What is proper clothing for any Mass?

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Well, what I think is proper clothing for me in Church is:
  1. Clean
  2. Unwrinkled
  3. No stains, tears, or holes
  4. Fits correctly
  5. Looks appropriate with my body type (minimizes physical flaws)
  6. Longer sleeves (the Church is freezing)
  7. Slacks (NEVER a skirt or dress)
  8. Nylons (with no runs)
  9. Low or medium heels, scuff free and polished which cover the toes
  10. Hair tie that matches my hair color and keeps my hair off my face and collar.
  11. Natural make-up
  12. Wedding ring
  13. Watch
  14. Diamond studs with matching necklace and bracelet
  15. Purse that matches shoes and belt and contains rosary beads and weekly offerring.
  16. Never denim or other coarse cheap fabrics
  17. Never silk or anything that looks extremely expensive.
  18. Never sandals, flip-flops, or sneakers
  19. No hats, ball caps, or headscarves
This is the standard I hold myself to, but don’t always attain. I get better all the time though. I wouldn’t dream of telling somebody else what to wear because I can be so picky.
 
laskowski said:
It has been 100 degrees in Florida and I went to mass monday morning in levi shorts and of cours a shirt… I think God was happy that I was there.
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OF COURSE, GOD WAS HAPPY YOU WERE THERE! But because He takes such delight to see you in His House don’t you feel you owe Him more? Your levi shorts probably looked very nice - for a ball game. I think our Heavenly Father deserves more.
 
MrsMW said:
I think some of it is a backlash against the modern Brittany Spears outfits.
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Although I agree that Ms. Spears has done her share of damage to our current social mores, what we are talking about are time-honored standards of dress and behaviors. In this anything goes society of ours today, we have forgotten what we were taught by Ms. Manners and Emily Post.
 
Philothea53 said:
Although I agree that Ms. Spears has done her share of damage to our current social mores, what we are talking about are time-honored standards of dress and behaviors. In this anything goes society of ours today, we have forgotten what we were taught by Ms. Manners and Emily Post.
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The time honored standard is modesty. Many things like women wearing slacks or men dressing in kilts are cultural. In Jesus day no man would have worn pants. Catholics who put women wearing pants on the level of sin make us look stupid.

I wasn’t putting the blame on Brittany but rather showing her to be an example of the horrible attitude people have towards real modesty. When contraception became the norm we took turned women and men into objects to be used for sex. The indecent clothes are a natural progression of that.
 
MrsMW said:
When contraception became the norm we took turned women and men into objects to be used for sex. The indecent clothes are a natural progression of that.
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Ain’t that a fact! Seems like our entire culture took a dive right about that time, doesn’t it?

I’m hopeful though. In my young adult sons I see decent, hard-working, moral young men who have a very clear vision of what the world should look like. And it’s all good. And I get this same good feeling from many of their friends.

Prayer. Prayer. Prayer.
 
Philothea53 said:
Ain’t that a fact! Seems like our entire culture took a dive right about that time, doesn’t it?

I’m hopeful though. In my young adult sons I see decent, hard-working, moral young men who have a very clear vision of what the world should look like. And it’s all good. And I get this same good feeling from many of their friends.

Prayer. Prayer. Prayer.
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I have 2 little girls and another one on the way. I’ll do my best to raise them to be strong, Catholic, and modest women. It helps to have a great Dad who really loves them. My protestant Dad was and is this way. If he only had the Catholic Faith he would be a Saint! I can tell you his face in my mind kept me out of alot of trouble. My mom making sure I had a modest one piece bathing suit sure bugged me at the time but now I say “Thanks Mom”!

I’ll say a prayer for your boys to keep up the good work! The world needs more men like them! I married one! I still thank his Mom!
 
The Mass is the highest form of praise and prayer.I pray that the Lord injects more and more understanding in me of its meaning. The question of clothes to wear comes up only because some of or us don’t understand the Mass deep enough.Perhaps those who do, doing whatever little they can, can provide a significant solution. One of the best remedy,perhaps the best, is with us, our knees. This is my first time and I am happy being able to contribute whatever little to the discussion. I hope to be an active part of our future discussions/ May God Bless us all.

In Jesus & Mary,

Lino
 
I, personally, have no problem wearing shorts and a t-shirt to mass. Of course, we shouldn’t wear anything sexually revealing for the sake of others, but we shouldn’t do that anywhere. As long as a shirt doesn’t have a picture of the devil or cuss words or something, I don’t see a problem. Again, pictures of the devil and cuss words shouldnt be worn anywhere.

It seems ridiculous to me that God would judge us on something so material and external as our clothing. I simply wear whats comfortable.

It’s society that tells us that a a suit and tie is more dressy that a t-shirt, not God. Of course you dress up for a nice restaurant becaue society has put dress codes in place, not God.
 
If only the Mass is deeply interiorized, this would not even be a discussion topic. Those for whom such thing as this is not a problem can all use the best remedy possible- our knees. If he is known to us, better - we can talk to him/her. Or perhaps if we know of somebody close to him, he can do the talking to help. The Lord certainly wants and deserves the best from us- we do this in obedience to Him, the best offering that we can give him. Nothing can be more appropriate in seeking His light on this.

I am grateful to Him for leading me to this group. You’ll all be remembered in my family’s prayers. May He bless all of us powerfully.
 
Lino said:
If only the Mass is deeply interiorized, this would not even be a discussion topic. Those for whom such thing as this is not a problem can all use the best remedy possible- our knees. If he is known to us, better - we can talk to him/her. Or perhaps if we know of somebody close to him, he can do the talking to help. The Lord certainly wants and deserves the best from us- we do this in obedience to Him, the best offering that we can give him. Nothing can be more appropriate in seeking His light on this.

I am grateful to Him for leading me to this group. You’ll all be remembered in my family’s prayers. May He bless all of us powerfully.
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You are right - we are to interiorize. I personally have my eyes closed through most of the Mass to aid in interiorization. But that isn’t to say that it’s all good for those who choose to dress for Mass as if they were going to a ball game or to the hardware store to do so. We ARE our brother’s keepers. We are charged with caring for one another. We need to concern ourselves with preventing scandal, sacrilege, and confusion. That doesn’t mean that I would walk up to you in church and tell you that you were dressed inappropriately but in this forum, where better than to educate ourselves to being the best we can be? I know I’ve learned a lot from those here. Sometimes my first impulse was to pull back and fire a volley, but by the time I finished typing I realized I had learned a lesson that I didn’t even know I needed to learn.

Thank God for Catholic Answer Forum and all you learned Catholics!
 
PeteZaHut said:
I, personally, have no problem wearing shorts and a t-shirt to mass. Of course, we shouldn’t wear anything sexually revealing for the sake of others, but we shouldn’t do that anywhere. As long as a shirt doesn’t have a picture of the devil or cuss words or something, I don’t see a problem. Again, pictures of the devil and cuss words shouldnt be worn anywhere.

It seems ridiculous to me that God would judge us on something so material and external as our clothing. I simply wear whats comfortable.

It’s society that tells us that a a suit and tie is more dressy that a t-shirt, not God. Of course you dress up for a nice restaurant becaue society has put dress codes in place, not God.
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So you are willing to live by “society’s” dress code. Would you live by your parish’s dress code?
 
Sister_Marie said:
If you truly believe what you wrote about the Great I AM which was beautiful & matches my sentiments THEN your exterior clothing & deportment will match what you believe. How you dress & act directly affects the way you believe, meditate & pray.
If we truly believe that Jesus is Present, body,soul,humanity &divinity in the Blessed Sacrament how could the way we dress for Mass NOT be important. Clean clothes that cover what should be covered. Be aware of the other persons who are also attending Mass. “Will my attire (or lack of) be distracting to them?”
I will even more strongly about the behavior or rather the lack of good behavior both before & after Mass. If you choose not to send time talking to Our Lord who at these sacred moments is now enthroned in our hearts AT LEAST refrain from talking out of respect for those who cherish these precious moments.
Our Lord told Sister Faustina that when He comes to the soul in Holy Communion His hands are full of graces that He wishes to bestow of it. But I am ignored, the soul finds so many other things to be distracted by. I am treated as a dead object."
I attend Mass daily. There seems not to be quite as many people who appear to forget why they came to Mass. WHY
so that our hearts may touch the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Our own hearts at these moments are entwined. Are melted together as the wax of two burning candles. For the 10 minutes or so that Jesus is actually present in us we experience Heaven. We are actually united to the Holy Trinity. Can you imagine WE TOUCH GOD!!! Maybe if more people really understood what is happening at Mass we wouldn’t have to talk about clothing or behavior. WHERE ARE OUR SHEPHERDS? Where are our priests that need to be our teachers.
I find myself almost in tears at having to attend Mass at my parish. The lack of respect for Our Lord’s Presence, homilies that say nothing, the distraction… Even at the Abbey, which once was a bastion or respect for Our Lord & the Liturgies noise & commotion reign supreme. However, the celebration of the Mass is so beautiful… I finally found a way to handle the after Mass distractions. I preset my MP3 player with Eucharistic songs & tuck away a pair of ear plugs. When everyone is leaving with all of their lack of care for the Lord who would like to spend these precious moments with them > I can sit down, turn on the music, close my eyes & be wrapped in the arms of the Lord.
I don’t know about anyone else but there is no way I would have made it thru life without His daily Presence. I have survived a heart attack, burst aneurysm which required brain surgery, a deceased agll bladder which shut down my liver (the second time I was told I probably wouldn’t make it) and then cancer.
All of this happened in ten years. NOW I am in complete leg braces because of my knees. I own a stained glass company which requires I climb ladders & stand for hours on my scaffolding. I go to Mass & borrow the Lord’s knees for the day.
He keeps me going. Oh how I long for the day that our priests would no longer be afraid to actually teach & talk about the Lord.
God bless,
Sister Marie
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Thank you and God Bless. You have expressed what many of us feel but have not been able to put into words.

I don’t have a MP3 but my walkman is my lifeline for holy songs and peace when things get loud and I get anxious. The joy felt at Mass is not something that can be easily explained.
 
Windmill said:
The Protestants and the Jews put us to shame with regards to Sunday (or Sabbath) dress. Stand outside any protestant church or jewish temple and watch what they walk out in. And these people don’t have the Eucharist!
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This is true, and throw the GO in there, too.

Part of the issue is, does the church building have air conditioning? I think the skimpier clothes came in partly because of how hot it was in a building with all the people all around you. If the church is air conditioned, then more respectable clothing should be worn.

In my parish, motorcycle logo and Cancun t-shirts are quite visible (senor frog).

Then, too, I don’t like priests in sandals. It represents very little and is more distracting than anything.
 
MrsMW said:
I don’t think what you are talking about is bad. I live in southern California and it is over a hundred many days in the summer. I would never wear shorts to church but a nice sleeveless blouse I would.

Some people just get carried away with rules. I think some of it is a backlash against the modern Brittany Spears outfits. They have gone to the extreme against the culture of immodesty.
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Maybe to an extent. But, when a woman moves around and the person next to you turns toward you, the bra or lack of one is quite visible in sleveless blouses. Many of the sleeveless blouses on the market today show bra straps and lots of skin.😊
 
Crumpy said:
This is true, and throw the GO in there, too.

Part of the issue is, does the church building have air conditioning? I think the skimpier clothes came in partly because of how hot it was in a building with all the people all around you. If the church is air conditioned, then more respectable clothing should be worn.

In my parish, motorcycle logo and Cancun t-shirts are quite visible (senor frog).

Then, too, I don’t like priests in sandals. It represents very little and is more distracting than anything.
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Raised in Miami Florida. 1950’s and 1960’s no air conditioning and there were no: shorts, halter tops (yes we had them), bathing suits or other skimpy clothing.🤷 Now that there is air conditioning it seems that many people are wearing less and less to Mass.:eek:
 
KathleenElsie said:
Maybe to an extent. But, when a woman moves around and the person next to you turns toward you, the bra or lack of one is quite visible in sleveless blouses. Many of the sleeveless blouses on the market today show bra straps and lots of skin.😊
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But many do not.
I own a number of sleeveless mock turtlenecks. They show nothing but my arms. It doesn’t matter what I do, you cannot see down my into my shirt. You can tell that I have a bra on because if I didn’t you would know. But it has nothing to do the shirt and everything to do with my size. I have a number of sleeveless shirts from the same company. None of their shirts can you see anything but my arms. 🤷

So, is it a problem with sleeveless shirts or a problem with how some people wear them?
 
On the matter of wearing shorts to mass. Does it matter whether it is a weekday mass or a sunday mass? Should there be a different dress code on different days? When I visit Chicago, I know of several churches that have adoration. Sometimes I am there in the summer and I am walking around the city in shorts. Is it wrong to stop in for some adoration if I am wearing shorts?
 
Someone pointed out that we cannot really look at our Protestant brethren as how we should dress. I have to argue with my husband to get him to wear khakis and a polo to Mass, heaven forbid I suggest a tie. Christmas was a mess, getting him into a suit for Christmas/Easter. He used to wear t-shirts and jeans/jean shorts to service with his parents, khakis on Christmas/Easter.
 
I cannot believe what passes for appropriate attire nowday. Last Sunday the woman bringing up the offeratory was wearing leopard pants…I kid you not! The women lectors and distributors all had pants on. How much trouble is it to put on a skirt or dress and look like a lady?! I require our girls to wear knee length skirts and modest tops. Our boys wear khakis and a shirt. For goodness sakes people we’re going to the Lord’s house not the supermarket! Blessings, Kim
 
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