What You At Mass Wear Does Matter!

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Chuy said:
Is it too much to ask to dress appropriately while being in His sacramental presence?
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Why are shorts inappropriate? So if I happen to be passing a church during the day, and I am tempted to stop in and spend some time with our Lord, it would be wrong to do so if I happened to be wearing shorts? What if I forgot to bring the required pants, it is still wrong to visit him anyway?
 
M0nkey said:
But I thought Christ said blessed are the poor?!?!?!?!? 😛

I think it’s not that big of a deal to dress up for daily mass, but it is sort of important in Sun. mass. It’s supposed to be a day of celebration in memory of the resurrection.
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I don’t think Jesus would be totally welcome by some people if He showed up at Mass. I’m glad that God is more concerned about our hearts than our clothes.
 
stinkcat_14 said:
Why are shorts inappropriate? So if I happen to be passing a church during the day, and I am tempted to stop in and spend some time with our Lord, it would be wrong to do so if I happened to be wearing shorts? What if I forgot to bring the required pants, it is still wrong to visit him anyway?
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Because it slovenly dress within the context of church/the Mass.
 
Chuy said:
Why not carry a pair of rolled-up lightweight pants to slip on?

That’s precisely what I do.

You wouldn’t have a choice at St. Peter’s at the Vatican or MANY other churches throughout the world.
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I would be more than happy to give you my address so you can send me slacks for my always growing male children. If you could send me more than one pair of each size, so that they don’t feel they have to always wear the same pair of pants to church, that would be nice too.😃 I hope you are regularly giving many pairs of nice new slacks to your local St. Vincent de Paul. :gopray:

If we had nicer clothes, we would wear them. There’s only so much you can do when you don’t have money. I require that they wear a shirt with a collar. No prints or words.

You are really going out on a limb with this one. The Catholic Church is filled with enough beautiful laws and traditions to keep anybody interested for a lifetime, without needing to make up our own.

The message of the Gospel is a call to conversion of our hearts, not our clothing. The Pharisees were satisfied with only cleaning the outside of their cup and dish while the inside remained dirty:

Matt 23:25-26
*** “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.”***

Matt 23:27-29
**"*Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. ***"

I am not calling you a pharisee, I don’t know you, I’m just pointing out some of Christ’s teaching on this very subject.

Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the hearts.
 
This is just a dumb thread. Who in the heck does this poster think he/she is? Geez! Fashion police? I don’t take it upon myself to interview and analyze each Catholic who comes in the door to Mass and check off a rubric of appropriateness. Unless the clothing is outwardly sexual, has beer on it, or is disrespectful, I don’t know the person’s circumstances. They might be on a vacation from out of town, they might not have dress-up clothes, they might have come to Mass after another event and couldn’t get dressed. How do I know? And furthermore, why do I care? I’m there to worship Christ and I cannot arrogantly pretend to judge their sincerity and level of respect for God based on their clothes!!

Do you seriously think first-century Christians all came in tuxedoes? Man…

These kinds of threads are what give Catholics a bad name, not the folks who come to Mass dressed-down a tad. And who the heck made you God over us to say we can’t wear shorts! I don’t give a dang what you say, dude (or lady!), I’m wearing what I want to Mass!

We all can’t be as holy and wonderful as yourself!
 
DJgang said:
Through the years, I’ve attended lots of different Protestant churches and people DO dress nice. They do not wear shorts at all. The very first time I saw shorts in church was at the Catholic Church. 😦
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Interesting… My kids are converts from Calvary Chapel. The original Jesus People of the sixties. Jeans and tie dyes and sandals were the norm a couple of decades ago. If you dress up there, you are “putting on airs.”

I don’t have enough money to overhaul our whole Sunday wardrobe.

Hmmmm… Maybe if I put less money in the basket, and stopped supporting my favorite charity, my kids would have nicer clothes for Church. Yes, that amount of surplus would definitely supply much nicer clothes. 🤷
 
gurneyhalleck1 said:
Do you seriously think first-century Christians all came in tuxedoes? Man…
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Honest truth?

They hadn’t washed their hair in a month, rarely changed their underwear, and didn’t even own toothbrushes.

They didn’t have Speed Stick, and I’m sure they smelled nasty.

Wouldn’t want to give them the greeting of peace. 🤷
 
graceandglory said:
I would be more than happy to give you my address so you can send me slacks for my always growing male children. If you could send me more than one pair of each size, so that they don’t feel they have to always wear the same pair of pants to church, that would be nice too.😃 I hope you are regularly giving many pairs of nice new slacks to your local St. Vincent de Paul. :gopray:

If we had nicer clothes, we would wear them. There’s only so much you can do when you don’t have money. I require that they wear a shirt with a collar. No prints or words.

You are really going out on a limb with this one. The Catholic Church is filled with enough beautiful laws and traditions to keep anybody interested for a lifetime, without needing to make up our own.

The message of the Gospel is a call to conversion of our hearts, not our clothing. The Pharisees were satisfied with only cleaning the outside of their cup and dish while the inside remained dirty:

Matt 23:25-26
*** “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.”***

Matt 23:27-29
**"*Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. ***"

I am not calling you a pharisee, I don’t know you, I’m just pointing out some of Christ’s teaching on this very subject.

Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the hearts.
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Yet more excuses… 🤷
 
graceandglory said:
Interesting… My kids are converts from Calvary Chapel. The original Jesus People of the sixties. Jeans and tie dyes and sandals were the norm a couple of decades ago. If you dress up there, you are “putting on airs.”

I don’t have enough money to overhaul our whole Sunday wardrobe.

Hmmmm… Maybe if I put less money in the basket, and stopped supporting my favorite charity, my kids would have nicer clothes for Church. Yes, that amount of surplus would definitely supply much nicer clothes. 🤷
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You would have to “overhaul our whole Sunday wardrobe” in order not to wear shots, tank tops, tube tops, etc. Really?
 
gurneyhalleck1 said:
This is just a dumb thread. Who in the heck does this poster think he/she is? Geez! Fashion police? I don’t take it upon myself to interview and analyze each Catholic who comes in the door to Mass and check off a rubric of appropriateness. Unless the clothing is outwardly sexual, has beer on it, or is disrespectful, I don’t know the person’s circumstances. They might be on a vacation from out of town, they might not have dress-up clothes, they might have come to Mass after another event and couldn’t get dressed. How do I know? And furthermore, why do I care? I’m there to worship Christ and I cannot arrogantly pretend to judge their sincerity and level of respect for God based on their clothes!!

Do you seriously think first-century Christians all came in tuxedoes? Man…

These kinds of threads are what give Catholics a bad name, not the folks who come to Mass dressed-down a tad. And who the heck made you God over us to say we can’t wear shorts! I don’t give a dang what you say, dude (or lady!), I’m wearing what I want to Mass!

We all can’t be as holy and wonderful as yourself!
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Just who do you think YOU ARE?

This has absolutely nothing to do about “Fashion.” Nothing at all. It’s also not about “dress-up” clothes.

This has to do with people who dress like slobs for Mass and their impact on a parish.

Once they enter the sacred space known as a Catholic church dressed as slobs, it’s no longer a personal matter. Their appearance has a direct and often times offensive impact on the sacred space and others in said space. And no, it’s not up to others to ignore them. It’s up to them to dress in a manner that does not demean the sacred space or offend others.

The problem with you is not “why do I care?” – it’s that you DON’T care. For some reason you feel you can assert the impact of your slovenly dress on the sacred space without consequence and you cannot.

You’re all bent out of shape not because I said anything about “fashion”, “dress-up clothes” or “first century Christians” but because down deep you too know that it is wrong to dress in a profane manner when attending the Mass.

People like YOU give Catholics a bad name when you don’t take responsibility for your actions and when others point out that it’s not OK to dress like a slob for Mass.

Remember the onus is on you to dress in an appropriate manner for Mass, NOT for others to ignore the negative impact of your garb on the sacred space.

Oh yeah, and we’re not first century Christians either…
 
graceandglory said:
Honest truth?

They hadn’t washed their hair in a month, rarely changed their underwear, and didn’t even own toothbrushes.

They didn’t have Speed Stick, and I’m sure they smelled nasty.

Wouldn’t want to give them the greeting of peace. 🤷
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In this regard we can all give thanks we are not first century Christians…
 
Chuy said:
Nothing high and mighty about my comments. I never suggested people should dress-up for Mass, I didn’t say that I dress-up for Mass, nor did I try to define a dress code.
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Chuy doesn’t believe in a dress code, says people shouldn’t dress up, yet calls people “slobs” for what they wear. i think Chuy is toying with us…
 
A bit of scripture for Chuy to chew on (bad pun fully intended):

James 2:1-9

"My brothers, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.

For if a man **with gold rings on his fingers and in fine clothes **comes into your assembly, and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, and **you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes **and say, “Sit here, please,” while you say to the poor one, “Stand there,” or “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs?

Listen, my beloved brothers. Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him? But you dishonored the poor person.

Are not the rich oppressing you? And do they themselves not haul you off to court? Is it not they who blaspheme the noble name that was invoked over you?

However, **if you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. **
 
Chuy said:
Red herring.

What people wear to Mass has a direct and often times offensive impact on the environment in which we worship.

Just the opposite should take place – what people wear to Mass should uplift the environment.
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You sound like a snob. Do you really think God cares what you wear to Mass? He is just happy you are at Mass to worship him.
 
**
I think it does matter what you wear sometimes and it is not about impressing anyone or anything it about being respectful and how you present yourself. I am sure we have all done something that was unpleasing but we made right and fixed because it was the right thing to do.

I know sometimes I wear a western button down shirt and my nicest blue jeans and my boots, I do have better clothes for mass and I think I could do better, but then I see those people that come in with shorts and t-shirts on, I wanna say something but I know I cant.

which reminds me of the this little statement in out church bulletin about appropriate dress and it got my attention. I am sure it got the attention of others. However this is the kind of thing that can make people want to no come to church because they think it is discrimination.

JMO**
 
shhhhh - I even let my teens wear sneakers and hoodies to church - and I make no excuses.

If we are there on time, it means we got out of the house without arguing and procrastination, and to me that is a successful start to my focused worship.

Who wants to start the flogging?😃
 
I have actually taken the time to read this entire thread, which is very rare. While I agree that immodest clothing,short shorts, tube tops, t-shirts with obscene writing etc. are inappropriate for mass, I see absolutely nothing wrong with wearing a nice pair of jeans and a top, or men wearing khaki shorts with a nice polo shirt to Mass. That hardly classifies as slovenly. The definition of slovenly as I have seen used over and over by the OP is:

1.Untidy, as in dress or appearance.
2. negligent and careless
3. always unclean or untidy

If nice jeans and a modest top or khaki shorts with a polo shirt are considered slovenly, I guess I’m slovenly!
 
I think I am the only person I know under 25 who won’t wear jeans to Mass. But that’s just me.

I don’t have a problem with jeans, or t-shirts (so long as they don’t say anything…)

After attending Sunday evening Masses when I was in college at two campuses (one in Italy), I’ve seen ALOT of different clothes being worn at Mass.

The only thing that really bothers me is both guys and girls wearing pajama pants, hoodies and flip flops at Mass. I would occasionally provide service as an EM, and the other EMs were dressed pretty shabbily for being in front of 400 people.

Making the effort to look like one just didn’t roll out of bed actually makes a difference in how people view things. You wouldn’t dare dress like that when going to the club on Saturday night.

Yea, I know that’s “today”, but it is the Mass.

It great that they are attending, but today’s standards are so low that it’s a viscious cycle: don’t say anything for fear they won’t come. And this happens everywhere really, not just in Catholic churches. Anyone been to “formal” receptions lately?

I’m not pinning for the good old days that never were. Just asking for better respect on our part.
 
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