What is your reaction to woman wearing a mantilla?

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Brooklyn

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I am purposely not posting this in the Traditional forum because I would like the opinion of Catholics who don’t normally attend the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. I know that outside of the TLM, most women do not wear anything on their heads when they are in church, so it is definitely out of the norm. How do you feel when you see a woman wearing a mantilla in Church? Do you find it somehow offensive and/or distracting, or is it no big deal to you?

Thanks.
 
I am old enough to remember when women still wore them to church regularly.

I have no problem if someone were to wear one today.

At times, I have worn a hat to church when I would walk to church and it was a hot, sunny day and I wanted to keep my head covered and I wanted to protect my head.
 
Brooklyn said:
I am purposely not posting this in the Traditional forum because I would like the opinion of Catholics who don’t normally attend the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. I know that outside of the TLM, most women do not wear anything on their heads when they are in church, so it is definitely out of the norm. How do you feel when you see a woman wearing a mantilla in Church? Do you find it somehow offensive and/or distracting, or is it no big deal to you?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I don’t find a woman wearing offensive, or distracting. The one young woman in my parish who occasionally wears a mantilla, sits well behind where I sit. I only noticed her after Mass.

I only wonder what are her reasons for doing something that makes her stand out among the rest of the congregation.

We had this discussion just recently in a thread on the subject.

Jim
 
I own a mantilla (a black one) which I wore to my husband’s funeral Mass (an Ordinary Form Mass, not in Latin). I still wear it on occasion, particularly when I attend the nearby Church which has a Spanish Mass. At the Spanish Mass, at least half the women wear either a mantilla or a chapel veil (a short version of a lace mantilla). I own two or three chapel veils, and occasionally wear them as well. Wish I owned some hats, as that would be a nice change and not jarring to others. At the Mass I regularly attend weekly, it is held at the Chapel in the Parish Center (handicap accessible) and no one else wears one, so I don’t. A few do wear a hat (usually with matching coat or suit), but I don’t have the money for matching outfits that fancy! I’d like to get a woman’s “fedora” or a beret to wear occasionally. I grew up with all the women wearing hats, scarves or mantillas, so feel normal with them. In my regular Parish it would probably produce a LOT of stares, since none of them wear them.
 
Why would it bother anyone what a woman wears on her head?

I think we should apply the same reasoning here that others do when it comes to how women dress and don’t dress when they come to Mass.

Be grateful that the mantilla wearing woman is there at Mass with you and not in some illicit chapel.

👍
 
I wear one - black because I’m a widow. I don’t consider myself a Traditional Catholic either. I’ve only gotten to attend a Latin Mass a couple of times. Very beautiful and moving. I’d love to see others wearing one but I still don’t mind being the oddball at Church who feels a need to cover her head.

Glenda
 
One gets tired of this stuff. I was raised by a woman
who was catechized in the Eastern Church. Sometimes
I make the Sign of the Cross left to right and sometimes
right to left. Sometimes MY cross making causes
others to comment, snicker etc and others ignore
it. My priest just laughs and says Having an Eastern
day, Mary? He gets it.
The other day I mentioned to my husband
that I would like to go back to head coverings.
He’s all for it as I wire them for years. But there
is exactly one woman in our entire parish who
covers her head and I know the scuttlebutt will
be worse than my cross signing if suddenly I start
wearing head coverings so I’m waiting for a good
snowstorm lol.
But really? If everyone in your pew has a
prayer card to the Holy Spirit but you have one
to the Little Flower, does it make you a weirdo?
People need to start spending more time worrying
about their own business or like my husband
who just takes his glasses off and can’t see who
is wearing or doing what. That is refreshing. This
nitpicking gets so tiresome.
You want a mantilla? Wear a mantilla.
You sign right to left? So be it.
After all your soul belongs to you and God not
the busybody in the second pew over.
 
Personally I wish the wearing of a head covering for women came back, as I am very traditional and they can look so elegant, mantilla’s come in such lovely colors and as for hats elegant. I sometimes go to a Tridentine Mass and all the women have something on there head, so that would include me.
 
marywarfield said:
One gets tired of this stuff. I was raised by a woman
who was catechized in the Eastern Church. Sometimes
I make the Sign of the Cross left to right and sometimes
right to left. Sometimes MY cross making causes
others to comment, snicker etc and others ignore
it. My priest just laughs and says Having an Eastern
day, Mary? He gets it.
The other day I mentioned to my husband
that I would like to go back to head coverings.
He’s all for it as I wire them for years. But there
is exactly one woman in our entire parish who
covers her head and I know the scuttlebutt will
be worse than my cross signing if suddenly I start
wearing head coverings so I’m waiting for a good
snowstorm lol.
But really? If everyone in your pew has a
prayer card to the Holy Spirit but you have one
to the Little Flower, does it make you a weirdo?
People need to start spending more time worrying
about their own business or like my husband
who just takes his glasses off and can’t see who
is wearing or doing what. That is refreshing. This
nitpicking gets so tiresome.
You want a mantilla? Wear a mantilla.
You sign right to left? So be it.
After all your soul belongs to you and God not
the busybody in the second pew over.
Click to expand...
👍
 
marywarfield said:
One gets tired of this stuff. I was raised by a woman
who was catechized in the Eastern Church. Sometimes
I make the Sign of the Cross left to right and sometimes
right to left. Sometimes MY cross making causes
others to comment, snicker etc and others ignore
it. My priest just laughs and says Having an Eastern
day, Mary? He gets it.
The other day I mentioned to my husband
that I would like to go back to head coverings.
He’s all for it as I wire them for years. But there
is exactly one woman in our entire parish who
covers her head and I know the scuttlebutt will
be worse than my cross signing if suddenly I start
wearing head coverings so I’m waiting for a good
snowstorm lol.
**But really? If everyone in your pew has a
prayer card to the Holy Spirit but you have one
to the Little Flower, does it make you a weirdo?
People need to start spending more time worrying
about their own business or like my husband
who just takes his glasses off and can’t see who
is wearing or doing what. That is refreshing. This
nitpicking gets so tiresome. **
You want a mantilla? Wear a mantilla.
You sign right to left? So be it.
After all your soul belongs to you and God not
the busybody in the second pew over.
Click to expand...
One of the best posts I have ever read on CAF!

🙂
 
Around here some do, most don’t. My thoughts are, " None of my business." 🤷
 
I agree – what women wear on their heads (hat, scarf or mantilla) has nothing to do with our faith. It was a tradition for a long time. In some places it has died out, in others it is coming back slowly, and in some it never ceased. Has nothing to do with the Mass, which is where your eyes (and concentration) belong.
 
I absolutely do not care. No reaction, none of my beeswax whatsoever.
 
Brooklyn said:
I am purposely not posting this in the Traditional forum because I would like the opinion of Catholics who don’t normally attend the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. I know that outside of the TLM, most women do not wear anything on their heads when they are in church, so it is definitely out of the norm. How do you feel when you see a woman wearing a mantilla in Church? Do you find it somehow offensive and/or distracting, or is it no big deal to you?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I have no problem with it and think they are very nice.
 
I think some women wear them during Mass.

If I saw someone wearing one outside of Mass, for example while ice skating or horseback riding, I might notice.
 
I actually never gave much thought about it until seeing many posts here leading me to believe more than a few see them as retro-chic and drawing attention to themselves like Pharisees in the temple…of course that would be an unfair generalization if I had not qualified my observation by clearly noting that was the intent of every woman choosing to wear one.
 
There is a woman and her daughter who wear mantillas at Mass (OF, not EF) and a few older ladies who wear hats. As a young, traditional sort of Catholic teen, I would really like to wear a mantilla at Mass out of reverence for my Heavenly King, but my charismatic parents would probably throw me out for it. 😛
 
I usually think, “Yay it’s not just me!” 😛

I’ve never had anyone say anything to me, except when I struck up a conversation with a woman at Daily Mass who had a very lovely one. I asked her where she got it, she told me, and said she liked seeing younger women practice the devotion also (since I had recently begun to veil.)

There are now several women in my age group who do in our OF parish. Many older women have always worn hats.
 
I have worn a mantilla to mass, and although few women, even here, wear them, there are others. I have had problems here, though. One priest told the people in the parish that this is a tradition carried from Spain, where the women used to wear them with a comb, etc.

I’ve been made fun of here for wearing a mantilla during mass by other ladies in that particular parish.

I’m watching “La Pola”, which is a series based on a true story about the Mexican Revolution. The mantilla was also used by women with a comb, and some seemingly without. It shows what it was like. It was, indeed, a tradition from Spain, and I wonder if some modern Mexicans want to disassociate themselves from Spain.

The priest at that one parish here seems to make it out to be something from Spain and tries to do away with it, discourage it, since this is not Spain here but Mexico.

Another priest once told me to take it off, and although it was a direct order from a priest, I didn’t. I don’t think he, even though he was a priest, had a right to tell me to take it off.

It’s my understanding I have the right to wear it. In fact, for the longest time, it was required. Now, it’s no longer required but also not prohibited like some seem to believe.

I believe in Our Lady of Fatima, and she said the Church had no fashions, that God’s always the same. So, I’ve continued this way, because I don’t believe I’m doing anything wrong or sinful.
 
Three of us women who will all wear mantillas were once approached by other women, I think three, who didn’t. They made fun of us, and it ended up in an argument.

I was saying things like, “Let’s go! Let’s leave!” I was hoping it wouldn’t end up in blows!

Needless to say, I normally avoid some of these people and places, now, when I can.

I fail to see where somebody who is wearing a mantilla in church is hurting everybody. Why can’t people just leave them/us alone?
 
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