Dress Code??

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Ray98362

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I haven’t attended mass in a long time and am not currently a member of a parish.
While looking online at local area Churches to join, I came across one with a dress code.

*DRESS CODE - Out of respect for the Most Blessed Sacrament, and for your fellow parishioners, please observe the following standards of dress in church:
· Jeans, shorts, “flip flops” and other casual attire are inappropriate at church services.
· Women and girls must cover their heads with a suitable hat or veil (I Cor. 11:5,6,10). Chapel veils are available for loan in the vestibule.
· Women and girls must wear dresses or skirts that cover the knee completely when sitting or standing. Slacks, sleeveless tops and tight or low-cut clothing do not meet the norm of Christian modesty.
· Men and boys should wear suit coats and ties.
· Tee shirts are not acceptable; please wear a collared shirt.
*
:confused:
I’m not writing this to knock a practice, but in my mind this is a church concentrating on the wrong things.
Shouldn’t it be much more important to be at mass, rather than how you’re dressed?
Has this become a common practice during my absence from the church?
 
Ray98362 said:
I’m not writing this to knock a practice, but in my mind this is a church concentrating on the wrong things.
Shouldn’t it be much more important to be at mass, rather than how you’re dressed?
Has this become a common practice during my absence from the church?
Click to expand...
No. While I certainly agree that people should put a bit more thought into how they dress for Mass, most parishes are not making a big deal of it. They certainly aren;t requiring people to dress more formally than they dress for work on a typical day or forbidding women from wearing slacks.

This sounds like the type of dress-code that might be required at a parish offering the traditional Latin Mass (approved by the diocese), or even at a schismatic group that rejects Vatican II and the current liturgy. I would suggest looking into whether this parish is in communion with your local bishop before attending.
 
I’m sorry, but that’s just ridiculous. If people here (Canada) were to do that, the attendance rate would plummet simply because there is no way women would want to get out in the cold in a dress or a skirt!
 
Is that a Roman Catholic parish, or is it maybe a very traditional, conservative church, or Eastern Orthodox church?

Although there will be plenty of people here who say that’s the way it should be, it’s not the way it is in most places. If you go to a Latin Mass, you might want to wear a headcovering, but it doesn’t have to be a mantilla or chapel veil. You can wear any kind of hat (well, not like a baseball cap or something goofy) that suits the season. My parish has both English and Latin Mass every weekend, and I usually go to an English Mass. When I go to the Latin, I don’t wear a head covering and I always wear pants – I don’t think I own a dress or skirt anymore – and they don’t turn me away at Communion. I can’t kneel, and I feel very conspicuous at the Latin Mass (especially Communion), so it’s rare for me to go.

Dress like you would to go someplace “nice”. If you wear nice, clean, untorn or patched, pressed jeans, and a decent shirt, you’re ok. I like to see people dress up a little for church, but I think dressing modestly and respectfully is the key. I usually wear clothes that are a couple steps up from what I wear to work. My litmus test is whether or not my little old Italian grandmother would approve of my outfit.
 
I love dress codes…I wish we had them where I am. As a concession I do agree that in colder climates it could be a bit uncomfortable for women to wear dresses, but there are ways to do it and still remain warm.
 
Great! What’s wrong with dressing up to go to church? When I was growing up, everyone worn coats and ties and the women worn dresses or skirts. Everyone looked fine. I never saw anyone die because they dressed up. I still wear a suit to church and I’m about the only one that does. I think it’s the right thing to do and I’m not interested in being a follower of those that dress down to attend church.
 
I found this in doing a search, the rest can be viewed in the link provided:

I will have respect for His house and His other guests. My attire should reflect my belief that I am a temple of the Holy Spirit, since it is His Spirit that gives us life, and should not be a distraction to my fellow brothers and sisters. It should encourage others to view me as God’s temple and not as a sex object.

This belief should shape my dress and conduct not only in church (where the presence of God should be uppermost in my mind) but anywhere I go, and even what I do in private where the only one who sees what I do is God.

catholicnews-tt.net/joomla/index.php?view=article&catid=42%3Aviewpoint&id=201%3Avpt080209&tmpl=component&print=1&page=&option=com_content&Itemid=68
 
ricko said:
Great! What’s wrong with dressing up to go to church? When I was growing up, everyone worn coats and ties and the women worn dresses or skirts. Everyone looked fine. I never saw anyone die because they dressed up. I still wear a suit to church and I’m about the only one that does. I think it’s the right thing to do and I’m not interested in being a follower of those that dress down to attend church.
Click to expand...
Please don’t think that I believe people shouldn’t be presentable and modest in dress at Church. It’s just that IMHO that dress code takes it a little too far. I believe a church should have a more welcoming environment and be welcoming of any worshiper. Not all church goers can afford to have “finery” to dress themselves in.
 
Ray98362 said:
I haven’t attended mass in a long time and am not currently a member of a parish.
While looking online at local area Churches to join, I came across one with a dress code.

DRESS CODE - Out of respect for the Most Blessed Sacrament, and for your fellow parishioners, please observe the following standards of dress in church:
· Jeans, shorts, “flip flops” and other casual attire are inappropriate at church services.
· Women and girls must cover their heads with a suitable hat or veil (I Cor. 11:5,6,10). Chapel veils are available for loan in the vestibule.
· Women and girls must wear dresses or skirts that cover the knee completely when sitting or standing. Slacks, sleeveless tops and tight or low-cut clothing do not meet the norm of Christian modesty.
· Men and boys should wear suit coats and ties.
· Tee shirts are not acceptable; please wear a collared shirt.

:confused:
I’m not writing this to knock a practice, but in my mind this is a church concentrating on the wrong things.
Shouldn’t it be much more important to be at mass, rather than how you’re dressed?
Has this become a common practice during my absence from the church?
Click to expand...
I agree with you. The person’s heart is more important than his clothes. In 1 Sam 16:7 God told Samuel not to look upon appearance as a basis for making judgements. I wonder if a homeless man came to this church, how would he be treated.
 
ricko said:
Great! What’s wrong with dressing up to go to church? When I was growing up, everyone worn coats and ties and the women worn dresses or skirts. Everyone looked fine. I never saw anyone die because they dressed up. I still wear a suit to church and I’m about the only one that does. I think it’s the right thing to do and I’m not interested in being a follower of those that dress down to attend church.
Click to expand...
If I wore a suit to church in the summer, the people around me would drown in my sweat. The fact is that I don’t even own a suit. Should I skip mass? Please don’t tell me to buy one because I only have a part-time job that pays barely more than minimum wage and my wife is unemployed and disabled.
 
I don’t necasarrily agree with everything in that code, nor enforcing at as absolute (although I don’t think there is anything wrong with it as a guide).

We certainly shouldn’t judge others on what they wear. We don’t know their cicumstance, and for all we know, old jeans and a shirt might be the best they have, BUT, we also need to remember as individuals, that when we go to Mass, we are truly in the presence of Christ. It really irks me when I see people who think it is OK to wear casual, old clothes to Mass, ut owuldn’t dream of wearing such a thing on a date with the guy/girl they are into.

Or when people (females especially) think it is appropriate to wear the same thin to Mass as they do when they are out at a nightclub or some such thing.

When I get ready for Mass, I always truy and remember that I am entering the presence of Christ, and dress fittingly.

When people are willing to wear nice clothes and put more effort into their appearance to go out drinking with their mates, or to dinner with their friends then they are to properly present themselves before Christ, I think it says a lot about people’s priorities.

Blessings,

Steve
 
I find it interesting that while I spent my younger years growing up in a ridiculously poor ghetto, the poor people never had a problem dressing nicely for mass.

There isn’t anything wrong with a dress code. I think that if more people stopped worrying about the “unfairness” of it all and realized they truly are supping with the Lord of the Universe, it would put things sharply in perspective. There is nothing schismatic about it, our priest just said something to the same effect a few weeks ago.
 
Well, I don’t think we need to go this far.

That said, it would be good if kids (and a few adults) had enough sense to wear enough clothing to conceal their under garments.

Apparently this is not intuitively obvious.

Chuck
 
Nathan_Wagar said:
I find it interesting that while I spent my younger years growing up in a ridiculously poor ghetto, the poor people never had a problem dressing nicely for mass.

There isn’t anything wrong with a dress code. I think that if more people stopped worrying about the “unfairness” of it all and realized they truly are supping with the Lord of the Universe, it would put things sharply in perspective. There is nothing schismatic about it, our priest just said something to the same effect a few weeks ago.
Click to expand...
I see nothing wrong with dressing “nicely”. I do take issue when it makes a suit mandatory for men and a dress for women. I don’t have a suit that fits and my wife doesn’t own a dress. So to put things in perspective, that dress code would mean we were not welcome at the house of the Lord.
 
Why not get a suit and a dress? There’s cheap ones all over the place. It’s a non-issue. It seems like you are saying you don’t have an issue with “dressing nicely” as long as it fits your definition of what dressing nicely is. They set the guidelines for their parish, they use words like “please” and “should.” I seriously doubt they will kick anybody out; rather they will be taken aside and corrected after mass. Then if the person persists, he is rebelling against the authority of the priest.
 
Nathan_Wagar said:
Why not get a suit and a dress? There’s cheap ones all over the place. It’s a non-issue. It seems like you are saying you don’t have an issue with “dressing nicely” as long as it fits your definition of what dressing nicely is. They set the guidelines for their parish, they use words like “please” and “should.” I seriously doubt they will kick anybody out; rather they will be taken aside and corrected after mass. Then if the person persists, he is rebelling against the authority of the priest.
Click to expand...
I guess we just need to agree to disagree then. I don’t approve of anything that would make a worshipper unwelcome at a Church.
 
My point is that the worshipper is making himself unwelcome at mass. It is his choice not to dress nicely, and it is the prerogative of the parish priest to decide on such matters. If the worshipper knows the dress code ahead of time and decides to disobey, then he is in mortal sin for defying ecclesial authority. It isn’t a big deal to get a Church outfit . I understand your point to an extent, but it seems you have no real reason to argue, when you’re just a cheap outfit away…
 
We lived in the poor part of town. We weren’t poor but you could say lower middle class. One car. Two bedroom, one bath house. Two parents and 2 girls and 2 boys. Back in the early fifties, nothing was air conditioned. All the kids wore suits to their first communion and everyone wore suits to church. The really poor kids that went barefoot to school always had a pair of dress shoes for church. Nobody was putting on the “airs” we just considered it to be proper and respectful to dress properly to visit the Lord’s House. If you can’t afford a suit and tie I certainly hope you don’t have a $800+ HD TV. And nobody was kicked out of church or anything like that. The really poor still put their kids and themselves in a nice white shirt with a tie. Wearing sneakers to church was a no-no. Nobody complained about dressing up for church. Funny, now days when Christianity is under attack almost daily about displaying the cross and other religious symbols and with no prayer in the schools and football games is also the times when people stopped wearing good clothes to church.
 
ricko said:
Great! What’s wrong with dressing up to go to church? When I was growing up, everyone worn coats and ties and the women worn dresses or skirts. Everyone looked fine. I never saw anyone die because they dressed up. I still wear a suit to church and I’m about the only one that does. I think it’s the right thing to do and I’m not interested in being a follower of those that dress down to attend church.
Click to expand...
My mother weighs 200+ pounds. She uses a walker and has neuropathy, which means she can’t feel anything below her knees.

Yes, lets make sure she wears a dress or skirt to Mass. Lets turn her away because she wears pants. Now she won’t die if she wears a skirt/dress, but she would likely have a hard time keeping it down to cover herself. But I guess that would be okay, since she would at least be worthy of being part of your religion.
 
So, if someone comes to church who is not dressed properly according to the code. do you not let them in? Do you deny them the Eucharist? What if a pro-abortion senator shows up at your church. Do you let him in? Do you deny him the Eucharist? Priorities, people, priorities!
 
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