How do non-Catholics dress to go to church?

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I agree.

Protocol in meeting with political leaders has, in part, to do with power competition, each head of state trying to make their own power, and their countries’, visible through it (and if possible, so as to impress potential adversaries).

Christ is not part of any power competition. He is sovereign. And He is a king who intimately knows who we are, what we are going through, and to Whom nothing about us is hidden ; one couldn’t say the same about the Queen or the president of the US.

I am not a formal kind of person. What I usually wear is (modest) casual, because I dislike spending too much time in getting ready and uncomfortable clothes. When I go to Sunday mass, or Sunday service in my parish, I make sure I wear things that are clean and look relatively nice together.

When I drop by at church during the week, be it for Adoration or weekday mass or just for a few quiet moments of private prayer, well, I wear what I happen to be wearing on this day. I feel pretty sure the Lord prefers to see me come and spend time with Him, whatever my attire is, than to stay away because I am not “dressed properly” for church.

I feel also pretty sure He pays more attention to the state of my soul than to what I am wearing. So that’s where I try to concentrate my best efforts 😉
 
Ok. So if you wouldn’t visit the President of the United States in tee shirt, flipflops, hoodie, shorts, why would you visit the Almighty God, the Creator, the King of Angels, the eternal and unapproachable Light, in such attire

Simple proposition really. Your move.
 
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Frankie65 said:
Ok. So if you wouldn’t visit the President of the United States in the shirt, flipflops, hoodie, shorts, why would you visit the Almighty God, the Creator, the King of Angels, the eternal and unapproachable Light, in such attire

Simple proposition really. Your move.
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(1) Do we really need to make everything about the extremes?

(2) You’ve addressed exactly 0 of my actual points in previous posts in favor of repeating yourself.
 
It’s not a very effective conversational point if you’re repeating yourself without actually making any acknowledgement of what other people said. It’s the internet equivalent of trying to get people to agree with you by saying the same thing but louder and passing that off as an argument for your position.
 
DarkLight said:
To use a different example - would you think you didn’t value your parents if you visited for Christmas wearing jeans and a hoodie? Or would it just be that dressing up isn’t how you show honor in that context?
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I can imagine a certain type of family, and this may have been more true 40-50 years ago than now, for which casual dress such as this would be frowned upon. We are a very laid-back family. I would simply be happy to see my son, regardless of how he chose to dress. That said, an obscene T-shirt or dirty, ripped clothes would be a problem.
 
I think there’s an oppositional mentality in our culture that encourages a “dress-down mentality.” Not that everyone who isn’t dressed formally is intentionally trying to be as casual as they can get away with. At the same time, there’s less and less sense of structure in presentation and relationships. Everyone wants to be everyone’s buddy, regardless of merit, age, or position.

Example: Someone wore a sportsball jersey over their t-shirt. Why not just wear the t-shirt? BUT, that was one of the factors that encouraged me to sit closer to the front and keep my eyes on Jesus and not others’ wardrobe.

But still…a jersey? Just sayin’…
 
OddBird said:
I feel pretty sure the Lord prefers to see me come and spend time with Him, whatever my attire is, than to stay away because I am not “dressed properly” for church.
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Agreed.

And yet…this conversation makes me think about the liturgy. I think we Protestants have used exactly what you just wrote to as the bath water in which we’ve thrown out the baby. Liturgical worship takes time and effort. We have to think about what’s being said and done. We might even have to read and worship responsively. In short, liturgical worship is harder than sitting around doing singing 7-11 songs (7 verses sung 11x), and listening to a 45 minute sermon.

Can we not view “dressing up” as a part of the liturgy? There is after all a “call to worship” - a time when we prepare ourselves to come into the presence of our great King. What if we might use a change of clothes (a Biblical concept no less - notice how the Levitical priesthood prepared to encounter YHWH)) as part of our personal liturgical preparation? Yes, yes - we can dress up for the wrong reasons, as we can with just about everything else in the Christian walk.

As for me - the reason that I find keeps me from preparing for worship - either sartorially or spiritually - is just laziness. Sometimes I talk myself into being just too “busy” (who can spare 15 minutes these days?). Mostly though, it’s just easier to “go as I am”. And these days, heavens knows, easier is better - isn’t it?
 
I don’t know. I think Calvin was responsible for throwing out most of the liturgical bath water and the baby with it, when he centered worship almost exclusively on the singing of psalms and a huge commentary of Scripture, and eliminated everything he thought grounded in tradition rather than in the Bible (IIRC, in La forme des prières et chants ecclésiastiques – no idea of how that was translated into English –, there is an invocation, a long introductory prayer, a long intercessory prayer for after the sermon, a blessing, and that’s it). And I am pretty sure people had better dress up for church – albeit in an appropriately dark and sober attire – in Calvin’s Geneva.

I also know a number of monasteries where dressing up is not even a concept, wether the monks and nuns wear the habit or not, and whose liturgy is breathtakingly beautiful.

Maybe it’s just me. If I am honest, one of the reasons I prefer not to dress up is because I am prone to being judgmental, and not wearing my Sunday best helps me not to look at and criticize what other people are wearing. In my own church, as long as I am still a pastor, what I wear doesn’t matter anyway, as I vest for service. At mass, I am content with being clean and modest. And I am a liturgy lover, both as a celebrant and as a faithful in the pew.

My pastor husband, who feels much the same as I do on this issue, once told somebody “I will wear Sunday best on my body the day I manage to wear Sunday best on my soul”. That sums up what I try to do too. When I read the parable of the king who marries his son and throws out a guest who wasn’t wearing a suitable dress, I don’t think of my clothes. I think of my heart, and I am glad God is merciful.

That said, I totally understand how changing clothes can help someone getting into the right disposition for worship. It just doesn’t seem to be helping me very much. The only piece of clothing I own which has a noticeable effect on how I approach the upcoming liturgy is my alb, because when I wear it, the person I am gives way to the function I have to fulfill.
 
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When I attended a Catholic Mass in my city once during the summer, most people, especially the older generation, appeared to be dressed in their “Sunday best” like they do at my Protestant service.

However, I saw a teenage girl in a t-shirt, gym shorts, and flip-flops who was with what appeared to be her nicely dressed mother. I also noticed a group of what looked like pre-teen boys in soccer uniforms who looked like they had just come from a game or were on their way to one after Mass. I wasn’t used to seeing that, although this was a Saturday late afternoon Mass instead of a Sunday morning, so maybe that was why.
 
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I am pretty close to Hillsong here and most of them dress pretty similar to people going to a Catholic Church although,that said,many of the parishioners are younger at Hillsong.
HomeschoolDad said:
Even today, I notice driving by the same kind of churches, as well as African American churches, when their services are letting out, that people are dressed to the nines.
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I’m not sure this is necessarily a good thing.
I’m like you as in old school and believing to wear something respectful to Church and not short shorts or workout gear or thongs (Aussie version lol) etc but I will leave the getting really dressed up to going to nightclub,dinner out or function.
I think Churches should be a place where there is no emphasis placed on beauty,wealth or competition and a place where poor people or homeless people feel comfortable and welcome to come.
It’s hard to make them feel welcome if they are intimidated because we are having a “fashion parade” or pretenses or appearances (and this is coming from someone who likes to get dressed up).

Whatever a person is wearing,as long as it has not come from an attitude of disrespect or not caring,then I think it’s ok.
I think dress should look respectful but not intentionally expensive or showy.

I don’t want to judge anyone in a church who wears thongs or even cleavage etc because it’s probably good that they are just there in the first place because christian religion has become so unpopular now…
 
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Rozellelily said:
I think Churches should be a place where there is no emphasis placed on beauty,wealth or competition and a place where poor people or homeless people feel comfortable and welcome to come.
It’s hard to make them feel welcome if they are intimidated because we are having a “fashion parade” or pretenses or appearances (and this is coming from someone who likes to get dressed up).
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I see what you are saying. A church where everyone is dressed up could be very intimidating to someone who doesn’t have that sort of clothes. My aunt married into a fairly wealthy family and her parents couldn’t come to the wedding because they didn’t have clothes nice enough to wear to a wedding like that. (Neither my aunt, uncle, nor my grandparents were Catholic.)
 
This was the late 1940s or early 1950s. It was one of the downtown “society” churches, the kind that have “First” in their names.
 
CoffeeFanatic said:
Wealth is relative
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Try telling that to people in abject poverty.

The $3000 suit,Rolex etc can be saved for a different time though and not for Church.
It’s hard to keep your focus on Jesus if you are making it on “look at me”.
It’s like I might wear a shorter dress to go out somewhere but I don’t need to wear in at Church and be a distraction or seem like being showy etc.

Personally I’m all for capitalism and buying quality provided that it is mixed with the “haves helping the have nots”.
Eg:if a person is wealthy and selling their luxury items just to buy more luxury items are they really living as according to what Jesus says?
Can’t it then become for them like the Bible says “it’s harder for a rich man to get to heaven than…”

Then going to church because more just like a show or for social/cultural reasons.

On the other hand if they sell their no longer wanted luxury items and then give that money to charity then that’s a good thing.

We can all be a little bit considerate of each other:)
 
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It’s football season, so expect plenty of men (and women) in their favorite team jerseys at many (let’s be honest, ordinary form) Masses. The good news, though, is that since summer is ending, there’s less men in bermuda shorts and flip flops and women in daisy dukes and Love Pink tank tops.

The average Great Depression hobo was better dressed than many Catholics attending Sunday Mass these days.
 
I was referring specifically to the individuals with the flashy mentality that @KD8TZC mentioned in his post,not wealthy people in general.

Also referring exclusively when going to Church and not how people dress in their day to day life.

I’m a bit of a hypocrite in that I haven’t been to church for awhile but as far as I’m aware,Christianity is not a “solo affair” but people are a body of Christ/community and it’s not much of a burden to consider something like is my display of wealth causing another at church to feel jealous,depressed,lesser or uncomfortable etc.
Some of the things we do are “social things”.
As an analogy, the only reason why modesty is even a thing is because of the effects on others.

For sure some wealthy people donate and help those lesser a lot.

If a person goes to a church in a wealthy area where everyone else there is wealthy then it probably doesn’t matter so much what they wear.

It’s not about wealth,it’s about an ostentatious mindset that some have.
Ie:intentional flashing of wealth.

I presume the black reference was in response to someone else’s post further up as I haven’t mentioned anything regarding race.
 
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Rozellelily said:
it’s not much of a burden to consider something like is my display of wealth causing another at church to feel jealous,depressed,lesser or uncomfortable etc.
Some of the things we do are “social things”.
As an analogy, the only reason why modesty is even a thing is because of the effects on others.

It’s not about wealth,it’s about an ostentatious mindset that some have.
Ie:intentional flashing of wealth.
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There are some cultures and social groups where wealth, if possessed, is expected to be understated and not to have attention called to it. Examples would be New England, Scandinavia, and “old money” (Paul Fussell discusses the latter in his book Class). Bragging about one’s wealth and flaunting it is frowned upon. There is such a thing as having money but not acknowledging it, even to oneself.

https://www.amazon.com/Class-Through-American-Status-System/dp/0671792253
 
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