Why do Catholic men shave their faces?

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Banaticus:
Why do Catholic men shave their faces?
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And this question is leading where?
 
So they don’t have beards. Which, oddly enough, is the same reason that Jewish, Muslim and Protestant men shave their faces. We’re very ecumenical about shaving.
 
I know a lot of Catholic men who have beards and a lot of Mormons who don’t. So, what is the purpose of your question?
 
My own religion (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints) suggests that all faithful members should consider being well groomed and otherwise following missionary guidelines – one of which is to be clean shaven. Not that I’m suggesting that a person with a beard cannot be well groomed. Far from it.

I’ve recently been reading about the Eastern Orthodox religion. I posted in that forum asking about beards/robes. I noticed this thread, forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=82715
Originally I thought that they wore beards for the same reasons as the Jews do – I guess I was mistaken.

I wondered why most every western religion believes in a clean-shaven face and thought that I’d start asking why Roman Catholics do so. So I came here to the Roman Catholic forum and asked. 🙂 I have no ulterior motive for asking.
 
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Banaticus:
I wondered why most every western religion believes in a clean-shaven face and thought that I’d start asking why Roman Catholics do so. So I came here to the Roman Catholic forum and asked. 🙂 I have no ulterior motive for asking.
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Sorry for the suspicion. It’s just that we frequently get folks here who ask a “loaded” question only to show that we Catholics are wrong about this or that. So, most of us old timers either don’t respond or ask the purpose of the question.
 
For my religion, having a beard is not a point of doctrine. Although the Church suggests that, should a man have a beard, it should be well groomed. The Church also asks people to consider keeping their personal grooming in line with missionary standards.

Is it a similar practice in the Roman Catholic church? Not a point of doctrine, but merely a tradition?
 
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Banaticus:
For my religion, having a beard is not a point of doctrine. Although the Church suggests that, should a man have a beard, it should be well groomed. The Church also asks people to consider keeping their personal grooming in line with missionary standards.

Is it a similar practice in the Roman Catholic church? Not a point of doctrine, but merely a tradition?
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I’m not aware of any particular requirement regarding facial hair. Generally, though, it is considered disrepectful to go to Mass without being well groomed.
 
I wonder if Jesus would be considered well groomed by today’s standards?
 
This is one question that I have never heard. I have had a full beard and now I don’t. I have had a mustache for over 35 years and no one had ever questioned my motives or reasons in or outside of the Catholic Church. I love these “facts” about Catholics. I just chuckle at the continuing absurdity!
 
I wonder if Jesus would be considered well groomed by today’s standards?
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A moot point. The point is that He was considered well groomed, or attractive, by the standards of His contemporaries.
 
The Church does not have a position on this matter. I know Catholics who have beards, mustaches, etc. as well Catholics who are clean-shaven.
 
I shave becasue my wife wants me to. I also sleep on the left side of the bed because my wife wants me to. In fact, I do everything because my wife wants me to. For me a more pressing issue than why I shave is whether it is Biblical for me to do whatever my wife wants me to do. She says it is. Should I believe her?

P.S. I’m just glad that I don’t have two wives telling me what to do.
 
To expand on what Sherlock said. The Catholic Church (at least the Western Church – don’t know about the Eastern Church) does not take a position on whether or not men should be clean shaven.

It is not only laymen who are free to decide if they will be clean shaven or have mustaches/beards/goatees. There are also ordained men who have various facial hair styles. There may be some religious orders or seminaries that have requirements but those would not be the general case.
 
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Banaticus:
Why do Catholic men shave their faces?
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Makes it easier for the ladies to snuggle and kiss us and whatnot (although I compromise and have a goatee). 😃
 
Thanks for your answers. 🙂 I see that I was much mistaken. Also, perhaps I should have phrased the question somewhat differently, not in regards to all Catholic men, but priests, etc. So it’s possible that I could see a Catholic Bishop with a beard?

Also, I work with my Dad and I told him what I was asking about. In all honesty I should say that I was also wrong regarding my own church, being clean shaven is a requirement for all in my church who are Bishops and higher. My church has asked every other man to consider following the same practice but having a beard will not make a man unworthy.
 
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Orionthehunter:
I shave becasue my wife wants me to. I also sleep on the left side of the bed because my wife wants me to. In fact, I do everything because my wife wants me to. For me a more pressing issue than why I shave is whether it is Biblical for me to do whatever my wife wants me to do. She says it is. Should I believe her?

P.S. I’m just glad that I don’t have two wives telling me what to do.
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Best response I’ve heard of any, I believe.

On our tropical honeymoon I went without shaving for a few days, was going to shave yet my new bride suggested that I give a beard a go, so I just partially shaved my neck and cheeks. She liked it, I liked it, and though I don’t know that it qualifies as a “full beard” as it’s kept trimmed and I shave my neck and cheeks, I have been a Catholic male with a beard for almost 40 years now, I have completely shaven only twice during that time, both during the time that my wife was still living, and it was at her suggestion that I allowed it to grow back.

We were a couple ahead of the times, I think. She cut her lovely long blonde hair ‘boy short’ in 1971, I believe, and although it altered her appearance a great deal she never had to worry about her Mom chiding her for allowing her long hair to “hide your beautiful face”.

I’ve never known of a rule about shaving (save in seminary) as Catholics at all. I have heard, and followed, the rule that being obedient to the wishes of your wife will lead to a healthy marriage!
 
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Banaticus:
My own religion (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints) suggests that all faithful members should consider being well groomed and otherwise following missionary guidelines – one of which is to be clean shaven. Not that I’m suggesting that a person with a beard cannot be well groomed. Far from it.

I’ve recently been reading about the Eastern Orthodox religion. I posted in that forum asking about beards/robes. I noticed this thread, forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=82715
Originally I thought that they wore beards for the same reasons as the Jews do – I guess I was mistaken.

I wondered why most every western religion believes in a clean-shaven face and thought that I’d start asking why Roman Catholics do so. So I came here to the Roman Catholic forum and asked. 🙂 I have no ulterior motive for asking.
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It’s largely a matter of culture 🙂 - there was a Wave of Beards in sixteenth century Europe: all the Popes from 1534 to 1605, with a decline to a goatee until 1621, then a reversion to a beard from 1623 to 1644, had beards; but by the eighteenth, the fashion was for shaven faces again. Beards became popular in the nineteenth century, then not: which is how matters stand at present; though it could be argued that Wave of Beards has ebbed & flowed, in such a way that each succeeding wave has been less full and vigorous, but real none the less.​

It might be interesting to write the history of culture with beards as the main theme, from the Assyrians, with their full, elaborate, and curled beards, down to the “designer stubble” one sees today. Beards used to show a man was not a woman, boy, or eunuch - how far they have changed their function, is a qestion worth loooking into. There are still eunuchs in India, but Victorian England is another matter. The Victorian Wave of Beards may owe something to the rediscovery of ancient Assyria in the 1840s. Interest in Eastern Christianity may also have played a part. ##
 
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Banaticus:
Thanks for your answers. 🙂 I see that I was much mistaken. Also, perhaps I should have phrased the question somewhat differently, not in regards to all Catholic men, but priests, etc. So it’s possible that I could see a Catholic Bishop with a beard?
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Absolutely! Watch EWTN at some time - the programming is full of priests with beards! And if you watched the opening Mass of the recent Synod you’d have noticed bearded Bishops all around!
 
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