Modesty

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ClearWater

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I am almost 50 years old, and I have gone to mass in at least 3 countries, sometimes daily. Do you realize that in all my time, I have never, not once, ever, heard a priest of any of my parishes so much as MENTION the word “modesty”!

I have seen people dressed IN SHORTS, and have, myself, dressed (years ago) in them in a Church folk group. Most of us did, at that church. I once saw, here in Mexico, a lady with an embroidered outfit, which was apparently supposed to be worn over something. She wasn’t wearing anything except the embroidery! You could see her underwear, and I don’t mean see-through. I mean you could see her underwear straight out. Here, in Mexico, we have probably even more trouble with modesty even than we did in the US, and we had a lot of problems, there.

I’ve seen people in very short shorts assisting as women altar servers for the mass! The other day, here in Mexico, we had a child helping as an altar server with communion, also in very short shorts. I said something to the father, and he said she was just a child. I tried to get him to understand that we really shouldn’t be wearing short shorts to mass.
This same “child” which, I think, is old enough to receive communion also brings water and drinks is much of the mass, walks around all over the church, acts like a small child in every way, except serving at the altar, talks a lot in church.

Back to the modesty issue, we have people coming in REALLY tight clothing, miniskirts, very low plunging necklines, see-through outfits. I know, at some point, the priest needs to step in, but like Fatima said, the parents, priests, and people who are supposed to step in and say something, aren’t.

In the US, we’ve had some people in very short shorts come for the Blessed Sacrament and more.

I’ve heard of churches, and been to them, where virtually almost all parishioners wear shorts to mass.

Now, I realize people think it’s out of line to mention modesty, but MANY saints did. Do a Google if you don’t believe me, and you can see for yourself! In fact, I have read some accounts of hell, one by I think a saint, who insisted she had talked to a person who was in** HELL** for the way she dressed! How was she dressed? She was only dressed in the fashion of that time!

Keep in mind Our Lady of Fatima warned that there would be fashions that would come which would be very offensive to God. She said that God does NOT change.

We have an epidemic of sexual sin. One of the first lines of defense is modesty. St. John Bosco suggested that priests talk frequently about its virtues. I hope some priests will listen to his, and the numerous other saints’ advice and not think modesty is only a thing of the past and remain silent on this issue.
 
I have been shocked at the clothes worn to Church.

I am a parent…if my child came to me for help…would I care what they wear?

I agree that many come to Church looking like they were heading to a vacation…I am sure God is pleased that simply - they were there.
 
When Adam and Eve were confronted with God, after the fall, they felt compelled to cover their bodies, due to their sinfulness. They felt unable to be before God, in their sin, without being covered.

One priest here was saying that we seem to take Holy Communion very lightly. He asked if we would dress this way were we to, say, have a meeting with the governor?

Once, I saw a black-and-white picture of what communion used to be like. It showed ladies, all in skirts, or dressed, heads covered, KNEELING before God.

It then went to a real color photo of people receiving communion in modern times. People were sloppily dressed, T-shirts, just sauntering up to the altar. A lot of these T-shirts have these skulls and heavy metal T-shirts, pornographic T-shirts by teenagers, and other images, on them. They now wear EVERY kind of immodest attire you can imagine and some you couldn’t!

God said that if we so much as LOOKED with someone with lust that we were guilty. One saint was asked who was more guilty, the one who drank the poison or the one who prepared it? ** He equated immodesty as the spiritual equivalent of poisoning somebody!
**
 
ClearWater said:
Once, I saw a black-and-white picture of what communion used to be like. It showed ladies, all in skirts, or dressed, heads covered, KNEELING before God.
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If you ever looked, you would notice that they wore the same thing to the grocery store. People also, “dressed” for dinner.

So, if you were a kid and had been outside playing, before your father came home from work, you would have to come in, bathe and get dressed up for dinner. Of course, Moms didn’t work outside the home back then either. So she had time to make sure junior was clean and fresh faced for Dad.
 
Honestly, I don’t equate men wearing shorts to sexual sin. I think men look super hot in a well-tailored suit. There is nothing sexy about a man’s hairy leg. 🤷
 
KendraDZ1902 said:
Honestly, I don’t equate men wearing shorts to sexual sin. I think men look super hot in a well-tailored suit. There is nothing sexy about a man’s hairy leg. 🤷
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There is nothing like seeing my husband in a suit. :o
 
maryjk said:
There is nothing like seeing my husband in a suit. :o
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Yep. I LOVE seeing my husband in his Dress Blues. 😊

I think if we took a national poll, most women would say that they like seeing men in suits/service uniforms better than shorts and blue jeans. That same poll would probably show that more women had lustful thoughts about a man when he was dressed in a suit rather than shorts.
 
Does anyone recall the scripture verse Christ was talking about when someone went into a wedding reception not properly dressed? The punishment was to have that person tied hand and foot and thrown outside?
 
I try not to get choked up about what others are wearing at church. I try to focus on the reason why I am there… it’s to help my soul make it to Heaven.

Our Lady did say that fashions would offend God…I’m sure I’ve been an offender too. I tend to wear clothes that hug my body. That wasn’t in fashion 2,000 years ago!
 
ClearWater said:
Here’s the dress code for the Vatican:

google.com.mx/imgres?imgurl=http://saintpetersbasilica.org/Pics/SQR/DressCode-JG.jpg&imgrefurl=http://saintpetersbasilica.org/touristinfo.htm&h=640&w=480&sz=55&tbnid=mTFQatS-jTOR1M:&tbnh=100&tbnw=75&zoom=1&usg=__7Yy9Bw4tN2YKvL0hasPlIqQXfIw=&docid=5qzki6T4JOSDOM&sa=X&ei=potAUsHBKu_DiwKewYCYAQ&ved=0CEQQ9QEwAg&dur=105

However, are we dressing up for the pope or Christ?
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If it were for Christ and the Church wanted to have a dress code for all Masses, they could. But they haven’t.

So, it seems that we are required to dress up for the pope.
 
I think that’s a symptom of a weakening of things Catholic. There are very few priests available on Saturday mornings to hear confessions so that people can be in a state of grace for Sunday. What happened to confessions? Are we clothed with the blazing white garment of Christ? What happened to silence in church, to piety? In the old days when women covered their heads in church, there was a visual reminder that you were in a holy place, and for the ladies a physical reminder too. I would think it helped to focus the mind to the task at hand, offering Christ the Redeemer to the world to repair for the sins of the world and to ask graces to come down on all of us.

I knew a Catholic man who always wore long pants, never shorts. Always. Imagine. I asked him about it and he did it as an act of penance for his own sins and the sins of the world. We need more examples like that! We’ve forgotten who we are, salt and light to the world!
 
jmjconder said:
I have been shocked at the clothes worn to Church.

I am a parent…if my child came to me for help…would I care what they wear?

I agree that many come to Church looking like they were heading to a vacation…I am sure God is pleased that simply - they were there.
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Agreed 100% While I do think proper dress is important I think the most important thing is that people are at Mass participating in the sacraments, hearing the word of our Lord. I often tell the story about why I stopped going to church before I converted to Catholicism, there tend to be very negative attitudes surround church and now I have learned the same happens with Mass and when people feel criticized and like nothing they wear, nothing they do is good enough they often become frustrated and leave at least temporarily. I think we are called to be more encouraging and loving about people wanting to spend time in prayer and fellowship.
 
I, as a man, really enjoy women in short shorts and tank tops during the summer months…

… but not in church. I am a firm believer in “the Sunday best.”

The only time I attend mass when I’m not well dressed is when I go to daily mass directly after work.
 
This irritates me on many levels, but I believe it’s a cultural problem that is not confined to the Church. I think that people forget that the Lord of all creation is present before them and fail to respect that presence. Wearing a proper shirt, pants, and sporting a fresh shave seems to be a tremendous burden for men these days. I don’t even know where to start on ladies fashion, but some of it is absurd. My fully developed male mind doesn’t require any outside stimulus. It takes all I have to be chastely focused sometimes. Some outfits that ladies wear really don’t leave much to the imagination. I think men and women could use a little more self-respect.

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aTraditionalist said:
This irritates me on many levels, but I believe it’s a cultural problem that is not confined to the Church.
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I agree. In so many countries people have lost all sense of what is appropriate for a certain setting. People dress in a very casual way for the theatre, for going out to dinner, for work, and of course, to church. Dressing up has a negative connotation to many, they are offended by the idea. “I come as I am and God doesn’t care, so what’s your problem?”

Maybe what we wear is not the most important thing when it comes to going to church, but I believe it demonstrates our interior disposition.
 
Contra Mundum:
Quote:

Originally Posted by aTraditionalist

This irritates me on many levels, but I believe it’s a cultural problem that is not confined to the Church.

I agree. In so many countries people have lost all sense of what is appropriate for a certain setting. People dress in a very casual way for the theatre, for going out to dinner, for work, and of course, to church. Dressing up has a negative connotation to many, they are offended by the idea. “I come as I am and God doesn’t care, so what’s your problem?”

Maybe what we wear is not the most important thing when it comes to going to church, but I believe it demonstrates our interior disposition.
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Right on. I’ve been asked why “I’m dressed up”, and I reply that putting on pants and a shirt is hardly a feat worthy of the scribes. I’m seriously talking about a collared shirt and slacks. No jacket or suit, just a shirt and pants. I’ll kick it around the house in sneaks, T-shirt, and jeans but I’m normally working in or around the house.

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Serap said:
I try not to get choked up about what others are wearing at church. I try to focus on the reason why I am there… it’s to help my soul make it to Heaven.

Our Lady did say that fashions would offend God…I’m sure I’ve been an offender too. I tend to wear clothes that hug my body. That wasn’t in fashion 2,000 years ago!
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That so called quote from Our Lady at Fatima is not found in the Vatican website.
 
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