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Extempore
Guest
As an aside, I happened across this website and thought that some of you all here might like it, as it pertains to this issue:
The Art of Manliness
The Art of Manliness
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RainDown
Guest
It wasn’t a matter of money or anything and we weren’t poor, but I think she thought it was more important to be humble and ready to pray at mass, rather than how good you look.
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Leonius
Guest
Dressing smartly is not a impediment to humility and prayer, likewise there are many proud and obstinate people who are poorly dressed.
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RainDown
Guest
She was speaking of vanity, not dressing smartly. People should dress smartly, though. You can just tell when somebody took a while on their appearance. And I know that this thread is about dress for men, but I get extremely irritated when I see young women dressed more to make others lust than for mass.
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weepixie71
Guest
i think we need to take into consideration that the philippines is a very poor country. a lot of people may not be able to afford nice clothing that we americans can.
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weepixie71
Guest
im sorry i have to disagree. i homeschool and for the first year i let my daughter wear anything she wanted when we did class. the following year i made her wear a red polo shirt when school was in and her participation and grades went up. how we dress affects how we act and participate.
the man who is wearing the suit that you see as an empty shell may be having struggles you do not know about but atleast he is trying to please the Lord in his appearance. i would think being dressed too comfortable it would be too easy to drift, slouch, and sloppy in your participation. studies have shown this and this why a lot of public schools are going to uniforms. why would it be any different in mass.
when you go over to a friends or relatives house do you not respect their rules and their traditions. the same goes for when you go to God’s house. to me “wearing what you want to wear” instead of dressing for the Lord its like saying “ok God ill go but im coming to you on my terms not yours.”
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Beau_Ouiville
Guest
My rules for dress for Sunday Mass are simple: No jeans, no sneakers.
I was a daily communicant during graduate school and for daily Mass I wore any legal attire.
I also don’t think that police officers should carry guns into church. Others disagree.
I was a daily communicant during graduate school and for daily Mass I wore any legal attire.
I also don’t think that police officers should carry guns into church. Others disagree.
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mystified
Guest
Sometimes you gotta be careful here, too. I went to the funeral of a long-time friend recently wearing a very dark suit with very tiny pinstripes someone had given me. After the Requiem Mass, we went to the cemetery, where someone addressed me as “Padre”. I pointed to the young man in alb and purple stole and said, “Allí está el padre.”
Mass is a time for worship, not a fashoin show, or beach party.
Instinctively, I will wear a suit–even a tie–when going to a TLM, while it’ll be a little more casual–no tie–and often a guayabera and nice slacks for an OF Mass.
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Kilo1Mike21
Guest
Just a few thoughts:
Isn’t the important point that one shows up for Mass? Isn’t that showing the “respect” that Jesus deserves? Is Jesus going to look unfavorably on someone who shows up to Mass in jeans/t-shirt or one who doesn’t show up at all? Who is really “looking down” on the person; Jesus or you?
What about weather? I live in an area that if you wear slacks/ dress shirt, by the time you get into church, you’re covered in a fine mist of mud, snow, rain, sleet (depending on time of year).
What about disabilities? I for one am disabled and it’s more comfortable wearing soft soled tennis shoes (cheaper than buying soft soled dress/casual shoes) due to back problems.
Finally, what if one can’t afford the clothes? I have seen people give a dollar in the collection plate who dressed to the “9’s” while a family who is obviously not well off put $10.00 in the plate so the church can buy lightbulbs.
Again $.02 worth
Isn’t the important point that one shows up for Mass? Isn’t that showing the “respect” that Jesus deserves? Is Jesus going to look unfavorably on someone who shows up to Mass in jeans/t-shirt or one who doesn’t show up at all? Who is really “looking down” on the person; Jesus or you?
What about weather? I live in an area that if you wear slacks/ dress shirt, by the time you get into church, you’re covered in a fine mist of mud, snow, rain, sleet (depending on time of year).
What about disabilities? I for one am disabled and it’s more comfortable wearing soft soled tennis shoes (cheaper than buying soft soled dress/casual shoes) due to back problems.
Finally, what if one can’t afford the clothes? I have seen people give a dollar in the collection plate who dressed to the “9’s” while a family who is obviously not well off put $10.00 in the plate so the church can buy lightbulbs.
Again $.02 worth
J
JKirkLVNV
Guest
I think the only rule for dress should be neat and MODEST.
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Extempore
Guest
I think a poster earlier here pointed out that the economic argument doesn’t really fly. You can get a nice sport coat from the Salvation Army (or similar) for as little as $5.
Most tee-shirts and jeans cost more than that.
So, just because someone dresses shoddily to Mass doesn’t mean they are poor any more than someone who wears a suit means that they are wealthy.
I can see the argument for dressing down if you go to daily Mass or work at a job that doesn’t give you time to change. Other than that, what real argument is there? I find the “God doesn’t really care what we look like” argument a little weak. We certainly wouldn’t apply that logic to the President on a visit or the Pope. Why are we so quick to dismiss our appearance before God in His house?
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Kilo1Mike21
Guest
But who’s to say they didn’t get those clothes at the salvation Army…maybe slacks/coats wern’t available…the important thing is to attend Mass…is it not?
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Extempore
Guest
Yes, which is why I already mentioned that I don’t see a problem if there is absolutely no way that you can attend Mass dressed in any other manner.
However, don’t you think that if those same people you see at Mass dressed in jeans were invited to the White House tomorrow that they’d do their darndest to assemble the nicest clothes they could afford/find?
When I go to a parish and see 90% of the male congregation dressed in jeans an tee shirts, I’m not entirely sure its reasonable conclude that all 90% couldn’t at least find a sport jacket at the Salvation Army. Rather, it seems that what plagues most churches is simply laziness imposed by our lax culture and nothing more.
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Leonius
Guest
You are saying do the minimum necessary, sorry but I think we owe God more than that. Obviously you cant’ give what you don’t have, if a person realy cant afford to dress well to go and see His God because of poverty or whatever God knows, and if a person does’t dress well because he doesn’t really care, can’t be bothered, thinks its nobodies business what he wears etc then God sees the selfishness and arrogance of that to.
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nsper7
Guest
But is it a sin to wear jeans/t-shirt to Mass? Obviously, being immodest (i.e. mini-shorts, etc.) could be a stumbling block for someone else and, thus, possibly sinful.
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Shin
Guest
I mean to contibute more to this discussion later if it continues, but I want to add that if you are someone who has quite appropriately been moved to dress better for mass by these threads on modesty…
Now is the time to do it. And you can do it cheaply. Leonius has mentioned Walmart – They have dress pants at my local Walmart for $9-13 on sale, dress jackets, dress shirts . .
All very inexpensive. You can have your collection for going properly to mass quite quickly. Because right now the clothing stores are changing their inventory due to the change of seasons, there’re sales going on.
So go and do it. Go prepare to dress properly for mass.
There is -no more important person or occasion you will ever have in your life to dress for-. Set aside human feelings and respect, and do it for God.
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ihm1993
Guest
You know I’ve often wondored about this too. It’s different for me though because I go to a Traditional latin Mass where the standards are very high. I would sya that a man should not have his bare arms or legs showing in Mass and he should at least try to dres up.
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nsper7
Guest
Yeah, I assume TLM is probably much more formal than some NO Masses. As I mentioned way back, I think it really comes down to the culture of the particular parish. The one I attend is at least partially organized around college students, so some dress much more casually than they probably would at a TLM or more traditional NO parish.
Just as underdressing might offend some more traditional folks at a TLM parish, overdressing might bother others at a more casual parish (i.e. some might think one is being snobbish or highfalutin). Again, I think it goes back to the culture of your parish and that can usually be ascertained if someone is new by asking others how they dress.
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Kilo1Mike21
Guest
Please indicate where I wrote “do the minimum necessary”…what I indicated is that some folks don’t hvae the financial means to dress that some of you have pointed out as proper attire. However, I agree bermuda shorts, tank tops/t-shirts, flip flops, low cut/ see-through blouses should not be worn. But then I hvae seen our local Deacon wearing a flannel shirt/jeans under his vestments…
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Cracker_Mom
Guest
I think this about sums it up.
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