman” in regard to their attitudes that they’re supposed to be “on duty” and “properly attired” practically 24/7.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not advocating “watering down” of the priesthood, but on the other hand, some folks need to realize that they are human beings as well.

I’m reminded of a speech I heard Colin Powell make several years ago, where he stated “I’m not a Black General, I’m a General who happens to be Black.”

These are “Men who happen to be Priests”, not “Priests who happen to be Men.”

You gotta let them come up for air and breathe a little now and then, and let them enjoy the beauty that is life. To do so is not a rejection or watering down of their vocation. It can be a form of appreciation for the sacrifices they DO make.

 

[Eilish_Maura]

Growing up around the Church, and with Priests in my family, I can tell you this…Priests (and nuns) are people too!

Yes, they took the Sacrement of Holy Orders. But that does not make them zombie-robots.

Don’t you think it gets old, having the apple-polishers come around all the time? Don’t you think it gets old, that everyone that sees them in “clerical dress” feels the need to carry on conversation limited to church or religion?

Think about it…

They can’t hang out with guys, or they’re accused of being gay.

They can’t hang out with gals, or they’re accused of having an affair.

They can’t hang out with parishoners, or they’re accused of showing favoritism.

Sometimes, their only escape is their families, or getting into street clothes and getting out a little and hoping they aren’t recognized.

Several months ago, I was on a service call at a supermarket in a nearby town. I saw one of our priests there, in jeans, sweatshirt, and ball cap. I deliberately avoided him, but our eyes met, and you could see it in his eyes…“dang, I just can’t escape…”

Give 'em a break. You expect them to be perfect, and in perpetual prayer. You make your expectations so high, they can’t help but not meet them.

Off my soapbox

Great post - thanks for sharing your experiences!

 

[lizaanne]

…the beauty that is life.

What ever happened to the beauty that is our Faith, and the beauty of eternity with Christ?

You seem to want a priesthood that is part time, only “on” when the collar is on, and the rest of the time is just any regular Joe. I’m sorry, but that’s not what a vocation is. And besides, motherhood is not a vocation, it is a role and a responsibility, Marriage is the vocation.

~Liza

 

[ElizabethAnne]

You gotta let them come up for air and breathe a little now and then, and let them enjoy the beauty that is life. To do so is not a rejection or watering down of their vocation. It can be a form of appreciation for the sacrifices they DO make.

Uncle Norbert,

What I really don’t understand is why a priest/religious can’t enjoy the beauty of life while wearing their clerical garb/habit. I would never say that these men and women should wear their “vocational” clothing every waking moment, but I believe it should be their main attire. In my diocese it is the older sisters and priests who only wear their vocational clothing on an extremely rare basis.

 

[FrCorey]

all joking aside thou, we must wear our “work” clothes 24 hours, we work 24 hours and should always be in clerics or cassock or habit. like in the commerical I posted a link to, he did put back on his clerical shirt after swimming. same as I would take off my cassock before going in the pool, but after I am out and dry, back into my cassock. we are working 24 hours a day all the time.

Being a priest is not a job, it’s a life style.

 

[Uncle_Norbert]

What ever happened to the beauty that is our Faith, and the beauty of eternity with Christ?

You seem to want a priesthood that is part time, only “on” when the collar is on, and the rest of the time is just any regular Joe. I’m sorry, but that’s not what a vocation is. And besides, motherhood is not a vocation, it is a role and a responsibility, Marriage is the vocation.

~Liza

The priesthood is anything but a part-time gig. I wouldn’t begin to claim that. But it can be suffocating. Not because of the Church, but because of the people. And, people are human, and CAN be a real pain-in-the-butt sometimes. Thankfully, their prayer and perseverance carries them through.

All I’m saying is maybe a good priest is more like a flower than a mushroom. He’s not a “regular Joe”, for sure, but he IS a “Joe”, no? Wandering around Albertson’s in street clothes on your time off isn’t a sin, or disrespecting the priesthood. Let them out of their offices and churches, and let them enjoy the sunshine

PS, some moms might take you to task for the vocation/responsibility quote