Why do Protestants dress better (or more formal) on average than Catholics?

[Pariah_Pirana]

Robert in SD:

I have two thoughts on the matter:

(1) I don’t want to get too dressed up because I don’t want to appear to be "putting on airs’ when I go to mass. I think Catholics in general want to avoid looking “too dressed up” whereas traditional mainline Protestants don’t seem to have that problem. Of course, some of the newer “nondenom” churches are very casual.

(2) Location definitely affects the dress. I live in a beach town and our parish is flooded with vacationers during the Summer months. You definitely see people wearing shorts or "resort wear: more than you would in a non-vacation area. Protestants don’t experience this phenomonon because church - being “optional” does not result in the same influx of vacationing visitors.

Just my two cents. :twocents:

1a.) This did not seem to exist prior to about 1967/1968.

2a.) See 1a.

 

[cecilia97]

My humble opinions:

1. I’ve never thought that lack of good “church” clothes should keep anyone from feeling comfortable at Mass.
2. growing up in 105-degree summers, we wore what we could that wouldn’t have us dripping all over the church parking lot
3. living next door to the parish rectory as a kid, and also frequently visiting a seminary for summer classes and retreats, I saw priests saying daily Mass in shorts and t-shirts quite a bit. They even surf and mow the lawn wearing regular clothes!!
4. God’s seen me in my birthday suit plenty of times, so I don’t think he really has an opinion on heels versus flip-flops.
5. Christ had dinner with followers and preached lots of times while he was covered in road grime, I’ll bet.

All that said, hubby insists on wearing his “Sunday best” to Mass. I bring down his church glam quotient all the time!

 

[Pariah_Pirana]

cecilia97:

My humble opinions:

1. I’ve never thought that lack of good “church” clothes should keep anyone from feeling comfortable at Mass.
2. growing up in 105-degree summers, we wore what we could that wouldn’t have us dripping all over the church parking lot
3. living next door to the parish rectory as a kid, and also frequently visiting a seminary for summer classes and retreats, I saw priests saying daily Mass in shorts and t-shirts quite a bit. They even surf and mow the lawn wearing regular clothes!!
4. God’s seen me in my birthday suit plenty of times, so I don’t think he really has an opinion on heels versus flip-flops.
5. Christ had dinner with followers and preached lots of times while he was covered in road grime, I’ll bet.

All that said, hubby insists on wearing his “Sunday best” to Mass. I bring down his church glam quotient all the time!

1a. This has nothing to do with the subject: “Why do Protestants dress better (or more formal) on average than Catholics?”

2a. See 1a.

3a. See 1a.

4a. See 1a.

5a. See 1a.

 

[Luke-Jr]

ally:

I can remember back in the pre-Vat II days when everyone dressed up. The clothes we females had to wear were very uncomfortable.

Unless it’s just me, the clothes that we males wear to “dress up” are quite uncomfortable also. I’d gladly agree that “dress up”-code should be changed to be a bit more comfortable, but not just for females…

 

[kamz]

Pariah Pirana:

Why do Protestants appear to dress better (and/or more formally) for their Sunday services than Catholics for Sunday Mass? I think I have attended Sunday Masses (and seen enough Protestants entering their parishes) in enough states/cities/town to have observed a truly statistically representative sample.

If we roll back to around 1965, ALL Christians dressed very well for both the Sunday Mass and other services. The effects of the late 1960’s and the 1970’s most certainly took a toll on how Catholics dressed for the Mass. While there certainly has been a mild recovery, Catholics still don’t dress as formally as they did prior to this septic period in history.

So why do Protestants as a whole dress better and more fomally on Sundays?

Did they too relax their standards during this period? If they never did, I could see why they continue to dress better today. If they did, how did they recover more fully? Is the peer pressure (in typically far smaller parishes) a great deal higher?

It has been my experience that Eastern Catholics and Orthodox also dress far more formally (in their tiny parishes) than Latin Rite Catholics. Again, is it a matter of size, peer pressure or something more on the spritual side?

(Please don’t ruin this thread with a great deal of inane postings about “tlm parishes.” Thanks in advance.)

Why does it bug you? Who cares, why put that much thought into it?