E. M. Rudely Admonished My Family During the Final Hymn of the Mass Today

[zab]

I guess I misinterpreted it.

That’s ok. I had to read it twice, too.

 

[EasterJoy]

She was trotting to keep up with Father. She had been lagging behind. Are you actually going to take my side that six inch stilettos are too unstable for Mass?

I’m going to say that a person had better not walk faster while carrying any sacred vessel, let alone while holding the Blessed Sacrament, than what can honestly be called a safe and reverent pace. If that means lagging behind a priest whose reverent stride is faster than yours, well…where are you? The National Basilica?* How far behind can you actually get?* Does that eliminate stilettos? There are women who would be safer on a balance beam with their stilettos than a good many parishioners would be on flat ground and bare feet. Who am I to say that stilettos cannot possibly be safe enough?

Having said that, if anyone asked me what I thought, I’d tell her to keep the hemline to the knee (the real knee, not the “knee” that is now located six inches higher than that) and the heels low. “I must decrease, that He may increase.” No matter who you are, dress in a way that is reverent and yet unassuming. The less bling on a EMHC, the better. I would not, however, say that to someone who did not ask. The least-welcome bling on an EMHC is an excess of unsolicited opinions! (Which is why I come here: I can tell myself that someone actually asked! )

 

[MSSheBear]

The EMHC who was trotting after Father started a minute or two after he did and he walked briskly. She was otherwise nicely and appropriately dressed. At that parish for some reason the parishioners sat as far back as they could although the church building was not that large.

At the parish I attend now the average age for the EMHC is about seventy-five and no they don’t wear stilettos. When I was a Protestant I did see a woman trip or fall over in her stilettos and she was unable to walk.