Why do non-Catholics dress so nicely for their Sunday services?

[lak611]

Having grown up in a different age, I can only add that it is a shame that people have to be told this.

I am only 38, but I never dress inappropriately at Mass. I only went to Mass in shorts when I was at Disney World back when they held the Mass on the Disney World grounds. It was in the 80’s on this past Saturday (I went to Vigil Mass), but I wore Dockers to Mass. I always wear dress clothes or business casual clothes to Mass on Sunday or Vigil Mass on Saturday. I have gone to Holy Day Mass in a work uniform because I had no time to change after work, but the work uniform still consisted of long pants.

 

[Syele]

I was always taught that we dress up for church out of respect for God. We should try and give Him the best we can. I know people who dress nicer to go out to a party than they do to go to church. If you will dress up for friends you should do it even more for God.

 

[Singinbeauty]

I was always taught that we dress up for church out of respect for God. We should try and give Him the best we can. I know people who dress nicer to go out to a party than they do to go to church. If you will dress up for friends you should do it even more for God.

But see, I don’t think God wants us to put up fronts when we head off to church. When we worship the Almighty I prefer not to go grubby but not dressed up either because I want to be humble before God. Not worried about whether I am wearing something nice enough even though God has seen me naked! :bigyikes: That’s a scary thought. We don’t dress up for God, let’s be honest. He has seen us at our worst and best. He created us naked and I can’t see Him caring about what we wear. That’s what made me wonder about this thread. Why should an All Powerful and Mighty God care about a few threads of cotton??? What about those who can’t afford to dress nice? If you make it mandatory to dress up in church then you have people who avoid it because they can’t look as nice as everyone else. It’s sad but true. We put too much into pride and how we look plays a huge part of that.

I for one worry more about what my soul looks like than the threads I put on my back… That’s my opinion…

 

[Randb]

I agree with most of the posters but feel the Saturday night Mass is probably more casual then the Sunday morning Mass.& depending on the area , like the beaches etc. most likely have real casual.

A friend who was elderly & it was in the winter asked the preacher if she could wear a pants outfit [She always dressed nice] to chuch when it was real cold b/c she had trouble with her legs in the cold. He told her NO , they don’t allow pants .Needless to say she didn’t go , What a shame to keep people from a church, especially when they want to go!! It of course was a Southern Baptist church.

 

[lak611]

I agree with most of the posters but feel the Saturday night Mass is probably more casual then the Sunday morning Mass.& depending on the area , like the beaches etc. most likely have real casual.

A friend who was elderly & it was in the winter asked the preacher if she could wear a pants outfit [She always dressed nice] to chuch when it was real cold b/c she had trouble with her legs in the cold. He told her NO , they don’t allow pants .Needless to say she didn’t go , What a shame to keep people from a church, especially when they want to go!! It of course was a Southern Baptist church.

Maybe you could invite your friend to go with you to Mass. The pants would not be an issue.

 

[Syele]

But see, I don’t think God wants us to put up fronts when we head off to church. When we worship the Almighty I prefer not to go grubby but not dressed up either because I want to be humble before God. Not worried about whether I am wearing something nice enough even though God has seen me naked! :bigyikes: That’s a scary thought. We don’t dress up for God, let’s be honest. He has seen us at our worst and best. He created us naked and I can’t see Him caring about what we wear. That’s what made me wonder about this thread. Why should an All Powerful and Mighty God care about a few threads of cotton??? What about those who can’t afford to dress nice? If you make it mandatory to dress up in church then you have people who avoid it because they can’t look as nice as everyone else. It’s sad but true. We put too much into pride and how we look plays a huge part of that.

I for one worry more about what my soul looks like than the threads I put on my back… That’s my opinion…

Why would an all powerful God Care what we do for Him in any area of our lives??? If you can’t afford fancy clothes you wear what you can afford that is nicer than your other clothes. Even most poor people can afford to make sure their one Sunday outfit is CLEAN and PRESSED. This is about the state of your soul not about pride in how you look. I don’t know about you but I prefer to show God my respect in every way I can. Clothes are a part of our everyday lives just as much has money or food. Is eating healthy prideful? Scriptures say our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Should you keep the Temple dirty an decorated like a dance hall or decorated nicely? Maybe YOU would only dress nice for the other people around you. I do it out of respect for God. The same people who complain about dressing nice on Sunday would likely have a conniption of we decided not to ever clean the church or if we decorated it like a casino.

I don’t think there should be a “rule” set out in stone about it. People will do what it’s in their hearts to do. Just because a majority of people dress nicely for church doesn’t mean it will send away the poor people. I have sat next to homeless people at church who stunk, My nice dress didn’t keep him or other poor people from showing up. That argument says all poor people are prideful. Did you ever think they may come out of a desire to WORSHIP God?

 

[Singinbeauty]

Why would an all powerful God Care what we do for Him in any area of our lives??? If you can’t afford fancy clothes you wear what you can afford that is nicer than your other clothes. Even most poor people can afford to make sure their one Sunday outfit is CLEAN and PRESSED. This is about the state of your soul not about pride in how you look. I don’t know about you but I prefer to show God my respect in every way I can. Clothes are a part of our everyday lives just as much has money or food. Is eating healthy prideful? Scriptures say our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Should you keep the Temple dirty an decorated like a dance hall or decorated nicely? Maybe YOU would only dress nice for the other people around you. I do it out of respect for God. The same people who complain about dressing nice on Sunday would likely have a conniption of we decided not to ever clean the church or if we decorated it like a casino.

I don’t think there should be a “rule” set out in stone about it. People will do what it’s in their hearts to do. Just because a majority of people dress nicely for church doesn’t mean it will send away the poor people. I have sat next to homeless people at church who stunk, My nice dress didn’t keep him or other poor people from showing up. That argument says all poor people are prideful. Did you ever think they may come out of a desire to WORSHIP God?

I just wrote my opinion. It may have struck a nerve with you and I apologize. That was not the intention.

All I am saying is that for ME, to try to dress nice (which by the way I am one of those that don’t have very nice clothing) is more of a distraction than it is helpful. For ME, I dress in jeans and a modest shirt because this is ME. If I try to dress up just to go to church I would be putting up a front. Trying to be something other than what God created me to be. I feel as if God doesn’t look at what we wear but rather where our hearts are.

Let me put it another way. The way I look at it is that dressing nice (for me, this is my thought process to dressing nice and should shed light as to why I say what I say here) is to say ‘Hey look at me! I am pretty and worthy to look at!’. So you see, in my thought process, it is vain to dress up. Which is probably why I don’t dress up too often.

I don’t think there should be a “rule” set out in stone about it. People will do what it’s in their hearts to do. Just because a majority of people dress nicely for church doesn’t mean it will send away the poor people. I have sat next to homeless people at church who stunk, My nice dress didn’t keep him or other poor people from showing up. That argument says all poor people are prideful. Did you ever think they may come out of a desire to WORSHIP God?

Pull back the reins just a little bit there… What I was trying to say is that if someone walks into a church and everyone is dressed to the 9’s it may make them feel unworthy of worshipping God. Notice the word MAY.

I am not saying there is anything wrong with dressing up for church. Nothing at all. If you feel this is something that you need to do to please God then by all means that is what you should do. But please do not judge those of us who do not believe that God cares what we wear to church.

 

[Pondero]

At Our Lady of Sorrows Church, in Etobicoke, I see men in shorts and dressed sometimes as if they were at a picnic. It isn’t as if we are a poor parish. Not too long ago I remember we gave more to Share Life than any other parish in the Archdiocese of Toronto, all in all the parishioners are well off. But we do have a thriving St. Vincent de Paul Society.

The point is the men can afford to dress better than they do. And it has got worse over the years. The priest has not complained about it .

 

[THutch04]

Growing up in Episcopalian and Anglican churches, we never questioned why we dressed up, it was always the thing to do. There was the occasional visitor who would be really dressed down, but the people dressed down were by far in the minority. I’ve noticed this in different parts of the state and country, so it wasn’t just in my area either. And wow do I know some people who have taken that seriously…I’ve known some who if they couldn’t get to church in time to wear their Sunday best, they would just go to a later time (sometimes even going to a Catholic church…). I’ve never been THAT extreme about it. Catholics can (and do) dress pretty well though. At least in my experience if it’s a Sunday morning Mass people are more dressed up than at an evening Mass (myself included). It probably has to do with the fact that the Catholic Church is HUGE and has such a diversity of people. Some people just don’t like to dress up. I guess one could say that it’s only an hour out of your week, but I’m just naturally someone who likes to dress up, so in all honesty, I don’t know if that’s something that really makes people uncomfortable. I know if I was told specifically to dress down for church I would be uncomfortable with it. I’m sure people opposite of me would feel the same way.

 

[Cat]

Pondero, this is what I think.

I think that a lot of “wealthy” people like to dress down. They want to fit in, to just be “regular people.”

My kids went to school at a private prep school, and many of the people in the school were multi-millionaires. Interestingly, they were the ones who showed up to Parent Night in shorts, tennis shoes with no socks, and a faded Old Navy t-shirt. It was pretty strange to sit next to someone who owns half the city, and he looks just like…my husband and me!

And you know something–it felt GOOD! I thought it was very kind-hearted of these wealthy people to dress down a little so that we would feel more comfortable around them and not treat them like big shots, but just like other parents.

I can see what singin’beauty is getting at. I think a lot of people just want to be anonymous at church. They don’t want to put on the dog, so to speak, and dazzle everyone. They just want to be part of the Body.

I think we ought to just live and let live. Allow God to convict people if they are not pleasing to Him in their dress.

 

[lak611]

At Our Lady of Sorrows Church, in Etobicoke, I see men in shorts and dressed sometimes as if they were at a picnic. It isn’t as if we are a poor parish. Not too long ago I remember we gave more to Share Life than any other parish in the Archdiocese of Toronto, all in all the parishioners are well off. But we do have a thriving St. Vincent de Paul Society.

The point is the men can afford to dress better than they do. And it has got worse over the years. The priest has not complained about it .

Actually, wearing shorts has nothing to do with income level. Shorts are really not that much cheaper than pants. Of course, there are also Salvation Army or Goodwill stores where one can find nice clothes at a very inexpensive price.

 

[Pondero]

I think that if you are going to appear before God, and you do that every time you enter a Catholic Church, you should dress the best way you can - and shorts and faded T shirts are out.
It doesn’t cost much to own and wear a pair of dress pants and decent shirt .

I am not impressed by multimillionaires who dress down to appear ordinary - they are not the average Joe, so why pretend?

 

[Zooey]

In the first place, all my clothes (except one nice blouse & 3 pairs of shorts) are from Salvation Army, etc.
But I have to say, that if anybody thinks that we non-Catholic Christians are “dressing up” for church, you need to poke your nose into the choir room, where those of us who will be up front singing are putting on our robes…We look like a bunch of street people…until we:thumbsup: robe up!!
I have sung with my lovely purple robe & gold stole covering faded blue jeans, a T-shirt with a picture of a cat on it, & (accidentally!) my bedroom slippers. (When you wake up late, you grab the first clothes you lay hands on, which tend to be the clothes you wore last night to clean the cat box).
I love to dress up for church, but if it is a choice of dressing up & having to go to a different church with a later service, or attending my own, & “come as I am”, I will go for the jeans every time.
I have (thus far) managed to avoid a:blush: repeat of the uch: bedroom slippers…

 

[Singinbeauty]

I think that if you are going to appear before God, and you do that every time you enter a Catholic Church, you should dress the best way you can - and shorts and faded T shirts are out.
It doesn’t cost much to own and wear a pair of dress pants and decent shirt .

I am not impressed by multimillionaires who dress down to appear ordinary - they are not the average Joe, so why pretend?

But don’t you ‘go before God’ no matter where you go? God doesn’t just exist in a building. When you pray to Him at home does your prayer fall on deaf ears? When you sin outside the church building is He blind to it? No. So if I am before Him anywhere I go why should I act or appear any different than myself, the person He created, to worship Him?

I wonder, if we were to take away the fancy clothes and just come as we are. The dirty lowly humans that we are. How much would be stripped away to just leave plain ol’ us in front of God Almighty when we worship Him?

 

[Pondero]

But don’t you ‘go before God’ no matter where you go? God doesn’t just exist in a building. When you pray to Him at home does your prayer fall on deaf ears? When you sin outside the church building is He blind to it? No. So if I am before Him anywhere I go why should I act or appear any different than myself, the person He created, to worship Him?

I wonder, if we were to take away the fancy clothes and just come as we are. The dirty lowly humans that we are. How much would be stripped away to just leave plain ol’ us in front of God Almighty when we worship Him?

When you go to a Catholic Church and face the Blessed Sacrament you are before God in a special way, that does not apply when in your own home praying. The Blessed Sacrament is Jesus in the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.
Therefore, in a Catholic Church one should look one’s best.

 

[Syele]

I just wrote my opinion. It may have struck a nerve with you and I apologize. That was not the intention.

It did strike a nerve. Your first post sounded very much like you saw others dressing up as though THEY were prideful, when you can’t know their hearts. I see your point in why you don’t, but That just not how I look at it.

 

[Writer]

Well…having sampled many denominations they do. It is probably one of culture. In the LCMS (Lutheran) church I attended men wore suits to church as they did in the Southern Baptist church. Catholics in general are much more casual. I don’t know that it is good or bad. I think as long as you are not dressed in a lewd manner, God loves you whether you are in a clean pair of jeans or a nice business suit.

Rev North

This has been my experience, as well. It’s a strange twist, if you think about it. One of the things that initially caught our attention when we were Protestants was the need for greater reverence in church. The Catholic Mass has that hands down, of course, but I have been pretty stunned at some of the inappropriate dress at Mass. It wouldn’t have flown in the Protestant churches we attended. I’d call this an issue of Catholic Culture, I guess, but I am not sure why it seems to be such a problem.

Having said that, I noticed a girl in front of us at another parish recently wearing a soccer uniform. Although the mother and daugter did snicker and whisper in a somewhat distracting way all service long, they both seemed to be very reverent and kind people. I just wouldn’t want us to be judging the book by its cover too much here. I’m sure there are sometimes legitimate reasons for casual dress, although we wouldn’t let our daughter dress tha way in Mass…

 

[happygal]

I got the idea for this thread reading another in regard to a Catholic dress code. I’ve read stats saying Catholics dress worse going to Mass than Protestants do going to their Sunday services. Based on what I see in my town and especially my parish, I would tend to agree.

I’ve heard many reasons why from Catholics on why they dress so sloppily or shamefully in some cases - God doesn’t care what I wear, at least I’m going, etc.

Non-Catholics - why do you dress so nicely for your Sunday services?

Who will bother what you wear, except yourself. Becoz only ourselves are mindful about what others think of us and how we look . God don’t bother what you wear!!! He love of who you are

 

[StMarkEofE]

I got the idea for this thread reading another in regard to a Catholic dress code. I’ve read stats saying Catholics dress worse going to Mass than Protestants do going to their Sunday services. Based on what I see in my town and especially my parish, I would tend to agree.

I’ve heard many reasons why from Catholics on why they dress so sloppily or shamefully in some cases - God doesn’t care what I wear, at least I’m going, etc.

Non-Catholics - why do you dress so nicely for your Sunday services?

If one were going out to a concert, would dungarees do? If you were invited to a formal attire black tie, would your where shorts?

How much more important than these is attending worship service of Our Lord?

 

[Singinbeauty]

If one were going out to a concert, would dungarees do? If you were invited to a formal attire black tie, would your where shorts?

How much more important than these is attending worship service of Our Lord?

Yes, but do we dress up in respect for the actual party or because we would be sticking out of the crowd like a sore thumb if we didn’t? We dress up because that is what everyone else expects. We dress up because we don’t want to be singled out as not dressing appropriately. God isn’t like the rest of us. He isn’t into fashion or what looks nice or not. He is more interested on where your heart is when you darken the doorstep.