Priestly Attire

  • Thread starter Thread starter Momof9
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A priest should wear his cassock at all times. It is a form of evanglism. Of course if he is exercising, a cassock is not required at that time.
 
A Jesuit at John Carroll University in Cleveland came into the chapel (about 5 years ago) wearing a suit and tie and a stole over that…no alb, chausble…nothing. The only good Jesuit liturgy is one that never happens!!!
 
When I first started to think of joining the Catholic Church, I went to Fathers office to talk with him. He was wearing a T-shirt, tight jeans, cowboy boots and a massive belt buckle (later learned he goes on cattle round-ups on his vacation). Point is though, I found it hard to BELIEVE he was a priest and had to ask him a couple of times if he truely WAS a priest. He told me that the collar was uncomfortable to wear.
Fine on his days off or while on vacation or his “off” times, but very confusing and unsettling during times when he’s at the parish during the day.

I prefer to see him and all religious in more proper attire befitting their call to serve God.
 
How many states still have laws on the books forbidding a priest to wear a cassock in public?
 
I think a priest should dress with the collar as much as possible. It should make them feel good about themselves.
 
40.png
PASCENDI:
How many states still have laws on the books forbidding a priest to wear a cassock in public?
Click to expand...
Pascendi,

If you are using “states” to mean “nations”, Turkey - which forbids the public wearing of clerical attire by clergy of all faiths - comes immediately to mind. Offhand, I cannot think of another nation that presently enforces such a rule, although it was law in Mexico during its darkest anticlerical era and probably in a few other nations as well during periods of similar sentiment. Some of the former communist nations effectively made it dangerous and sometimes life-threatening to do so, but I’m not certain that there were laws per se against doing so.

If, however, as I suspect, you are using “states” to refer to the states of the U.S., I have to wonder where you came up with this idea. (Sometimes, I think that those whom I like to call “professional Catholics” sit around and try to conjure scenarios which will prove some misguided notion they have that its “us” versus “them”.)

Even during the “Know-Nothing” era, probably the closest that the Catholic Church in the US has ever come to being the subject of persecution, there was never a statute on the books of any state that forbade the wearing of clerical garb by Catholic priests or by the clergy of any other church. If someone were to attempt to enact such a statute, it would be deemed an intrusion by the government into the affairs of religion and held unconstitutional, absent a showing of a compelling public policy interest by the government in establishing and enforcing such an ordinance.

Many years,

Neil
 
It’s sad to see so many priests and religious no longer wearing their traditional attire as often as they used to… I think the root of this problem is an ashamedness by those in question of their vocation. This is likely due to the attitude of most of society about priests and religious. However, they should still SHOUT IT OUT that they are the servants of Christ. That means they should wear their cassock/habit whenever possible. Of course there are situations where this is not possible, like at the gym or beach. Even then they could wear a Catholic t-shirt, and definitely nothing bad. However, they should show this even more by their actions. A plain-clothes priest who acts as a true Christian is a much better example then one who is wearing a cassock but not acting as God calls him to.

I’m going to end on a happier note. A couple of weeks ago, I went to a Catholic family conference. Throughout the entire conference, alll of the priests and brothers wore their respective cassocks, roman collars, or habits. I even recall seeing one wearing his cassock and a backpack as he was checking out of the hotel. Let us pray that others will follow their example.

P.S. Does any know the origins of the Roman collar? I remember reading it somewhere, but now I can’t remember. Thanks for your help.
 
There’s something about a cassock that inspires respect. I wish Priests would wear them more often. Or at least dress in the black suit with the Roman collar!
 
40.png
Carl:
If you were in desperate need of a priest, nowadays you might pass three on the street and not know you had one handy … for someone in an accident, or suddenly ill, or shot by thugs, or about to commit suicide.

What good are priests if, when needed most, they hide in their jeans and t-shirts?
Click to expand...
You expressed my thoughts perfectly!!
 
I don’t know why priests and sisters would want to avoid wearing clerical garb. I would bet they are thought of more positively by the public than they might suspect. I know I am always prompted to say a prayer for any religious I see in collar or habit. Think what graces those in street clothes are missing!
 
I think more vocations would be developed if more boys saw priests in their traditional garb. It adds to the uniqueness and the mystery and the respect for the vocation. My boys recently met a priest who wears t-shirt, flip-flops and a toe ring and wants them to call him by his first name. He even wears flip-flops during Mass. How do we develop respect and awe for the specialness of the priesthood, when they just seem like everybody else?
 
40.png
Ria:
I think more vocations would be developed if more boys saw priests in their traditional garb. It adds to the uniqueness and the mystery and the respect for the vocation. My boys recently met a priest who wears t-shirt, flip-flops and a toe ring and wants them to call him by his first name. He even wears flip-flops during Mass. How do we develop respect and awe for the specialness of the priesthood, when they just seem like everybody else?
Click to expand...
:amen: Ria, you beat me to this! I was thinking the same thing. Such a lament over the lack of vocations, but how many of our kids have ever seen a nun in habit?? Unless you watch EWTN or are lucky enough to live near a convent in which the habit is still worn, probably never.

When my sis was in Catholic school, all of the teachers were nuns in full habit, the priests wore the long cassocks. By the time I got to that school, all the nuns were gone and the priests were in civies. My kids had a couple of nuns in their school, but you’d never know it. They didn’t even have Catholic textbooks in which they could see pictures of nuns & priests in their clerical attire. (But that’s a whole 'nother thread…)
 
What those priest and religious who do not wear religious attire often fail to realize is that not only Catholics but also Protestants look up to them. I’ve have many non-Catholic friends express dismay when they met a priest or religious who was not dressed in the collar or the habit. What these religious fail to realize in that situation is that we the laity look up to them as our spiritual mothers and fathers and as such when company (Protestants) come we want to be able to show them off and brag about them, so to speak, just as we would our actual mothers and fathers. So when I bring a Protestant friend around to meet “Father,” and “Sister,” I am bursting with pride when they meet my Protestant friend dressed in full habit or the collar or the cossock. Such attire represents a total response to the call of God and it is something which the Protestant structure cannot duplicate.
Another thing that priest and religious have to realize is that the habit and the collar are potent weapons in winning the culture war. Our society influences by its emphasis on the visual. Notice the many young people who are deeply influenced by the dress of pop singers, rappers, sports figures and the like. These young people emulate their dress, so we see, for instance, young men with their pants hanging down, and young girls with ther navels showing. Such powerful visual images in our cultural need an equally potent counterpoint and what, pray tell, in our society can match such an image but the collar and the habit. If nuns, for instance, would hit the streets in full habit, they would unleash a powerful antidote to the sensual dressing which has become the norm for our young girls. Imagine the girls who would be influenced by the sight of holiness made manifest. Ditto for the priests. If young men actually saw priest openly professing their love for Christ by wearing the collar, it would make a profound statement.
To wear a collar and the full habit in our society today would actually be a radical, revolutionary act, one that would counter the weapons volleyed into the public square by our popular culture. It’s something that is long overdue, and it’s something that priest and religious really need to quickly reclaim
 
My confessor frequently wears a cassock. At my son’s recent FHC, he wore a beautiful vest with the collar attached that he had made in Rome. It was so dignified.
 
A religious, when they wear the garb, are walking sermons, expressions of the Christian faith, advertisements for virtue.

Which is why liberal priests and sisters won’t wear them to non-religious events. Wouldn’t want anyone thinking they were ‘holy’ or anything…

sam
 
Periodically I attend Mass where the Priest wears street clothes under his vestments while serving mass.:confused:

I remember one time in confession I could see through the curtain and he was wearing a yellow pullover with his stole around his neck.😦

What gives?
 
In Australia, the cassock was not worn ‘off church property’. Around the church or presbytery, yes, but a siut and collar was the norm when priests went out. I personally can’t stand ties, so I wear the collar with pride. It reminds me firstly of who I am, a servant of God and one called to work for the salvation of souls. It is not a ‘badge of self-imprtance’ as some would suggest, but a sign of service.

Depending on the weather (I feel the heat big-time!), I’ll wear long or short sleeved, black or white collared shirt. Sometimes around the presbytery, or working manually I’ll wear lay work clothes, but any occasion that calls for priestly identity will see me in a collar.

I am in a rural parish, and I’ve been known to do farm work on my day off. No point wearing clericals while I’m driving a tractor or marking lambs! But, when I visit the same families at other times, the collar is a must. I never go out in a cassock, though.

Oh yeah, Momof9, I haen’t visited any scout meetings in the attire you described, so I don’t think I’m the same Fr Matt!!!

Cheers,
Fr Matt
 
I am a seminarian and God willing when I am ordained I will always wear my cassock. I think it is important for priest to be set apart, not in a prideful way but it a way that people know they are not of this world. I know many priest who always wear their clerics but are very approachable and “human”… Many of of the men I know considering the priesthood say they will wear the cassock. Just thought I would throw my two cents in.
 
I think our former parish priest appreciated that when he came over to our house not wearing his collar our family treated him as a person not always as a priest.

The key to figuring out how to treat a priest is finding a middle ground at which you realize that a priest IS a person. Imagine if one of your friends were to become president - while now occupying a position commanding extra respect, that friend would still be the same old person they had been before hand. I go to Notre Dame and love having the opportunity to live with priests (Dillon Hall always has at least 3 priests in residence). I still address all of them as Father [last name] but I also get to experience them as normal people. Showing someone the respect they deserve doesn’t automatically mean you have to treat them as a different species.
 
I voted for priestly attire, but within reason. The way I see it, the going out and about cloths (suit etc) should include the collar. When they are out on the ball fields with the kids or at the beach I would expect them to dress modestly and appropriately.

One of the priests in our parish (we are blessed with three) spends most days at the school. Going from class to class. When doing this the current preist always where his black shirt and roman collar, however his predacessor (promoted to pastor at a different parish) often wore his cassock.

Bottom line I think the way you dress effects the image you project to others and to yourself. Have you noticed that the religeous orders that abandoned their habits have almost disappeared, and the ones who have maintained (perhaps moderized versions) are having success. I was just in Nashville on business and saw that the Dominican Noviate & Mother House is building a hugh addition. I know others have the same sweet problem.

How priests dress is important.

Charliemac

We will of course forgive the Pastor who breaks tradition and weasr a Kelly Green Priest Shirt with roman collar on St. Patricks day.😃
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top