The risk here is that one begins to judge the quality of the priest or the religious by the garb. This is very dangerous. Let’s not forget that child sexual abuse was prominent by those who were priests 40 years ago. These men wore cassocks and habits.
This is not to say that the cassock or habit is at fault. It means that the cassock or habit is not a barometer of orthodoxy or holiness.
I say this with all earnestness. Our men do not wear a habit until they are novices. They were a white shirt and grey slacks for formal dress and whatever they have for work. However, they are very holy men. The quality of the formation, the precision of the screening process, and yest those who are priests are formed to preside, because that is the proper term for a priest at the altar. He is the presider. These men are admitted to solemn vows after 10 grueling years of formation in theology, philosophy, Franciscan studies, ministry, and at least one secular science.
This involves many years of community living, long hours of prayer, daily recitation of the Divine Office, two fast days per week, three Lents per year, never leaving a house (not even to walk the dog) without permission, having their mail read, stopping what they’re doing, even if they’re feeding a sick person, to answer to the call of the bell to a community function, because fraternity is the highest form of love as it is an extension of the mass.
The consecrated brothers and the secular brothers see each other as equals, not as separated by some line of demarcation that St. Francis refused to indulge when he started his family. The secular brothers also spend years in formation, anywhere from 7 to 10, before they can make perpetual profession.
These things make up the crux of our life. These thinks the outsider never sees nor will ever see, because they all happen behind closed doors. All that the outsider ever sees is a professed brother in a habit. He doesn’t even see a priest. Our priests go by Brother, not by Father. Only the superior goes by Father, be he a priest or not.
This association of the cassock and habit with the priesthood is highly exaggerated and this is why the bishops have placed such tight strictures on it.
Cassocks and habits deliver a very powerful sermon when the person wearing it is a loving person who smiles, who is simple, who is not afraid of dirtying his cassock to do manual labor, who can joke, cry and listen. When a man walks into a situation and he plays with the kids, helps the ladies with the heavy boxes, sits on the curb of a sidewalk next to a drunk and listens to his stories, hangs out at a park where drugs are given out as free samples and speaks of the love of Christ and the saving power of God which liberates from such addictions, then the cassock and habit are preaching.
If you’re aloof, arrogant, distant, cold, overly dignified, too special to be patted on the back or to pat another person on the back, too dignified to enjoy a hot dog on a park bench with a group of thugs, then you should wear civilian dress. Don’t let anyone know that you’re Catholic.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, FFV
