Baring our souls, not our midriffs

This is a nice commentary from a woman who has had a gradual change of heart over her way of dressing. Obviously, one sticking point is the way that modern fashions are accepted in church.

Today, a majority of priests seem to be so afraid to say anything that might “offend” anyone that people come to church in clothes more suited for mowing the lawn or a day at the beach than to receiving our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. If Disney World can give a young woman a warning about her immodest dress, why won’t our church set some parameters for acceptable dress in the church? One shrine I have been to does have posted guidelines and makes robes available for Mass-goers who show up in shorts or inappropriate clothing. But this is the exception, not the rule.

This is one area where I partially disagree. I'm not sure that priests should be forced into this position alone. Can mothers and women self-police so that we show reverence in our dress -- both to God and to the men with whom we worship? If the parish had a policy that would back up mothers, then they would have more authority, but in the end, women have to take care of the extra skin that reveals our lack of concern about modesty.

Maybe the answer is for pastors to invite a large handful of regular parishioners (women) to a meeting and discuss it. If he could explain the male "hard wiring" (as though women don't know this?) and ask for a consensus, it would be a win-win. Thoughts?

Comments

[Jamie]

I think it would be a good thing for parishes to have a blurb on appropriate dress posted in the church and printed in the bulletin -- we saw that in a number of churches in Italy. The culture's bar is so low that I think lots of families don't even think about raising it for themselves.

I am hesitant about priests speaking off the cuff on modesty from the pulpit -- not because it shouldn't be done, but because it should be done carefully. It's easy to cause hard feelings and hurt feelings when people don't realize that they're out of line.

Changing the subject slightly: what does anyone think about clothes for daily Mass? We always dress for a feast on Sundays (skirt or dress for me, no T-shirts or denim for the boys), but we have been getting to daily Mass once a week lately with some effort. On Friday I realized that I felt uncomfortable in the shorts and T-shirt that are my usual weekday attire.

[Abigail]

I think it would be a bad idea for the priest to address the topic from the pulpit during the summer, because it would make the scantily clad women terribly self-conscious. Solution: he should wait until the iciest day of deep winter, and talk about it then. Rule One (if I were making the rules) would be: women's tops should have some sort of sleeve.

[Teresa]

I'm divided on this one. To be sure I would prefer more modesty in dress everywhere -- not just at Mass (and I'm not that old!). However, I'm delighted to know that young women are attending Mass at all. I keep wondering at what point will the fashion trends swing back in the other direction. Other than wearing pasties in public, I can't see how we can go much further in the scantily-clad direction.