What You At Mass Wear Does Matter!

[Chuy]

As long as someone isn’t dressing immodestly or wearing a vulgar t-shirt, I don’t see what the problem is.
What happened to “come as you are”? If someone’s heart is in the right place, what does it matter if they have shorts and sneakers on? And I have to wonder if a person’s heart is in the right place if they have time to criticize other people’s attire at Mass. Remove the beam from your own eye before trying to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye. Do you think Jesus cares what you are wearing if you’re focused on HIM? I don’t.

BTW in response to the shorts comment, not all churches are air conditioned. I used to attend St. Monica’s in NYC and it was NOT air conditioned and was miserably hot in the summer. And I’m not talking about 20 years ago, I only left NYC a little over a year ago.

Naw, you simply don’t get it…

Here they come. The guy with the ball cap, Cosmos’ Tavern t-shirt, shorts and flip flops. His companion wearing the tube-top and Daisy Dukes, also with flip flops.

They just visually polluted OUR worship space. It’s not THEIR worship space it is OUR worship space and ultimately GOD’S worship space. I’ve had enough of that. It’s ON THEM not to be offensive, not on us to accept their slovenly ways.

Their disrespect to God is a whole other matter.

So let’s just do away with the following excuses:

• God doesn’t care what I wear.
• It’s too hot not to wear shorts and tank-tops.
• I have a soccer game before/after Mass.
• I am on my way home from work or I have to go to work after Mass.
• I am just happy they are at Mass.
• I don’t like to wear a suit/tie. (No one asked you to.)

90 seconds. That’s what it takes me to go from tourist slob to presentable and unoffensive to others.

 

[1holycatholic]

as a guy, i find it hard to concentrate at mass with girls showing off their breasts or wearing really tight jeans.

just sayin’.

A woman in a tennis outfit sat in the pew in front of me at Mass.

Ladies, I don’t need to see your panties at Mass.

 

[LilyM]

as a guy, i find it hard to concentrate at mass with girls showing off their breasts or wearing really tight jeans.

just sayin’.

Absoutely. Immodesty is definitely out. I certainly try to avoid wearing stained or torn clothing as well.

As for solemnity or formality of dress - well, depends on your rationale.

I would dress up for the Pope King or President, or my boss at work, simply because I know that they, being humans, share the common human failing of judging people by their appearances. And because I, also being human, share to a degree the common failing of worrying a bit too much about what is called ‘human respect’.

For some, being well-dressed elevates their minds to God, and more power you, Chuy, if you’re one of 'em. For me it elevates my ego and nothing else.
Allowances also need to be made for the fact that for some people such as myself, our normal at-home or running-errands-around-the-neighbourhood dress is usually slobbish in the extreme, so simply finding and wearing clean and unripped clothing IS a real effort and a big step up for us.

I seriously doubt Mary or John, for example, nipped back home for a quick change into their good-occasion threads before heading off to join Jesus at the foot of the Cross, nor would they have been done up in their finest on Easter, being still deep in grief and mourning.

I DO get it, Chuy, that’s the problem. If you seriously, with all your heart and soul, believed that it was Our Lord there in front of you at the altar, you probably wouldn’t, and certainly shouldn’t, be giving a rats whether the people around you were stark naked, or even if there was anyone else there at all apart from you and Him - you’d be focusing on Christ present before you to the exclusion of all else.

So just worry about what you wear, unless what other people wear is actually an occasion of sin by being immodest, carrying satanic or offensive pictures or slogans, or similar. Offer up all other distractions to God and leave the issue of other peoples’ dress, for the most part, between themselves and Him, to whom they have to answer and not to you.

 

[LilyM]

Naw, you simply don’t get it…

Here they come. The guy with the ball cap, Cosmos’ Tavern t-shirt, shorts and flip flops. His companion wearing the tube-top and Daisy Dukes, also with flip flops.

They just visually polluted OUR worship space. It’s not THEIR worship space it is OUR worship space and ultimately GOD’S worship space. I’ve had enough of that. It’s ON THEM not to be offensive, not on us to accept their slovenly ways.

Their disrespect to God is a whole other matter.

So let’s just do away with the following excuses:

• God doesn’t care what I wear.
• It’s too hot not to wear shorts and tank-tops.
• I have a soccer game before/after Mass.
• I am on my way home from work or I have to go to work after Mass.
• I am just happy they are at Mass.
• I don’t like to wear a suit/tie. (No one asked you to.)

90 seconds. That’s what it takes me to go from tourist slob to presentable and unoffensive to others.

what about the time you wasted shopping for that clothing in the first place? And the money? And the mental effort? Sounds like you’ve devoted a whole lot more than 90 seconds, my friend, and we all have to account for every idle moment and dollar spent on such (possibly) vanities.

 

[Chuy]

what about the time you wasted shopping for that clothing in the first place? And the money? And the mental effort? Sounds like you’ve devoted a whole lot more than 90 seconds, my friend, and we all have to account for every idle moment and dollar spent on such (possibly) vanities.

Please be rational.

The shopping is a sunk cost. I did not buy the clothes specifically for the Mass. Money? We all need to wear clothes and they were inexpensive.

90 seconds preparing to enter the church, 90 seconds after leaving.

I even prayed during those 3 minutes. I prayed for tolerance for the visual polluters and those with ludicrous excuses.

 

[LilyM]

Please be rational.

The shopping is a sunk cost. I did not buy the clothes specifically for the Mass. Money? We all need to wear clothes and they were inexpensive.

Yes we all need to wear clothes, but I’m sure you didn’t just walk in and pick the first thing off the rack that fit you and looked half-decent, as many of us casual dressers tend to do, did you? And you still spent, I bet, a considerable amount more than your average Joe Schmo.

‘Vanity, vanity, all is vanity’

90 seconds preparing to enter the church, 90 seconds after leaving.

I even prayed during those 3 minutes. I prayed for tolerance for the visual polluters and those with ludicrous excuses.

How very big of you. ‘I thank you, O Lord, that I am not as these others …’ as our acquaintance the Pharisee prayed, as opposed to the publican who recognised and concentrated on his OWN faults and failings rather than even mentioning in passing those of others.

 

[Chuy]

oh, one last thing.
sometimes a homeless man shows up for mass. he wears dirty clothes and stinks but i think that maybe God uses that to purify the people that he chooses to sit around. i tend to think that maybe they would recieve a grace from God if they don’t think “this is mass, slob!”

I wouldn’t characterize such a person as dressed in a slovenly manner for Mass. That’s obviously the best they have…

That’s another typical excuse. People suggesting that the poor and homeless dress like slobs and that we should not discriminate. Another red herring.

Lotta difference between some guy in a Polo tank-top, Bass shorts and flip flops made from fine Corinthian leather and a poor homeless person…

 

[Chuy]

Yes we all need to wear clothes, but I’m sure you didn’t just walk in and pick the first thing off the rack that fit you and looked half-decent, as many of us casual dressers tend to do, did you? And you still spent, I bet, a considerable amount more than your average Joe Schmo.

‘Vanity, vanity, all is vanity’

How very big of you. ‘I thank you, O Lord, that I am not as these others …’ as our acquaintance the Pharisee prayed, as opposed to the publican who recognised and concentrated on his OWN faults and failings rather than even mentioning in passing those of others.

A sunk cost. No extra time was spent deciding which clothes to purchase because I might one day wear them to Mass.

People sure get snippy when their excuses are taken away for dressing inappropriately at Mass…

90 Seconds…

 

[LilyM]

A sunk cost. No extra time was spent deciding which clothes to purchase because I might one day wear them to Mass.

People sure get snippy when their excuses are taken away for dressing inappropriately at Mass…

90 Seconds…

… that you wasted that I didn’t.

Assuming that you were dressed cleanly and modestly, and therefore perfectly appropriately, before the change. As I was and always am for Mass.

Case closed.

 

[Chuy]

Sorry, no “case closed”

I don’t think that a t-shirt and shorts are appropriate for the Mass. My parents didn’t raise a slob. That’s why I changed clothes.

You truly believe 90 seconds changing clothes so I wouldn’t look like a slob at Mass is “wasted” time? Is that right?

You gotta be kidding. Take away the excuses and you come up with this? Seriously?

That sorta mindset has taken a real toll on the environment in which the Mass is routinely offered…

 

[Veronica7978]

I can’t wait to see some of you people in heaven telling God who should be there and who shouldn’t based on your beliefs.

This conversation goes 'round and 'round along with the bringing kids to church, and both are equally offensive.

 

[Chuy]

I can’t wait to see some of you people in heaven telling God who should be there and who shouldn’t based on your beliefs.

This conversation goes 'round and 'round along with the bringing kids to church, and both are equally offensive.

This thread is about dressing in a manner that will not pollute our worship spaces.

Why do you bring-up a red herring like “telling God who should be there and who shouldn’t based on your beliefs”? Is it an attempt to de-rail the conversation?

Because there really is no reason to dress like a slob for the Mass? No, this isn’t just a matter of my personal beliefs. It’s the way it is. The more some people bristle against that truth, the more they realize its existence and their need for whatever reason to ignore it.

People should not dress like slobs for Mass. Doing so doesn’t just effect themselves – it impacts others as well…

 

[Among_Strangers]

What You At Mass Wear Does Matter!

Because What You At Mass Wear Reflects On Those Around You. How Then They Can Be Judgemetal All Time If Wear Does Not Matter?

For A New I Give Command You, Love What A Person Mass Wears If It’s Good Enough.

For They Will Know You By Ticked Off How You Get At Slobs.

 

[Chuy]

Because What You At Mass Wear Reflects On Those Around You. How Then They Can Be Judgemetal All Time If Wear Does Not Matter?

For A New I Give Command You, Love What A Person Mass Wears If It’s Good Enough.

For They Will Know You By Ticked Off How You Get At Slobs.

It’s not a matter of others being judgmental. It’s a matter of entering a sacred space while dressed like a slob. It’s about polluting a sacred space with our slovenly behavior and having our actions impact others.

The onus is on the slobs to clean up their acts – not on those they impact to ignore their slovenly behavior.

 

[redrosetea]

If you are dressing immodestly it certainly matters…the CCC says we are not to be our neighbors tempters

I have never seen anyone dressed like a slob at mass

 

[Among_Strangers]

It’s not a matter of others being judgmental. It’s a matter of entering a sacred space while dressed like a slob. It’s about polluting a sacred space with our slovenly behavior and having our actions impact others.

The onus is on the slobs to clean up their acts – not on those they impact to ignore their slovenly behavior.

I wish all I had to worry about was whether some other guy at Mass was dressed good enough for me or not. Maybe we should all take off our shoes before we go into Church. Moses thinks that’s a good idea when coming close to a sacred space. Why don’t we do that? Then we can worry if our socks are good enough or not.

If anyone is overly concerned about the way someone else is dressed at Mass I suggest closing your eyes and praying. You don’t have to look at them and you get the added bonus of doing the thing at Church you came to do.

This place on CAF is always the best place to go when I need a laugh.

 

[Chuy]

I really am curious why at least around here Protestants and the Orthodox dress a lot better for their services on the average than Catholics do for the Mass?

I don’t see a lot of suits, sport coats or ties when I drive by and see them in front of their buildings. But I also NEVER see shorts, tank tops, tube tops, other skimpy tops, ball caps, blue jeans, offensive t-shirts, etc.

Admittedly my sample is not large, but I would love to know why it’s the way it is?

 

[FrCorey]

**What You At Mass Wear Does Matter! **

Dressing like a slob for Mass discounts the sacred environment for everyone attending the Mass, not just the slobs.

Around here it’s rarely a matter of people wearing inappropriate clothes because it’s all the can afford (the poor dress inexpensively but formally for Mass around here.) It’s a matter of some people dressing like slobs.

That includes shorts (I don’t care how hot it is or if your kids just got off the soccer field or work), tank tops; tops with vulgar messages; ball caps (extra points if it’s worn cockeyed or turned backwards), suggestive clothing, ultra-tight clothing, etc.

Just came from work or going to work after Mass? Change your clothes in the parking lot or elsewhere! I have done it many, many times! Don’t own anything other than blue jeans? Skip a lunch and spend $5.00 at your local Catholic thrift shoppe.

There is absolutely no excuse to dress like a slob at Mass. Doing so does take a toll and it should be stopped.

It’s also about respect.
You are visiting the king of all in his house, He knows
if that is all you can afford or not. would you visit royalty
dressed in anything but your best?
Show some respect to the risen Lord!

 

[FrCorey]

I really am curious why at least around here Protestants and the Orthodox dress a lot better for their services on the average than Catholics do for the Mass?

I don’t see a lot of suits, sport coats or ties when I drive by and see them in front of their buildings. But I also NEVER see shorts, tank tops, tube tops, other skimpy tops, ball caps, blue jeans, offensive t-shirts, etc.

Admittedly my sample is not large, but I would love to know why it’s the way it is?

same in a jewish temple. everyone is in thier best dressed to appear before the Lord.

 

[Chuy]

same in a jewish temple. everyone is in thier best dressed to appear before the Lord.

I agree Fr. Before starting this thread I long pondered the litany of excuses people invoke for dressing like slobs at Mass:

• It’s too hot. It’s too cold.
• God doesn’t care.
• At least I attend Mass – that’s all that counts.
• At least they are here – that’s all that counts.
• Only pharisees notice what other people wear at Mass.
• Mass is about worshiping God, it’s not a fashion show.
• I don’t like wearing a suit/tie or dress.
• My pastor doesn’t care.
• I’m going/coming from work.
• Around here blue-jeans are considered dressy.

And when it comes down to it, they are just that, excuses. I don’t think people should be required to wear suit and tie or a dress – that’s purely up to them.

What I do know is that shorts, shower flip-flops, soccer uniforms, tank tops, tube tops, other revealing clothes, overly tight clothes, blue jeans, t-shirts with crude graphics, etc. etc. have NO PLACE at Mass. None. The fact that they are routinely worn at Mass says something terribly wrong about the prevailing situation.

Yes they do show a lack of respect for God but they also pollute the worship space. The onus is not on people to ignore the slovenly dressed people but for the slovenly dressed to wear clothes that will not pollute the worship space.