veiling

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katielyn05

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I am not a catholic (raised evangelical) , but have been very interested in it. I plan on attending a traditional catholic service with a friend soon. Would it be appropriate to wear a head covering?

I didn’t know if it was a strictly for-confirmed-catholics thing, but I remember always wearing a mantilla to my evangelical church on special occasions because my mother was raised catholic and found it appropriate.
 
All the traditional catholic (Latin masses) I’ve been to had all the women and girls with matillas. You’d feel even more out of place if you didn’t wear one. I remember when Laura Bush visited the Vatican, she wore a veil even though she’s a Methodist, I think.
 
"But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head—it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her wear a veil.
“For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. (For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.) That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels…If any one is disposed to be contentious, we recognize no other practice, nor do the churches of God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3-10,16)

When women wear their veil, it is an outward sign of humility, submissiveness, and obedience to Christ.

Why at mass? Because we are going to Christ at His home and totally receive Him in the Eucharist. It is no longer a host of bread but in fact THE Body and Blood of Christ.

I hope this helps. If you are still unsure, since you aren’t Catholic maybe you have a nice hat you would like to wear. Either is appropriate. If you choose not to wear a veil or hat, no one will say anything to you. Traditionalists are always happy to see a new face. 😃
 
katielyn05 said:
I am not a catholic (raised evangelical) , but have been very interested in it. I plan on attending a traditional catholic service with a friend soon. Would it be appropriate to wear a head covering?

I didn’t know if it was a strictly for-confirmed-catholics thing, but I remember always wearing a mantilla to my evangelical church on special occasions because my mother was raised catholic and found it appropriate.
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You are not required to wear any covering should you attend a Catholic service. If you choose to wear one, great; if not, it isn’t a big deal. There are right and wrong reasons to wear one.
 
katielyn05 said:
I am not a catholic (raised evangelical) , but have been very interested in it. I plan on attending a traditional catholic service with a friend soon. Would it be appropriate to wear a head covering?

I didn’t know if it was a strictly for-confirmed-catholics thing, but I remember always wearing a mantilla to my evangelical church on special occasions because my mother was raised catholic and found it appropriate.
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You don’t have to wear one. At the Latin Masses in my area about half of the women don’t wear mantillas. That’s interesting that you and your mother wore them at your evangelical church. Was it common there?
 
I agree with the previous posters you don’t have to wear a veil and you may or may not feel out of place with an uncovered head. My first time at the EF I did not wear one, because I was inexperienced and didn’t know, but I did not feel out of place. No one looked at me with anything other than smiles of welcome. Some of the other women also didn’t cover, although most did but this was an FSSP mass that was newer to the community and I think they were used to having first timers come.
 
JPUSC said:
You don’t have to wear one. At the Latin Masses in my area about half of the women don’t wear mantillas. That’s interesting that you and your mother wore them at your evangelical church. Was it common there?
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Depends on the denomination. We visited a Brethren Church because we had friends in this church; in this denomination, the women wear veils.

We had friends in our Christian and Missionary Alliance Church who wore veils because they felt convicted to do so.
 
katielyn05 said:
I am not a catholic (raised evangelical) , but have been very interested in it. I plan on attending a traditional catholic service with a friend soon. Would it be appropriate to wear a head covering?

I didn’t know if it was a strictly for-confirmed-catholics thing, but I remember always wearing a mantilla to my evangelical church on special occasions because my mother was raised catholic and found it appropriate.
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It is your decision.
Bring it with you, in your purse. If the Holy Spirit moves you to put it on, by all means- do! If not, don’t. It is considered a private devotion.

It is, however, an outward symbol of our humility before Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Especially since He is really present- Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity- in the Eucharist.
 
No- we were definetly the only ones at the evangelical church to do so. however- we are very mexican, so it was more of a cultural thing of how my mother was raised
 
Timothysis said:
You are not required to wear any covering should you attend a Catholic service. If you choose to wear one, great; if not, it isn’t a big deal. There are right and wrong reasons to wear one.
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It is not a completely settled matter whether this is really optional or not. See:

stlouiscatholic.blogspot.com/2008/12/truth-unvieled-head-covering-still.html

and

thepalmhq.googlepages.com/stillbinding%3Ftheveilingofwomenandmeatles

But even if it’s not strictly binding, it’s a practice of apostolic original that was practiced in unbroken tradition for over 1900 years before being set aside for no good reason in the midst of a cultural and liturgical revolution. So it is beautiful that it is returning spontaneously, even without a Vatican mandate.

(No, I don’t have a strong opinion about it 😉 )
 
If its a TLM under the diocese in a diocesan parish then no, you don’t have to wear a veil. However if it is a mass in a private chapel or church not connected to the diocese then they very well may force you too do so. I have heard stories of women being escorted out of such chapels by ushers for the heinous sacrilege of wearing slacks so I guess that not wearing a head covering of some sort would be a major offense to these types of people.

This does not mean however that these institutions are of themselves bad. it’s just that they enforce very strict rules and, if they own the property, then there isn’t much that you can do to stop them from enforcing “their ways”.
 
DavidPalm said:
It is not a completely settled matter whether this is really optional or not.
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Not true. Though I did not read the full article I did think it interesting that the author notes three people who conclude that women are not obliged to wear veils, and then goes off on a long litany explaining why they are wrong. The fact of the matter is, women are no longer obliged by Canon law to veil, period. Its fine if they do, and fine if they don’t but please don’t try to say that it’s really not settled.

It is this type of detailed nuance that cause the endless type of arguments that we see here on CAF.
 
Timothysis said:
Not true. Though I did not read the full article …
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Hmm. You don’t care even to read the other side of the issue, let alone interact with the arguments presented. But nevertheless, “The fact of the matter is, women are no longer obliged by Canon law to veil, period.”

Okay…:confused:

I would just note, even though it could be construed as an invalid argument from authority, that apologist Patrick Madrid found the article I cited above quite convincing:

patrickmadrid.blogspot.com/2008/12/veil-wars.html

The host of St. Louis Catholic responded here:

stlouiscatholic.blogspot.com/2008/12/patrick-madrid-weighs-in-on-veiling.html
 
Why do women specifically have to wear veils to mass? Can’t they just wear hats instead? What about those little beanies that the girls used to wear back in the 50’s?

I admit that, being from the Latin persuasion, Mantillas are nicer (although I tend to prefer the less conspicuous, smaller black ones to the long, cult like looking white ones.
 
Kearney said:
Why do women specifically have to wear veils to mass? Can’t they just wear hats instead?
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They can. My wife and daughters wear berets. It’s about a covered head, not about a “veil”.
 
Uh-oh…I started a debate…might as well throw my two cents in

Anyways…I personally like the matillas. I think they look lovely in a sophisticated kind of way. It doesn’t seem like it is enough of an “inconvenience” for people to care that much in the first place. And I have heard the feminist argument that women shouldn’t have to cover themselves, comparing it to muslim women and such- but the way that I look at it is “look what else is covered in the church- it’s obvious that they don’t see veiling as a way to devalue something” not to mention the added plus of never having to worry about frizzy hair! I know completely that those reason are the not reason or intention of veiling, but they are there anyways, the practical matters. So I am still confused on why a women would not want to wear one unless there is something in the meaning I am missing.

I just see it as- if it is something that is still questionable, why not do it? I could see women not wanting to bother veiling if it was everyone could completely KNOW that that was just fine. But I’m not really one to care what other people do, I just like to be informed about what I myself do. The main point of my first question was really- is something wrong with veiling myself in mass while it is obviously showing that I’m not catholic by not taking communion. But so long as its fine and not a “catholic only” thing, I’m going to go ahead and do it. I personally think it’s a beautiful tradition.

Another random little bit: In packs of baboons, the alpha male covers up the females while the other males are doing important tasks (such as being watchouts) so the males don’t get distracted and can focus on their work. It works better for the pack-more gets done, plus with the watch outs able to concentrate better so the females are in the end safer. Use the analogy as you will.
 
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