Priest and the collar

  • Thread starter Thread starter catholictiger
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

catholictiger

Guest
just a quick question are priest required to wear their collar at all times?

i’m interested to know becuase I hold the opinion that they should

and I kinda let that opinion get on facebook and one of my priest friends sent me a personal message saying how I should be careful when I talk about my opinion with clerical dress.

I was just wondering is there anything in church teaching or cannon law that states that a priest while in public must always wear his collar. Or is it ok for a priest at times when he is in public to not wear his collar.

thanks for clearing this up for me and please no personal opinions I know I posted mine but I just want to clear things up.
 
Priests can go out in public on their days off or whenever without a collar. It is perfectly fine for them to go grocery shopping, to the gym, or do whatever they choose to do on their own time with no collar visible!

As far as when they are “in the office”, some at my parish wear them all the time; others do not. Their duties are all the same.
 
I work for my Diocese.
The directive of our Bishop, as relayed to me by a priest friend,
is that a priest should (*** implied must***;))
wear clericals when performing liturgical or ministerial functions.
There are always exceptions though.
If i was in need of the annointing of the sick due to illness or accident,
I personally wouldn’t care if the priest showed up in his pajamas! 😛
IMHO, if a priest is out & about-
shopping, runing errands, having dinner w/ friends, seeing a movie,
I see no reason why he should not be able to wear “civvies” if he so chooses.
 
I have run into Fr. Sal - a favorite Priest of mine - at the movies, grocery store and several restaurants. He is always in plain clothes when I see him out. When I see him in the office, at mass, or pretty much any place on the school/church grounds he is “in uniform”. As far as I know, outside of mass, sacriments, or other offical duties, Priests can wear whatever they feel like.
 
Maureen1125 said:
I have run into Fr. Sal - a favorite Priest of mine - at the movies, grocery store and several restaurants. He is always in plain clothes when I see him out. When I see him in the office, at mass, or pretty much any place on the school/church grounds he is “in uniform”. As far as I know, outside of mass, sacriments, or other offical duties, Priests can wear whatever they feel like.
Click to expand...
Last year I did confession with one of my favorite priests and at the time he was wearing sweat pants and a tee shirt in his office. It didn’t bother me at all and it actually made it less uncomfortable for me.
 
catholictiger said:
just a quick question are priest required to wear their collar at all times?

i’m interested to know becuase I hold the opinion that they should

and I kinda let that opinion get on facebook and one of my priest friends sent me a personal message saying how I should be careful when I talk about my opinion with clerical dress.

I was just wondering is there anything in church teaching or cannon law that states that a priest while in public must always wear his collar. Or is it ok for a priest at times when he is in public to not wear his collar.

thanks for clearing this up for me and please no personal opinions I know I posted mine but I just want to clear things up.
Click to expand...
In his blog, What Does The Prayer Really Say?, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf provides his opinion on the obligation of a priest to wear clerical garb in various settings:

wdtprs.com/blog/2010/05/quaeritur-the-obligation-of-priests-to-dress-as-priests-in-public/
 
Wearing the Clerical Collar is a great sign that is non verbal;it reveals to everyone seeing Father wearing it —that this man represents Christ.I know of some priests, who on casual parish business wear a shirt with a cross/crosses visible for all to see.When playing a game of golf or on personal business, lay clothing seems the sensible thing to do.Though some priests I know ,still wear a cross visibly somewhere.I was at a crowded football match with a priest friend and a drunken fellow behind him was shouting out The Lords’ name loudy,mixed with other language–father asked him quiety to stop using the holy name of Jesus–the guy looked at him and Father pointed out his cross(over his lay attire) and said “I am a priest” the guy said he was sorry–and that he went to a catholic college once! I wondered what would have happened if Father had no visible sign on him?
I think Pope John Paul summed up this very question very nicely when he addressed a clergy gathering “Why are you(priests) taking Christ off the Streets?”

Lord,santify your Priests and Sacred Ministers.
 
thanks for all the responses especially the one from father Z he is great 🙂

unfortunately not wearing the collar is some what of a norm for at-least one priest in my parish 😦 maybe a couple of others and while the priest who sent me a message usually wears his collar i have seen him out of it but it kinda makes since why he didn’t but he still should have been wearing it IMO. But I’m sure this guy is of the opinion that it is an optional dress for a priest so the amount you wear it is opinion which is why he sent me this message.

it would also be nice if priest wear the cassock more I understand its not the requirement but I think it would be cool and better if more priest wore this. That’s just my opinion though.

These kinda issues is what unfortunately fills our church these days I really hope this next generation of priest will start to change that, along with the next generation of lay 😉

this though I think is kinda a smaller issue then some of the other issues that press the church right now, but IMO if a priest doesn’t follow what the church teaches on a small mater like clerical dress it could turn into something alot worse, like preaching on a issue that directly opposes cannon law, then maybe even going further then that but Ill just leave it at that.

IMO and the churches too 😉 if the church tells her priest to do something they SHOULD do it, and as father Z made it clear this wasn’t an optional thing. I think we should think more like the military what if a solider on a day he was required to wear his uniform decided not to. Or even better what if a Dominican nun decided not to wear her religious clothing in public, i think in both situations people would say they did something wrong and should have worn it. If its a requirement of a priest to at-least wear black and the collar why do they get the pass and other people don’t?

i’m done with my ranting

unfortantly despite my new information i’m not going to bring this to my priest friend I rather not have this guy dislike me in anyway we are friends don’t see each-other much but for now I’m just going to let it slide, and becuase i’m younger and a lay person he may not respect my opinion when i bring it up to him.
 
The clerical garb is indeed a great way to evangelize without words. But lets not be too hard on our priests especially when they are off their duties. There may be good and valid reasons a priest may not wear his collar. I imagine if my Eastern Catholic priest who’s married would take his wife to dinner, he wouldn’t be wearing the collar. It may be a source of scandal to those who think priests are celibate only. And while it would be good to educate people about the discipline of celibacy and where it applies and where it doesn’t, its not the proper occassion to do so.
 
ConstantineTG said:
The clerical garb is indeed a great way to evangelize without words. But lets not be too hard on our priests especially when they are off their duties. There may be good and valid reasons a priest may not wear his collar. I imagine if my Eastern Catholic priest who’s married would take his wife to dinner, he wouldn’t be wearing the collar. It may be a source of scandal to those who think priests are celibate only. And while it would be good to educate people about the discipline of celibacy and where it applies and where it doesn’t, its not the proper occassion to do so.
Click to expand...
these are unmarried priest i’m mainly talking about

I’m sure there could be good reasons for it but I think a priest should always wear his collar in public well the roman rite

the church has a decree that says priest should always wear the collar so I think they should.
 
ConstantineTG said:
The clerical garb is indeed a great way to evangelize without words. But lets not be too hard on our priests especially when they are off their duties. There may be good and valid reasons a priest may not wear his collar. I imagine if my Eastern Catholic priest who’s married would take his wife to dinner, he wouldn’t be wearing the collar. It may be a source of scandal to those who think priests are celibate only. And while it would be good to educate people about the discipline of celibacy and where it applies and where it doesn’t, its not the proper occassion to do so.
Click to expand...
This is such a great point!!
And one that I think many in the Latin Church would never think of! 😉

We have a transitional deacon in my diocese who is a married, father of 5, former Protestant minister.
I would have to say that when he is ordained, God willing, :gopray2:
if he gets time to be able to have a quiet dinner alone with his wife,
I would never expect him to, (or want him to, but that is my opinion;)) wear clericals.
 
catholictiger said:
these are unmarried priest i’m mainly talking about

I’m sure there could be good reasons for it but I think a priest should always wear his collar in public well the roman rite

the church has a decree that says priest should always wear the collar so I think they should.
Click to expand...
I just made one example, I’m sure there are thousands of other examples out there. And given that the number of RC priests absolutely dominates the number of EC priests here in North America, most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference if the priest they’re seeing on a date is an RC priest or not. Thus my example.

There is no such decree by the Church that they should wear their collar at all times. This has been discussed many, many times. They should wear them on official functions, whenever they represent the Church. But their time off is their time off, the Church doesn’t ask them to wear their collar then.
 
Oneofthewomen said:
This is such a great point!!
And one that I think many in the Latin Church would never think of! 😉

We have a transitional deacon in my diocese who is a married, father of 5, former Protestant minister.
I would have to say that when he is ordained, God willing, :gopray2:
if he gets time to be able to have a quiet dinner alone with his wife,
I would never expect him to, (or want him to, but that is my opinion;)) wear clericals.
Click to expand...
We’re also getting many Anglican priests and bishops who will be ordained Roman Catholic (Anglican Use) priests. Married priests will be more visible now and this may be a source of scandal for those who are not as well informed. Especially that Fr. Cutie is making some noise, this may not reflect well on ill-informed people.

But as I mentioned, I just cited one of possibly hundreds of examples. This one is just off the top of my head.
 
i would think that a priest should wear it because it will be beneficial for the people, maybe if someone will seek a confession upon seeing a priest in public

also this may not be relevant, but a priest i know said that he said mass once in a t shirt. he explained he still wore his vestments but i though that was pretty funny
 
catholictiger said:
just a quick question are priest required to wear their collar at all times?

i’m interested to know becuase I hold the opinion that they should

and I kinda let that opinion get on facebook and one of my priest friends sent me a personal message saying how I should be careful when I talk about my opinion with clerical dress.

I was just wondering is there anything in church teaching or cannon law that states that a priest while in public must always wear his collar. Or is it ok for a priest at times when he is in public to not wear his collar.

thanks for clearing this up for me and please no personal opinions I know I posted mine but I just want to clear things up.
Click to expand...
Interesting question, I kinda of wondered about that too. Every lecture I have ever seen of Father Raymond E Brown he was wearing a collar whereas John P Meier wasnt. I guess its preference , not sure??
 
I_R said:
i would think that a priest should wear it because it will be beneficial for the people, maybe if someone will seek a confession upon seeing a priest in public
Click to expand...
To be realistic here, if no one is going to church to have their confessions heard, I highly doubt someone will stop a priest in a mall or in a park and ask for their confession to be heard.
I_R said:
also this may not be relevant, but a priest i know said that he said mass once in a t shirt. he explained he still wore his vestments but i though that was pretty funny
Click to expand...
In the Philippines its pretty much a norm for priest to be wearing only a white undershirt and pants and sandals under their vestments. I can imagine its the same for many tropical countries where its over 30-degrees celcius (about 95-F) for much of the year.
 
ConstantineTG said:
To be realistic here, if no one is going to church to have their confessions heard, I highly doubt someone will stop a priest in a mall or in a park and ask for their confession to be heard.
Click to expand...
well, a lot of people who go to church may be ashamed to go confess to a priest they know quite well and upon seeing a priest they don’t know, most will jump at the chance.
some of my friends will only confess when they go out of town to a church they don’t normally go to.
 
I_R said:
i would think that a priest should wear it because it will be beneficial for the people, maybe if someone will seek a confession upon seeing a priest in public

also this may not be relevant, but a priest i know said that he said mass once in a t shirt. he explained he still wore his vestments but i though that was pretty funny
Click to expand...
ConstantineTG said:
To be realistic here, if no one is going to church to have their confessions heard, I highly doubt someone will stop a priest in a mall or in a park and ask for their confession to be heard.
Click to expand...
According to the Code of Canon Law.
Can. 964 §1 The proper place for hearing sacramental confessions is a church or oratory.

§2 As far as the confessional is concerned, norms are to be issued by the Episcopal Conference, with the proviso however that confessionals, which the faithful who so wish may freely use, are located in an open place, and fitted with a fixed grille between the penitent and the confessor. §3 Except for a just reason, confessions are not to be heard elsewhere than in a confessional.

I do not think seeing a priest in public is a just reason for confession outside of a Church.
 
I_R said:
well, a lot of people who go to church may be ashamed to go confess to a priest they know quite well and upon seeing a priest they don’t know, most will jump at the chance.
some of my friends will only confess when they go out of town to a church they don’t normally go to.
Click to expand...
I know how that feels. I personally go to another parish to confess, or take advantage of the Archdiocese’s regular confession services where there are guest priests in the parish for confession and go line up to a visiting priest.

Besides, what if that priest with a collar you chanced in a mall is Anglican or Orthodox?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top