Dress up for Mass.

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Alright, so I’m sure most of us would agree that whenever we attend Mass on Sunday, we should make an effort to look nice. After all, we would do the same if we were going to {let’s say} a 5-star restaurant.

But what about for daily Mass? Should those same standards apply? {e.g., If you wear a suit to Sunday Mass, should you be expected to wear a suit to daily Mass?}
Personally, I’m not sure where I stand on the issue. Being at a college campus {where you have to walk everywhere}, I see many students {including myself} attending daily Mass in shorts. {I’m not trying to say that we all look sloppy or unpresentable, though. :p} I would bet that a lot of their responses as to why would be because it’s incredibly hot and humid. On Sundays, they have a chance to go home and change. However, on weekdays, they have to walk across campus multiple times for class, etc.
I’ve had a friend pose the question that if we should dress up for Sunday Mass, why shouldn’t we dress up for daily Mass?

Any thoughts?
{I say this all the time, but I’m not sure if I’m making any sense. Sorry! 😊}
 
Just getting people to dress up for Sunday would be a good thing- I continually am amazed at the number of Blue Jeans (yes they can cost a lot of $) and shorts-

Back in the day we dressed for Chapel and never would consider going to Church without a tie-

One of our Churches calls itself “Come as you are Church” and embraces sloppy dress

I feel it it irreverent
 
Kopratic said:
Alright, so I’m sure most of us would agree that whenever we attend Mass on Sunday, we should make an effort to look nice. After all, we would do the same if we were going to {let’s say} a 5-star restaurant.

But what about for daily Mass? Should those same standards apply? {e.g., If you wear a suit to Sunday Mass, should you be expected to wear a suit to daily Mass?}
Personally, I’m not sure where I stand on the issue. Being at a college campus {where you have to walk everywhere}, I see many students {including myself} attending daily Mass in shorts. {I’m not trying to say that we all look sloppy or unpresentable, though. :p} I would bet that a lot of their responses as to why would be because it’s incredibly hot and humid. On Sundays, they have a chance to go home and change. However, on weekdays, they have to walk across campus multiple times for class, etc.
I’ve had a friend pose the question that if we should dress up for Sunday Mass, why shouldn’t we dress up for daily Mass?

Any thoughts?
{I say this all the time, but I’m not sure if I’m making any sense. Sorry! 😊}
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I’m currently living in Florida, and the hot weather mixed with humidity can be rather tricky. A full suit for Sunday can be a bit much, but is surely a great way to get rid of stubborn water-weight. I’m usually in slacks, a button-down shirt, and tie for Sunday; I like to keep it formal but light so I can breathe. 👍

For a weekday/Saturday mass, I might go ahead and skip the tie, but still wearing slacks and a good shirt, whether it be button-down or a polo. On Holy Days of Obligation, I try to stick with my Sunday rules.

For any day, if the weather is over bearing, I’ve been known to roll up my sleeves, but mostly because the chapel I go to most often is not equipped with air-conditioning. :eek:
 
St_Stoli said:
I’m currently living in Florida, and the hot weather mixed with humidity can be rather tricky. A full suit for Sunday can be a bit much, but is surely a great way to get rid of stubborn water-weight. I’m usually in slacks, a button-down shirt, and tie for Sunday; I like to keep it formal but light so I can breathe. 👍

For a weekday/Saturday mass, I might go ahead and skip the tie, but still wearing slacks and a good shirt, whether it be button-down or a polo. On Holy Days of Obligation, I try to stick with my Sunday rules.

For any day, if the weather is over bearing, I’ve been known to roll up my sleeves, but mostly because the chapel I go to most often is not equipped with air-conditioning. :eek:
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Yikes! I can’t even imagine that. Sometimes I’ll roll my sleeves up in an air-conditioned building because I’ll get hot. xD

I follow similar rules {save for daily Mass, which I talked about in my first post}.

Thanks for your post! :}
 
My husband and I don’t dress “up” for Mass - we wear what we wear everyplace. He wears slacks & shirts with tie. I wear skirts, blouses, head covering. The exception my husband makes is if he’s in the middle of a job and has to run to the hardware store or lumberyard. He doesn’t bother to change. 🙂

We save our cruddy clothes for working in our woods, garden, and with the animals.

It often looks to me that others dress “down” on all occasions, including church.
 
I normally prefer to dress nicely for Mass. However, since having a baby, none of my old clothes fit anymore and all I have is maternity jeans. I was not able to afford any other clothing until this week – so, I have been at Mass in jeans with a nice shirt. I’ve felt bad about it.

For daily Mass I used to just wear what I wore to work (which, these days, would be the same pair of jeans) as there was no time to go home and change in between.
 
Luke 12: 22-28

*22 And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.

23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.

24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?

25 And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?

26 If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?

27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?*

Now some will make the argument that if God has given you a good job, then you can afford fine clothes, and therefore this is how God has clothed you. This position suggests however that those who do not have fine clothes are not blessed by God. Should we really be coming to church with the mindset of “Look how much I honor you, God with my fine clothing” and at the same time scoffing at and judging those dressed in lesser clothes as disrespecting God?
 
Bonnie said:
It often looks to me that others dress “down” on all occasions, including church.
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What if people “dress down” out of a sense of humility? But wait, if they are doing it to appear humble, then they are being prideful about their great humility. ARRRGGGHH!:eek:
 
Kopratic said:
Alright, so I’m sure most of us would agree that whenever we attend Mass on Sunday, we should make an effort to look nice. After all, we would do the same if we were going to {let’s say} a 5-star restaurant.

But what about for daily Mass? Should those same standards apply? {e.g., If you wear a suit to Sunday Mass, should you be expected to wear a suit to daily Mass?}
Personally, I’m not sure where I stand on the issue. Being at a college campus {where you have to walk everywhere}, I see many students {including myself} attending daily Mass in shorts. {I’m not trying to say that we all look sloppy or unpresentable, though. :p} I would bet that a lot of their responses as to why would be because it’s incredibly hot and humid. On Sundays, they have a chance to go home and change. However, on weekdays, they have to walk across campus multiple times for class, etc.
I’ve had a friend pose the question that if we should dress up for Sunday Mass, why shouldn’t we dress up for daily Mass?

Any thoughts?
{I say this all the time, but I’m not sure if I’m making any sense. Sorry! 😊}
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I always find this argument a little silly. While we would dress nicely for a 5-star hotel or whatever, we would dress even nicer for an extremely formal dance or wedding. So if the argument is really, “well, we dress better for other things, and we should always give our best to God” then women should be wearing heels, make-up, their hair up fancy, with Jewelry and in a long expensive gown for every sunday mass and you gents should be wearing a tux, at the very least, I mean, after all, you’d dress that way for a formal wedding, right? And isn’t God more important than a formal wedding?

But I do agree with you that its good to dress up for Sunday Mass, to put in some sort of effort to dress more nicely than you do day to day as an extra way of helping to set Mass apart from other activities. Now, since we are supposed to set Sunday aside for the Lord in a special way, it can make sense to save dressing up for Mass for Sunday, to help set Sunday apart from other days in your own mind. But it could also be a good thing to dress up for every Mass you go to for the sake of setting Mass apart from other activities. So, my opinion, is that it depends. Either way is perfectly fine, and either can be helpful in growing spiritually. So whatever a given person wants to do is fine.
 
I just use a nice dress shirt and dress pants. :3

Then I have to put on a cassock and a huge cathedral style surplice. Boy does it get hot.
 
I dress up for Sunday, but when I go to daily Mass, I am much less likely to do so. If I make it to daily Mass, it is 6:30 am, so I pretty much roll out of bed, get dressed, brush my teeth and hair, and go. I leave 5-10 minutes after I wake up. If one of the kids wakes up, I take that kid with me to Mass. I try to lay clothes out in the bathroom the night before, so that I don’t wake my husband, but I definitely don’t put as much thought and effort into dress as I do for Sunday. This morning, I wore jeans, but it was mostly because I forgot to put something out and I didn’t want to rummage through my closet in the dark.

While I believe in dressing up for Mass, I figure, if college students are making it to daily Mass, they’re doing pretty well, no matter what they’re wearing. 🙂
 
fieldsparrow said:
I normally prefer to dress nicely for Mass. However, since having a baby, none of my old clothes fit anymore and all I have is maternity jeans. I was not able to afford any other clothing until this week – so, I have been at Mass in jeans with a nice shirt. I’ve felt bad about it.

For daily Mass I used to just wear what I wore to work (which, these days, would be the same pair of jeans) as there was no time to go home and change in between.
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I’m sorry that you felt bad about it. You really shouldn’t have. There is no shame in coming to mass in less dressy clothes because you couldn’t afford to get nice clothes. You really should not feel bad about it in the least.
 
Kopratic said:
Alright, so I’m sure most of us would agree that whenever we attend Mass on Sunday, we should make an effort to look nice. After all, we would do the same if we were going to {let’s say} a 5-star restaurant.

But what about for daily Mass? Should those same standards apply? {e.g., If you wear a suit to Sunday Mass, should you be expected to wear a suit to daily Mass?}
Personally, I’m not sure where I stand on the issue. Being at a college campus {where you have to walk everywhere}, I see many students {including myself} attending daily Mass in shorts. {I’m not trying to say that we all look sloppy or unpresentable, though. :p} I would bet that a lot of their responses as to why would be because it’s incredibly hot and humid. On Sundays, they have a chance to go home and change. However, on weekdays, they have to walk across campus multiple times for class, etc.
I’ve had a friend pose the question that if we should dress up for Sunday Mass, why shouldn’t we dress up for daily Mass?

Any thoughts?
{I say this all the time, but I’m not sure if I’m making any sense. Sorry! 😊}
Click to expand...
Ive always found the idea of a God who judges fashion somewhat strange.

Does God’s taste in clothes change? In ancient times sackcloth was what was worn, or perhaps we should wear tunics and sandals since thats what Jesus wore?

I think someone dressed in a tunic and sandals would get raised eyebrows today.

Sincerely,

A (nice) blue Jean and collared shirt wearing mass attender!

On a side note, one of the most memorable men in a neighboring parish, who recently passed on, was a man who attended daily mass and Sunday Mass, went to Confession every Saturday and was a sweet and gentle old man who helped around the church grounds and the different ministries. He always sat prominently in the front row.

He did not drive a BMW into the lot, he pushed his shopping cart.

He did not wear a suit, he wore old dingy clothing with shoes that were extremely worn.

He was homeless.

And he loved Jesus and the Church
 
Deus_tecum said:
What if people “dress down” out of a sense of humility? But wait, if they are doing it to appear humble, then they are being prideful about their great humility. ARRRGGGHH!:eek:
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Can’t we have a discussion without the impossible theoretical of the mythical humble person who only has three pieces of clothing to their name?

The discussion is beginning with the assumption of those who have a decent range of clothes from relaxed to formal.

As to the original question, as daily Mass is something usually attended during the day as you are going to work (or during lunchtime), it seems reasonable that you have something modest, but Sunday attire wouldn’t be expected. The garage mechanic, dressed in his dirty work clothes, that I see at noon Mass can’t really make it home to dress up. And I think it entirely appropriate attire considering the circumstances.
 
I like that this topic came up now because my husband and I are having a little debate about it…so I would love to hear your takes. I work on Saturdays and Sundays. Sometimes we go to mass in the morning on Sunday, but if I worked late on Saturday then we will sleep in and go to the Sunday evening mass instead. When this happens, I leave work early and so he has to get the kids ready and meets me there.

Last week, my 10 year old (son) showed up in cargo shorts, tennis shoes (the high-top kind) and a t-shirt. When we left, I asked him to please wear pants next time out of reverence. My husband said that he looked fine and it is too hot to make him wear pants. We live in Houston, and he and I were both in pants, but I digress…🤷

He relayed a story that happened to him as a kid: He said that he had just gone school shopping and his mother had bought him an expensive pair of basketball shorts and a jersey. They were poor, so he was really proud of his outfit. When he walked in, the usher told him that he was not dressed appropriately and should not wear that to mass. His mother got mad and told the usher to mind his own business.

To this day, he is still bothered by the fact that he was told his clothes were not good enough to wear to mass, so he thinks I need not worry about how the kids are dressed. Now we are not poor, and we can afford decent clothes for the kids. I don’t think asking my son to wear pants (I’m okay with dark blue jeans) is too much to ask, especially because he can do it as a “mini-sacrifice” so to speak to honor God.

What do you all think??
 
Me? Sunday Mass, nicely dressed. Sat. Vigil, a little less formal, daily…just try not to wear spaghetti strap shirts (but have been known to come in uniform before work-personal trainer…needless to say at those times I sit in back and don’t handle the gifts in that attire).
 
The Desert Fathers dressed down in the cheep, lowly clothes of their time. Their dress is what inspired the habits for monks and nuns today. Dressing modestly is part of the Tradition of the Church. Sunday Mass “proper dress attire” (outside of modesty) is an innovation. 🙂
 
Kopratic said:
But what about for daily Mass? Should those same standards apply? {e.g., If you wear a suit to Sunday Mass, should you be expected to wear a suit to daily Mass?}
Personally, I’m not sure where I stand on the issue. Being at a college campus {where you have to walk everywhere}, I see many students {including myself} attending daily Mass in shorts. {I’m not trying to say that we all look sloppy or unpresentable, though. :p} I would bet that a lot of their responses as to why would be because it’s incredibly hot and humid. On Sundays, they have a chance to go home and change. However, on weekdays, they have to walk across campus multiple times for class, etc.
I’ve had a friend pose the question that if we should dress up for Sunday Mass, why shouldn’t we dress up for daily Mass?
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Kopratic, you and your college friends are very fortunate to be able to walk to daily Mass each day.

Daily Mass means taking time from your day to worship God at Mass.

You are welcomed to go back to your dorm room and change or have a change of clothes in your backpack or even see if there is a small closet you can leave your Mass clothes in at the campus parish.

You are also welcomed to wear what you wore to class.

At other parishes, daily Mass is attended by people just beginning their day, on lunch break, or just ending their day. There is the business person in business attire - maybe a suit, dress, or slacks. There is the nurse and doctor in scrubs. There is the police officer and military person in uniform. There’s the stay at home mom and children in their daily clothes. The “uniform” of their day is most likely what they will wear to Mass - even if that is jeans and a t-shirt.

You and each of your friends are welcome to wear what you choose to wear - your “school” clothes or something else.

You might see my son on campus in a suit and tie on any given day or jeans and a T-shirt or his white flowing shirt and pants from India. If he goes to daily Mass - most likely what he wore to class and his job on campus is what he will still be wearing.

You can speak to the campus priest about his thoughts on student attire for Mass.

I bet Father is very happy that students take the time to come to Mass! I’m grateful you have this wonderful opportunity - no matter what you wear.

God’s blessings on you, your college friends, and the wonderful priest at your campus parish.
 
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