Veiling challenge

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She doesn’t wear a veil, consecrated female religious veil.

Laity wear head coverings.
 
One of the things he said was that he wanted he not to veil when she was leading the choir. His reason for this was uniformity. There is only one other woman in the choir who veils of the 7 or 8 regular women members. He also spoke to the 2 women EMHC’s who veil saying the same thing.
Not sure what I’m not reading. He’s looking for uniformity in the choir and in liturgical ministries. It’s an easy choice—wear your head covering and sit in the pew or don’t—and lead the choir.
 
Pretty sure Jesus would hear my confession no matter what I was wearing so that was Padre Pio’s personal choice.
 
What? Having people criticize every decision that they make, labeling them “liberals” & “modernists” because they disagree with some traditional parishioner? Having parishioners leave/cause drama because they don’t like your choice Eucharistic prayers or songs or how you homilize?

Having worked with men who are discerning the priesthood, many of these things are brought up. They see them in their own parishes and have sometimes been affected by them. Who in their right mind would actually want to spend their life dealing with that kind of negativity?
 
He also reminded married women they should not wear white veils as it meant they were available.
This is his own opinion, as the color of one’s head covering makes no difference.

I have my Grandmother’s “chapel veil” (looks like a lace doily), it is white, and she not only was married, but a widow. She did have a black shawl-type covering she wore in winter, but during the summer her chapel veil was in a little pouch in her purse.
 
Perhaps the priest’s mind will be changed should she decide not to do it if she can’t veil. I really can’t say what the OP’s wife should do but I’m upset a priest would put her in such a position, and even more so about what the liberals on here who would never veil in a million years have to say about it.
I’m a moderate liberal, who would never in a million years cover my head in church unless required of all women. I find the practice hideous and disgusting. Still, I have to admit, what’s good for me isn’t good for everyone. Just as I support my own decision to never cover my head, I respect another woman’s right to do so, and I don’t judge them.

In this case, however, the priest is the boss. Talking with him privately might help the woman’s cause.
 
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She doesn’t wear a veil, consecrated female religious veil.
I think the semantics is partly why I hate the practice so much. If they’d call it a head covering, like it is, I might not hate it so much. One of my failings, but we all have our foibles. I never interfere with women who cover their head or treat them with anything but respect. :roll_eyes:
 
Okay I’m curious. Why do you think women covering their heads is hideous and disgusting???
 
Yes, why would you consider covering one’s head in the presence of God hideous and disgusting?
 
I think the issue here is a lack of understanding of what that piece of cloth represents.

From Veils by Lily:

"Why do Catholic women wear chapel veils at Mass?
The veil is meant to be an external sign of a woman’s interior desire to humble herself before God, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. As women, we are symbols of the Church - the Bride of Christ - and “the veil is meant to be a visible reminder of the perfect submission of the Church to the loving rule of Christ.”

For 2000 years, Catholic women have worn some kind of head covering in Church. Though the particular reasons for doing so have varied (for example, modesty in the time of St. Paul), this practice has always focused on the transcendence of the place - the church, the very dwelling of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Having been given this magnificent Gift by Jesus himself, every Catholic church holds something not found anywhere else: the true, living presence of our Bridegroom, hidden under the appearance of bread and wine.

“The veil is a visual sermon, … a public proclamation before the Lord that He IS the Lord and that we love Him and that we are ready to obey him. It’s a totally counter-cultural statement proclaiming obedience in the midst of a culture that is totally permeated with this attitude of ‘I will not serve.’”

The veil is a sign of the great dignity inherent to a woman, who has the potential to receive life within herself… both human life and the supernatural life of God. This is an important message the world needs to hear, now more than ever!"
 
a veil represents a moral duty.
It is a self-imposed one though, not one the the Church requires.
Again, this is something that until 1983 was actually required in the Code of Canon Law (whether practiced or not) when it became optional to the individual.
The 1917 Code has been abrogated and replaced by the 1983 code. It is no longer required. Wearing a head covering today represents a personal choice not a Church duty unless you are consecrated religious and it is required of you by your order or congregation.
 
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He also reminded married women they should not wear white veils as it meant they were available.
Not only is that inaccurate, but it seems to contradict the argument I commonly hear for veils, which is that it is a sign of humility and modesty. Wearing a veil which signifies your “availability” turns the veil from humble devotion to personal advertisement.
 
Okay I’m curious. Why do you think women covering their heads is hideous and disgusting???
First, I know they may be very humble and devoted. I am not judging them, but I can’t help too much how I feel. I can only try to temper those feelings with reason.

It used to be the custom for all women to cover their heads. In many small towns in Italy and Spain, it still is. It is not the custom in the US and never has been.

When I see women wearing mantillas - not hats - I feel like they are trying to call attention to themselves and make the statement, “See how holy I am, how devoted? I’m better than you are.”

Even if they don’t feel that way, they would have to be blind to know anything but a hat calls attention to them.

Yes, the church is the house of the Lord, but God is omnipresent. We are always in his presence, so I don’t buy the excuse or reason of being in God’s presence. Yes, there is the Eucharist, but if a person is in a state of grace, the Holy Spirit abides within.
 
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I’ve struggled with this too. I wouldn’t describe the practice as hideous but I have always found it odd that they choose something that so obviously makes them a point of interest. Why mantilla veils specifically in a culture where mantilla veils weren’t necessarily the norm? From what I understand hats were.

Personally I was called to cover and I wear hats. I blend in. People presume I’m doing it because I’m too lazy to do my hair and I’m fine with that because the practice is between me and God, not me and them.
 
Hats don’t bother me one iota, not that it really matters.
 
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Yes, by 1976 veiling had stopped. In the late 1960’s early 1970’s feminists in the N.O.W. told women to stop wearing veils or any other kind of headcovering on their head. They didn’t understand why women wore them and that lack of knowledge has been handed down to us and sadly now some people think it is disgusting.

I remember very clearly when we stopped wearing veils and since it is such a sore spot with feminists many in the Church have never addressed it, until recently as the practice is returning.
 
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