Priest wear - crosses worn on civvie shirts

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Roseeurekacross

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Does a Priest in civvies have to wear a cross on his collar?
A lady at Mass was explaining to me her theory of how our Diocese and Parish was under terrible spiritual attack, right down to the 2 priests in the pews in civvies today , not wearing a collar or cross on a civvie collar.

Unfortunately I did fall to gossiping with her about the quality of RCIA, and then realised why Pope Francis has asked people to stop gossiping.

At one stage she was right , regarding the spiritual attack, and its effects are ongoing in many hearts.

But I am not sure wearing a cross on a shirt collar , or not, is the work of evil.
 
I am always in favor of priests wearing a collar. It is a sign to all that he is Catholic. Second best is wearing a cross on any ordinary shirt (this is especially when the weather is too warm). Wearing nothing at all is not acceptable. We should pray for these priests not gossip about them.
 
Roseeurekacross said:
Does a Priest in civvies have to wear a cross on his collar?
A lady at Mass was explaining to me her theory of how our Diocese and Parish was under terrible spiritual attack, right down to the 2 priests in the pews in civvies today , not wearing a collar or cross on a civvie collar.

Unfortunately I did fall to gossiping with her about the quality of RCIA, and then realised why Pope Francis has asked people to stop gossiping.

At one stage she was right , regarding the spiritual attack, and its effects are ongoing in many hearts.

But I am not sure wearing a cross on a shirt collar , or not, is the work of evil.
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The Norm for clerics in the Latin church (effective December 1, 1999), from NCCB (now USCCB) - for USA is:

Outside liturgical functions, a black suit and Roman collar are the usual attire for priests. The use of the cassock is at the discretion of the cleric.

wdtprs.com/blog/2012/11/quaeritur-are-priests-required-to-wear-clerical-dress-at-all-times/
 
The Cure of Ars, St. John Vianney famously said :

*" When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion." *

I would respectfully pray for this woman, as well as stay away from her.
I think you know this, or else you would not have posted this.
God bless you.
 
Roseeurekacross said:
Does a Priest in civvies have to wear a cross on his collar?
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Like as in, some sort of cross stitched into the collar?

I’ve never heard of or seen anything like that. 🤷

(On the other hand, I have seen shirts for deacons that have a cross with a deacon’s stole stitched onto the shirt pocket. Perhaps that’s what she’s talking about, and is confused about what she’s seen, or who wears it?)
2 priests in the pews in civvies today , not wearing a collar or cross on a civvie collar.
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This is the interesting part of the post, IMHO.

If the priests were present, then they could (should?) concelebrate the Mass.

But, if (for whatever reason) they weren’t planning on concelebrating, then it would make sense for them not to wear clerics. After all, it would be confusing to see a priest in church, at Mass, in clerics, and not be at the altar. (Maybe at some huge Mass like the March for Life vigil, but not a smaller parish Mass…)
 
Agree^^^^

FWIW, my dear priest friend says that he never wears his clerics on an airplane because people say the most vile things to him and about Catholics in general during the flight.
The religious suffer much persecution due to the shameful behavior of some.
 
pianistclare said:
Agree^^^^

FWIW, my dear priest friend says that he never wears his clerics on an airplane because people say the most vile things to him and about Catholics in general during the flight.
The religious suffer much persecution due to the shameful behavior of some.
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Isn’t it proper to willfully accept persecution for the sake of our Lord’s service?
 
pianistclare said:
The Cure of Ars, St. John Vianney famously said :

*" When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion." *

I would respectfully pray for this woman, as well as stay away from her.
I think you know this, or else you would not have posted this.
God bless you.
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Well stated.
 
Most of the Priests I know wear unmarked civvies out in public unless on a Sacarmental/religious event.
 
I have not seen or heard of this either. Nor am I convinced it is anybody’s business but the priest’s.
 
Brassring said:
Isn’t it proper to willfully accept persecution for the sake of our Lord’s service?
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Really?! You think that a priest should just accept the evil rantings of people who are insulting him. This type of harassment of anyone is unacceptable.:mad:
 
Oneofthewomen said:
Really?! You think that a priest should just accept the evil rantings of people who are insulting him. This type of harassment of anyone is unacceptable.:mad:
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In fact, you could almost argue that an identifiable priest is putting temptation to insult and rant in the path of those prone to such things. If he weren’t there identifiable as a priest, those ill-meaning people would have less incitement to insult the Catholic faith.

Additionally, if this takes place in a public place, having an audience can lead to people going even further in their badmouthing than they would have done, with the danger that they would put ideas in other people’s heads.
 
Oneofthewomen said:
Really?! You think that a priest should just accept the evil rantings of people who are insulting him. This type of harassment of anyone is unacceptable.:mad:
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“Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you because of me.”

Matthew 5:11

“But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.”

Matthew 5:39

“Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints for the sake of Christ, for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

2 Corinthians 12:10

According to Jesus and St. Paul, the answer to your question seems to be “Yes. Really.”
 
Brassring said:
Isn’t it proper to willfully accept persecution for the sake of our Lord’s service?
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One should always be willing to accept persecution if it is the unfortunate result of doing the work of the Lord. But one doesn’t have to invite it. One has to balance the witness of public persecution against the good works one can do by remaining anonymous.

Priests are busy people. As much as I love seeing priests in clerical attire while out in public, I know that they have limited time to attend to personal matters. I respect their desire to have some private (anonymous) time on occasion.
 
SMHW said:
One should always be willing to accept persecution if it is the unfortunate result of doing the work of the Lord. But one doesn’t have to invite it. One has to balance the witness of public persecution against the good works one can do by remaining anonymous.

Priests are busy people. As much as I love seeing priests in clerical attire while out in public, I know that they have limited time to attend to personal matters. I respect their desire to have some private (anonymous) time on occasion.
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I agree. There are many reasons for a priest to wear non-clerical clothing. However, I do not believe that a fear of persecution should be one of them. Especially the kind of token persecution a priest is likely to encounter in the U.S. If there were a probability of physical harm involved, then of course, a priest must be free to be inconspicuous in public.

But consider this: In an increasingly secular society, that priest may be the only example of our Lord that a person ever encounters. For any Christian to seek to hide our Lord from a world that needs him seems like a failure of conviction.
 
Thankyou for the replies.
I am in Australia Vico. I should have said that.
Gorgios after Mass i didnt get close enough to see if their collars contained embroided crosses or other. They were surrounded by people chatting 🙂
My regular church is the historic cathedral. It is the Diocese head and a tourist destination. We get the Bishop Emiritus, many priests, nums, brothers attending mass. They all sit in the pews and worship just like you or I. Some wear habits or cassocks or collars, others dont.

I wont discuss whether a religious should open himself up to abuse. Here, in my Diocese, it is a time of healing and mercy.
 
By golly, you’re right. No one who’s not a priest should have an opinion on this topic. Well reasoned!
 
If your point is to suggest that priests do, or should, have a greater measure of conviction that a lay person, I agree.

If your point is to engage in a petty ad hominem attack thinly disguised as discourse, please disregard the fact that I’ve responded at all.
 
Roseeurekacross said:
Thankyou for the replies.
I am in Australia Vico. I should have said that.
Gorgios after Mass i didnt get close enough to see if their collars contained embroided crosses or other. They were surrounded by people chatting 🙂
My regular church is the historic cathedral. It is the Diocese head and a tourist destination. We get the Bishop Emiritus, many priests, nums, brothers attending mass. They all sit in the pews and worship just like you or I. Some wear habits or cassocks or collars, others dont.

I wont discuss whether a religious should open himself up to abuse. Here, in my Diocese, it is a time of healing and mercy.
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I don’t know if there are any Australia-wide norms for how clergy should dress - it my be something which is dealt with on a diocesan level. Regardless, what is and isn’t acceptable dress for clergy is a matter for the local bishop (or Bishops’ Conference) to determine. In some places what is regarded as acceptable includes a dress shirt with an outward symbol (such as a cross lapel pin) on it. The difficulty I have with this (with due respect of course to bishops who permit it) is that it doesn’t effectively or clearly identity the person as being a priest. Even if another person should notice the cross (which is by no means certain) it’s not all that likely that they’d make the connection with priesthood. In contrast, a collar unambiguously identifies its wearer as a priest. Granted, as others have pointed out, this can at times be a mixed blessing but, then again, no one ever said it was supposed to be easy.
 
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