I am not a big fan of the dress code for Trad Masses

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antiSatan5

Member
I know of a homeless person who is homeless due to.. I guess you'd call it Cancellation? Persecution? This person was likely driven into homelessness because of an anti-Catholic landlord. So she is a devout Catholic who doesn't hide the Faith under a bushel basket, and things like this happen. So the woman had all her nice things packed away in storage, wrinkled up, but wanted to comply w/ the dress code @ a trad Mass. She got some of the wrinkles out of one of her dresses but it was a little small since she'd gained a few pounds, so anyway, she wore it anyway but long-story-short, had to go to a lot of trouble (no A/C in car on very hot day, no iron) and.. well.. maybe that's enough said? Oh wait.. another thing is that one time she didn't have time to do all that, so she skipped Mass.. not good.

Are people escorted out if they show up in casual wear?
So maybe I am not altogether against every single Vatican II change after all. Yeh, sure, encourage people to dress well, but sometimes they really can't.. and yet ALL need the Eucharist.
 
I have never heard of a person being asked to leave because of being dressed either casually or immodestly. At the diocesan TLM which I attend, people dress all kinds of ways. I was pressed for time this morning, so I just wore a casual gray sweatshirt which looks kind of like a pullover collarless long-sleeve sweater, and my usual black chinos. Sometimes I wear a dress shirt, tie, and sport jacket, but this was not one of those mornings. Women who attend frequently almost invariably dress in a fashion adhering to various traditional Catholic standards of modesty. Sometimes newcomers take more liberties, such as ladies' jeans and dresses that are a bit shorter than one would like, IOW, they dress just as they would for the Novus Ordo, and those dress standards, if they can be called that, are all over the place.

As long as the clothes are modest, nobody is ever going to have a problem with a poor person wearing the only clothes they have. I understand that the SSPX (as well as some other groups) prefer for a man to wear a shirt, tie, and jacket, but I'm not sure how strictly that is enforced.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
I have never heard of a person being asked to leave because of being dressed either casually or immodestly. At the diocesan TLM which I attend, people dress all kinds of ways. I was pressed for time this morning, so I just wore a casual gray sweatshirt which looks kind of like a pullover collarless long-sleeve sweater, and my usual black chinos. Sometimes I wear a dress shirt, tie, and sport jacket, but this was not one of those mornings. Women who attend frequently almost invariably dress in a fashion adhering to various traditional Catholic standards of modesty. Sometimes newcomers take more liberties, such as ladies' jeans and dresses that are a bit shorter than one would like, IOW, they dress just as they would for the Novus Ordo, and those dress standards, if they can be called that, are all over the place.

As long as the clothes are modest, nobody is ever going to have a problem with a poor person wearing the only clothes they have. I understand that the SSPX (as well as some other groups) prefer for a man to wear a shirt, tie, and jacket, but I'm not sure how strictly that is enforced.
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Thanks for this. Now I can tell others that they will not be escorted out.. LOL.. kind of didn't think they would but was wondering.. As you know, people don't want to be stared at for not dressing like everyone else..

Also, it does seem that the dress code is aimed at women WAY more than men. And then there's this: some dresses are more.. uh.. "attractive" to the opposite sex (distracting) than jeans and t-shirt are! And the latter cover more! So yeh... I just think the NO is the one that gets my approval on this one.. But that's the only thing I've ever found that I give them an ounce of credit for. All the other changes are just... awful.
 
antiSatan5 said:
Thanks for this. Now I can tell others that they will not be escorted out.. LOL.. kind of didn't think they would but was wondering.. As you know, people don't want to be stared at for not dressing like everyone else..

Also, it does seem that the dress code is aimed at women WAY more than men. And then there's this: some dresses are more.. uh.. "attractive" to the opposite sex (distracting) than jeans and t-shirt are! And the latter cover more! So yeh... I just think the NO is the one that gets my approval on this one.. But that's the only thing I've ever found that I give them an ounce of credit for. All the other changes are just... awful.
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It is very rare for women who regularly attend the TLM to wear any sorts of trousers (and that would include jeans). It's just something that is "kind of not done". They normally wear dresses of a traditionally modest length. T-shirts would also be rare, ditto for men. As I said, people who attend the Novus Ordo dress pretty much any which-way. Long story short, people who regularly attend the TLM dress as everyone did for Mass in the pre-Vatican II era.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
It is very rare for women who regularly attend the TLM to wear any sorts of trousers (and that would include jeans). It's just something that is "kind of not done". They normally wear dresses of a traditionally modest length. T-shirts would also be rare, ditto for men. As I said, people who attend the Novus Ordo dress pretty much any which-way. Long story short, people who regularly attend the TLM dress as everyone did for Mass in the pre-Vatican II era.
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the last line.. How well I know that! (although I am not old enough to remember the hair coverings, etc)

But the homeless woman I spoke of cannot just grab a dress from a A/Cd closet and rush off to Mass in her A/Cd car.. so you know, the dress code can discourage poor people.. and aren't we supposed to care for the poor?

It seems un-Catholic to be rigid about this kind of dress code. At the FSSP Church I went to, in the bulletin it explains the dress code and does not make allowance for any deviance therefrom, and again, it was aimed mostly at women. True, most women can easily abide by it.. but I've noticed something in society in general: society is set up for people who have all their needs met.. have a home, a car, a phone.. Well, when you are cancelled, you cannot afford all that. It is an egregious injustice. Not all poor people are druggies or lazy or whatever. And some are devout Catholics.
 
antiSatan5 said:
the last line.. How well I know that! (although I am not old enough to remember the hair coverings, etc)

But the homeless woman I spoke of cannot just grab a dress from a A/Cd closet and rush off to Mass in her A/Cd car.. so you know, the dress code can discourage poor people.. and aren't we supposed to care for the poor?

It seems un-Catholic to be rigid about this kind of dress code. At the FSSP Church I went to, in the bulletin it explains the dress code and does not make allowance for any deviance therefrom, and again, it was aimed mostly at women. True, most women can easily abide by it.. but I've noticed something in society in general: society is set up for people who have all their needs met.. have a home, a car, a phone.. Well, when you are cancelled, you cannot afford all that. It is an egregious injustice. Not all poor people are druggies or lazy or whatever. And some are devout Catholics.
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In that very same pre-Vatican II era, people would have worn the best thing they had, and there were poor people in those days too. It was never "the Catholic thing" to dress in the absolute best clothes that you could afford. That is more of a mainstream Protestant thing, of the old, "downtown"-type churches with "First" somewhere in their name, that are as much social venues as anything else, and that the more well-to-do families have been going to for generations. Catholic worship has always been more casual --- nice, clean, neat, modest, but nobody would look down on a man if he didn't have a suit and tie, nor would a woman have to be dressed elegantly. A lot of people just didn't have that kind of money, and Mass is and was far more for sheer worship of Our Eucharistic Lord than a social occasion.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
In that very same pre-Vatican II era, people would have worn the best thing they had, and there were poor people in those days too. It was never "the Catholic thing" to dress in the absolute best clothes that you could afford. That is more of a mainstream Protestant thing, of the old, "downtown"-type churches with "First" somewhere in their name, that are as much social venues as anything else, and that the more well-to-do families have been going to for generations. Catholic worship has always been more casual --- nice, clean, neat, modest, but nobody would look down on a man if he didn't have a suit and tie, nor would a woman have to be dressed elegantly. A lot of people just didn't have that kind of money, and Mass is and was far more for sheer worship of Our Eucharistic Lord than a social occasion.
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Yeh, for sure. I always tried to dress as well as I could but nothing fancy because I've never been into .. well, what some may call Showing off or whatever.. I never thought about dress until I went to a Trad Mass. By that time, I had gotten quite "sloppy" in my attire.. jeans and tee shirt LOL

I wonder if St Francis dressed up? And then there was St Benedict LeBra.. Wow.. he didn't seem to EVER care what he looked (or smelled) like.. Ever heard of him?
 
antiSatan5 said:
Yeh, for sure. I always tried to dress as well as I could but nothing fancy because I've never been into .. well, what some may call Showing off or whatever.. I never thought about dress until I went to a Trad Mass. By that time, I had gotten quite "sloppy" in my attire.. jeans and tee shirt LOL

I wonder if St Francis dressed up? And then there was St Benedict LeBra.. Wow.. he didn't seem to EVER care what he looked (or smelled) like.. Ever heard of him?
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Never heard of him. In our culture, I would say simply to dress in a decent manner, with clean, well-kept clothes, "how well can I dress today without necessarily going the coat and tie route?".

At the very least, the "casual Friday" route would be safe.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
Never heard of him. In our culture, I would say simply to dress in a decent manner, with clean, well-kept clothes, "how well can I dress today without necessarily going the coat and tie route?".

At the very least, the "casual Friday" route would be safe.
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ST Benedict LaBre was an odd character, to be sure. He rarely bathed and lived as a homeless person from the time he was about 20 to age 36 when he died, probably from not taking care of himself (good hygiene). He would warn people at Church not to get near him bc of his smell.. He lived like that because he didn't want to live in the world, just wanted to get to Heaven. And apparently he did bc miracles happened as soon as he died in the town where he passed away.
 
antiSatan5 said:
ST Benedict LaBre was an odd character, to be sure. He rarely bathed and lived as a homeless person from the time he was about 20 to age 36 when he died, probably from not taking care of himself (good hygiene). He would warn people at Church not to get near him bc of his smell.. He lived like that because he didn't want to live in the world, just wanted to get to Heaven. And apparently he did bc miracles happened as soon as he died in the town where he passed away.
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His call. I do have to question whether deliberately neglecting one's bodily hygiene in a gross manner is the best way to treat the Temple of the Holy Ghost, but I am content to leave that between Benedict and his conscience. Obviously it was no impediment to salvation, as he is canonized.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
His call. I do have to question whether deliberately neglecting one's bodily hygiene in a gross manner is the best way to treat the Temple of the Holy Ghost, but I am content to leave that between Benedict and his conscience. Obviously it was no impediment to salvation, as he is canonized.
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yeh, I frankly had the same thought RE hygiene. I have to say I've often gone awhile btwn showers, just because I was busy and this and that, but no way could I do what St LaBre did. The sad thing is, I believe he felt very rejected by his family, as many, many homeless people in our world today have.. B4 he decided to be a homeless beggar, he tried to get into monasteries, but was rejected over and over. A lot of homeless people are rejected by family, friends, society in general. He went to Church regularly and at Mass would hold out his arms as though he were re-living (and maybe he was) the Crucifixion. . strangest saint story I've ever heard. But you know, his life sends the (needed) message to the world that.. well, as Jesus said, everything in this world is passing away.. so why do we all get so acclimated to it? Another scripture says "All is vanity and a chase after wind."
 
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