Priest's Suits and Cassocks

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Thank you so much for this Aramis, it was very informative. So basically, normal parish U.S. priests are required to wear a Roman collar/black suit or a Roman collar/black cassock at all times, even outside of liturgical functions, and to disobey this is illicit?

They only must do so while engaged in ministry.

There is no requirement that they do so “at all times”.

 

[Matariel]

No. Only when doing “Priestly things” aka non-liturgical ministries.

So:
Cutting the lawn? No.
Visiting the Sick, Yes.
Preaching to the imprisoned? Yes
Counseling a parishioner? Yes.
Counseling a drug addict as an outside commercial job? no.
Working as a pharmacist to put food on the table? No.
Teaching in a Catholic School? yes.
Teaching in a Public school? No.
Hiking with a youth group? Maybe.

Well, my parish priest does not even wear his clericals when he’s hearing confession… and he’s usually late to hear them past the scheduled time… He must be awfully busy.

 

[Matariel]

Well if you see a Catholic preist wearing a cassock its almost certain they are not a coward modernist ecumaniac. On the other hand if they refuse to wear clericals all the time they are probably a modernist, just a strong correlation, obviously not a casual relationship between the two.

This is my experience. How I wish there were more traditional, cassock-wearing priests. Then we could always tell them apart.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Well if you see a Catholic preist wearing a cassock its almost certain they are not a coward modernist ecumaniac. On the other hand if they refuse to wear clericals all the time they are probably a modernist, just a strong correlation, obviously not a casual relationship between the two.

And making assumptions like this mean that you are judging the mental state of an individual without either the right to do so or the actual ability to know what it is.

Very uncharitable.

 

[Filioque]

There is the old saying, that "The Man makes the Habit, the Habit does not make the Man.

 

[Matariel]

And making assumptions like this mean that you are judging the mental state of an individual without either the right to do so or the actual ability to know what it is.

Very uncharitable.

I don’t think he’s been uncharitable. To tell you the truth, in my experience, he’s somewhat correct. After all, how devout is a priest if they refuse to obey canon law on the wearing of clericals for liturgical and pastoral/ministerial non-liturgical functions? Surely a well-formed conscience would obey the Church, which is legitimate authority.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

I don’t think he’s been uncharitable. To tell you the truth, in my experience, he’s somewhat correct. After all, how devout is a priest if they refuse to obey canon law on the wearing of clericals for liturgical and pastoral/ministerial non-liturgical functions? Surely a well-formed conscience would obey the Church, which is legitimate authority.

I am not defending any priest who does not wear clerical dress (or habit if a religious) while ministering.

But I am also upholding what the Church teaches about judging someone.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church;
2477 Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury. He becomes guilty:

• of rash judgment who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor;
• of detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another’s faults and failings to persons who did not know them;

Two wrongs do not make a right.

What he said is uncharitable because he splashes all who do something with one brush. In individual cases, where he actually knows the priest in question, he might be able to make such a comment, but to blanket all who do so is wrong.

How can he know such a thing about every priest who might not be wearing clerics (or habit) when he is ministering?

 

[catholic101]

And making assumptions like this mean that you are judging the mental state of an individual without either the right to do so or the actual ability to know what it is.

Very uncharitable.

I was just making a generalization that is a good rule of thumb, not an absolute statement. I was not judging any particular individual.

 

[Matariel]

Hey, but we still didn’t resolve why different priests wear cassocks as opposed to suits. Is it merely a matter of taste, or does it matter what order they belong to?

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

I was just making a generalization that is a good rule of thumb, not an absolute statement. I was not judging any particular individual.

A very uncharitable generalization.

Hey, but we still didn’t resolve why different priests wear cassocks as opposed to suits. Is it merely a matter of taste, or does it matter what order they belong to?

If one is a member of a religious order/group with a habit that is a cassock then it could be because of that.

Otherwise I believe it is a matter of taste and what the bishop allows. I know some bishops do not allow their seminarians to wear cassocks. I do not know why they do this but some do.

As for myself, as a religious brother, I wear my habit most of the time when I am ministering or when I am attending services outside of my priory. There are times when I wear the Roman collar shirt though.

When/if I get ordained I will continue to wear my habit over the Roman collar.

My habit is not a cassock, it is the Carmelite habit which is a brown tunic, a leather belt, the brown scapular, and a capuche (see it here Carmelite Habit).

 

[Aramis]

Well, my parish priest does not even wear his clericals when he’s hearing confession… and he’s usually late to hear them past the scheduled time… He must be awfully busy.

He’s supposed to be in alb and stole or cassock with surplice and stole, or, if out and about, clerical suit and traveling stole, to hear any but emergency confessions. For Roman priests, the stole for confession is purple. (Note that Eastern Catholic priests probably won’t use a purple stole, and typically should be in cassock and stole, or cassock with sticheron and stole, as established by their particular hierarchs.)

Ordered religious priests might be permitted habit and stole; Dominican priest-friars often do so.

I can’t find the current Rituale Romanum online from a site I trust, but the '62 Rituale Romanum is in english at sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books-1962/rituale-romanum/26-the-sacrament-of-penance-general-rules.html

I’d ask him why, politely, the good priest isn’t vesting for confessions…

 

[Bbigam]

The priests around here seem to consistently wear the clerical suit with Roman collar, both around the parish and elsewhere, outside of liturgical functions, and that includes the bishop. There’s only one priest around here that I’ve ever seen wear a cassock, and he’s a religious order priest (Fathers of Mercy) and very traditional - I even saw him in cassock, surplice, and stole on occasion if at Mass but not celebrating. I think the bishop does wear a cassock under the chasuble or cope for liturgical functions.

There is one diocesan priest who wears a biretta for confessions and Mass. He’s the youngest and newest!

The FSSP priest is a Franciscan friar, so he wears his habit rather than clerical attire outside of Mass.

 

[Matariel]

He’s supposed to be in alb and stole or cassock with surplice and stole, or, if out and about, clerical suit and traveling stole, to hear any but emergency confessions. For Roman priests, the stole for confession is purple. (Note that Eastern Catholic priests probably won’t use a purple stole, and typically should be in cassock and stole, or cassock with sticheron and stole, as established by their particular hierarchs.)

Ordered religious priests might be permitted habit and stole; Dominican priest-friars often do so.

I can’t find the current Rituale Romanum online from a site I trust, but the '62 Rituale Romanum is in english at sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books-1962/rituale-romanum/26-the-sacrament-of-penance-general-rules.html

I’d ask him why, politely, the good priest isn’t vesting for confessions…

I know… I’d feel intrusive to ask such, but I’ve really only seen him wearing an alb once, and the stole was a knit-like thing like Grandma’s blanket. It was purple though. But other than that he wears jeans and a sweater, which is somewhat distracting.

 

[Matariel]

I hear the new crop of seminarians are much much more traditional.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

The priests around here seem to consistently wear the clerical suit with Roman collar, both around the parish and elsewhere, outside of liturgical functions, and that includes the bishop. There’s only one priest around here that I’ve ever seen wear a cassock, and he’s a religious order priest (Fathers of Mercy) and very traditional - I even saw him in cassock, surplice, and stole on occasion if at Mass but not celebrating. I think the bishop does wear a cassock under the chasuble or cope for liturgical functions.

There is one diocesan priest who wears a biretta for confessions and Mass. He’s the youngest and newest!

The FSSP priest is a Franciscan friar, so he wears his habit rather than clerical attire outside of Mass.

The habit of the Fathers of Mercy is the cassock. They also have a large crucifix they they wear with it but I am not sure if they wear it all they time or only when on the missions band.

 

[Young_Thinker]

If I were a priest(probably a Jesuit!), I would do something like wearing a cassock upon Fridays, Sundays, throughout Lent and Advent, and on any other Holy Days and a suit with a Roman collar at other times. In addition, I think that I would always wear another symbol of faith, namely a necklace of the Cross, a crucifix, or the Rosary.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

If I were a priest(probably a Jesuit!), I would do something like wearing a cassock upon Fridays, Sundays, throughout Lent and Advent, and on any other Holy Days and a suit with a Roman collar at other times. In addition, I think that I would always wear another symbol of faith, namely a necklace of the Cross, a crucifix, or the Rosary.

The Jesuits, as a religious order have a habit, it is a cassock.

The Cross or whatever else you chose to wear but not be seen, as it is not part of the habit and only a bishop may wear a pectoral cross in the Latin Church (that is unless an order has it as part of their habit like the Fathers of Mercy).

 

[Young_Thinker]

The Jesuits, as a religious order have a habit, it is a cassock.

The Cross or whatever else you chose to wear but not be seen, as it is not part of the habit and only a bishop may wear a pectoral cross in the Latin Church (that is unless an order has it as part of their habit like the Fathers of Mercy).

Thank you, Brother, but I thought that the Jesuits do not have an official habit. As for wearing a Cross, I did not necessarily mean a pectoral one.

 

[Young_Thinker]

The FSSP priest is a Franciscan friar, so he wears his habit rather than clerical attire outside of Mass.

I did not know that one could become both a Franciscan and join the F.S.S.P. How interesting.

 

[Bbigam]

The habit of the Fathers of Mercy is the cassock. They also have a large crucifix they they wear with it but I am not sure if they wear it all they time or only when on the missions band.

Ah, good to know. I don’t recall if he wore the crucifix. He did have some sort of lapel pin that he wore on the cassock (that’s not the right word, no lapel on a cassock…). He was for a time the parochial vicar at our parish, but I was just starting to come to the Church and didn’t get a chance to get to know him. He was a great homilist, great chanter, and reverent celebrant. I recall that he always chose the Confiteor for the penitential rite, and often used the Roman Canon and lots of incense.