Dressing Down For Church Has Gone Too Far, CNN Article

[Bruce Wayne]

It was good of you to try to give hime the benefit of the doubt. I do have a friend who is a single mom in school and working 2 jobs, one of which is often an overnight shift into Sunday. When we have morning service, she comes in what she was wearing overnight rather than being late. She does home health care and given what she deals with in taking care of her clients, really casual clothes are in order.

In situations such as this one must keep Matthew 7 1 in mind.

 

[jamespowers]

Now, this question interested me sufficiently that I posed it to the priest who officiated at the wedding at which I canted this morning. He explained that IN HIS UNDERSTANDING most Catholics have been rather poorly catechized about this point over the last forty or so years. He remembers priests attempting to frighten parishioners to Mass by calling missing mass a Mortal sin, a practice which was proscribed by the American church in the late 1970's. That said, a Grave sin is a Venial sin which may tend if frequently repeated utterly separate the soul from God, and so the Venial sin of skipping Mass may become the Mortal sin of Apostasy, if repeated over a long enough period.

Another reason to hate the 70s.....

 

[jamespowers]

I was pleasantly surprised this past Sunday to see six men dressed in coat and tie for Sunday services. And on top of that, all but one of them was younger than me. Maybe the folks in my church are checking out the Fedora Lounge. [huh]

One can only hope.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Was at Mass yesterday and my priest called all fathers to the altar to receive a blessing and a fathers day prayer card and there I am wearing a suit and the guy next to me was wearing a faded t shirt ,cargo shorts and deck shoes .

This was the attitude I grew up in the Southern Baptist tradition. You wore you best to church, whatever that was. If all you had was overalls and a dirty shirt, that was fine. But you weren't there for *your* benefit, so to dress as if you're just there to "chill" is not only disrespectful, but also blastphemous. Of course, we also believed it was a sin for men and women to swim together, so make of that interpretation what you will.

 

[jamespowers]

Was at Mass yesterday and my priest called all fathers to the altar to receive a blessing and a fathers day prayer card and there I am wearing a suit and the guy next to me was wearing a faded t shirt ,cargo shorts and deck shoes .

Years back you would not dare to go to church like that .
We had an old school priest Father Valour (god rest his soul) he was an awesome priest and he once commented how he was in Haiti and how the people were very poor but on Sunday they wore the best clothes that they had to church , and man you should have seen the look on some peoples faces when he said that !

All the Best ,Fashion Frank

I went a received a similar blessing yesterday---similarly dressed. Yes, there was also a dope there in a Hawaiian shirt etc. :doh:

A former priest picked me out of a crowd once and said: "That is the way you are supposed to dress for church." :doh: Embarassing.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Here's an interesting historical perspective on this question, arguing rather persuasively that the idea of "dressing up for church" is largely a product of the Industrial Revolution and the early Victorian era. The authors are arguing from a non-denominational Evangelical Protestant perspective, with a strong hint of Welseyan background, but are not Fundamentalists. Regardless of what you think of their theology, their history is sound:

From medieval times until the eighteenth century, dress was a clear marker of one's social class. In places like England, poor people were actually forbidden to wear the clothing of the "better" people.

This changed with the invention of mass textile manufacturing and the development of urban society. Fine clothes became more affordable to the common people. The middle class was born, and those within it were able to emulate the envied aristocracy. For the first time, the middle class could distinguish themselves from the peasants. To demonstrate their newly improved status, they could now "dress up" for social events just like the well-to-do.

Some Christian groups in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries resisted this cultural trend. John Wesley wrote against wearing expensive or flashy clothing. The early Methodists so resisted the idea of dressing up for church that they turned away anyone who wore expensive clothing to their meetings. The early Baptists also condemned fine clothing, teaching that it separated the rich from the poor.

Despite these protests, mainstream Christians began wearing fine clothes wherever they could. The growing middle class prospered, desiring bigger homes, larger church buildings, and fancier clothing. As the Victorian enculturation of the middle class grew, fancier church buildings began to draw more influential people in society.

This all came to a head when in 1843, Horace Bushnell, an influential Congregational minister in Connecticut published an essay called "Taste and Fashion." In it, Bushnell argued that sophistication and refinement were attributes of God and that Christians should emulate them. Thus was born the idea of dressing up for chirch to honor God. Church members now worshipped in elaborately decorated buildings sporting their formal clothes to honor God.

-- Viola and Barna, "Pagan Christianity: Exploring The Roots of Our Church Practices," pages 146-147

 

[jamespowers]

Here's an interesting historical perspective on this question, arguing rather persuasively that the idea of "dressing up for church" is largely a product of the Industrial Revolution and the early Victorian era. The authors are arguing from a non-denominational Evangelical Protestant perspective, with a strong hint of Welseyan background, but are not Fundamentalists. Regardless of what you think of their theology, their history is sound:

The article explains it nicely. Before when prohibited from dressing up, they didn't. When they could---they did. No excuses now.
I can understand some of the stark sects being more about nothingness but even the Amish don't go to church in their work clothes. lol lol

 

[Stearmen]

This may be as good a place as any to ask this question. I have been trying to find out what the reaction by older people to the younger people, when they made the transition from breeches and pantaloons to the modern trousers? Maybe Lizzie knows? I would imagine, it was shock and disdain, but, I do not know. I know, we think of the trouser as proper attire today, but surly it was viewed as some kind of weird trend, stepping on traditional values!

 

[Big J]

In situations such as this one must keep Matthew 7 1 in mind.

Yeah, absolutely. Who knows what's going on in other people's lives really? The guy/lady could have a really tough tale to tell.

 

[fashion frank]

I went a received a similar blessing yesterday---similarly dressed. Yes, there was also a dope there in a Hawaiian shirt etc. :doh:

A former priest picked me out of a crowd once and said: "That is the way you are supposed to dress for church." :doh: Embarassing.

See that's the point ,no matter how poor you might be as my favorite old school priest pointed out that people in Haiti as poor as they were would break out their best clothes and wear them to church.
I also think that now a days with dwindling attendance at churches that the clergy are afraid to say anything that might turn off anyone and dissuade them from returning , just my thoughts on that .

All the Best ,Fashion Frank

 

[Edward]

This may be as good a place as any to ask this question. I have been trying to find out what the reaction by older people to the younger people, when they made the transition from breeches and pantaloons to the modern trousers? Maybe Lizzie knows? I would imagine, it was shock and disdain, but, I do not know. I know, we think of the trouser as proper attire today, but surly it was viewed as some kind of weird trend, stepping on traditional values!

In London, the first Duke of Wellington was refused entry to his club when he had the audacity to turn up in trousers.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The sans-culottes of Revolutionary France had the right idea.

 

[Stearmen]

In London, the first Duke of Wellington was refused entry to his club when he had the audacity to turn up in trousers.

Wow, Thanks Edward! Kind of reinforces what I was speculating.

 

[Leacock]

The sans-culottes of Revolutionary France had the right idea.

Turning all the churches into Temples of Reason?

 

[Edward]

The sans-culottes of Revolutionary France had the right idea.

I've never cared for culottes. I remember when they brought them back in the eighties. <Shudder>.

 

[jamespowers]

I've never cared for culottes. I remember when they brought them back in the eighties. <Shudder>.

Geez, I am glad I don't remember that.

 

[Haversack]

Based on my experience of wearing knee-breeches, (knickers in American parlance), when hunting with a group of traditional hunters in southern Germany, I found that spending all day out in the fields and forest, your lower legs get much dirtier than the rest of your trousers. In such circumstances, knee-breeches make sense. Especially so when woven cloth or leather is expensive and you might only have one pair of breeches. I think the drop in the price of woven fabric brought on by the early Industrial Revolution coupled with the growth of urban populations, (especially that among the upper classes), made the need for the use of knee-breeches less compelling and long trousers became the rule.

 

[BriarWolf]

Haversack, you seem a man with the sort of stories I could only hope to emulate. (My German roots are crying out in envy)

I make a point whenever I attend service to dress well; sometimes a suit, sometimes good trousers and shoes and blazer, always a tie. Its as much a mark of respect for others and the circumstances as it is for yourself. Now I doubt the Almighty really cares much, the Creator of Time could seem to care less whether we come before Him naked or wearing Saville Row, but that feeble mortal gesture of respect is a thing in itself.

 

[The Good]

While there's the subject of knee-breeches, here is a photograph of Napoleon III wearing them in 1865, which at the time would have been almost exclusively worn for the most formal situations. It's interesting how modern the top half seems, while the bottom is decidedly more antiquated due to breeches.

Here's an interesting view of what old fashioned silk breeches represented in 1937, page 183:

https://books.google.com/books?id=U...epage&q=duke of windsor knee breeches&f=false

 

[TimeWarpWife]

I remember as a little girl of around 5 or 6 in the mid-60s wearing a hat and gloves to church. For years I wouldn't have thought to wear slacks to church, but because of very cold winters and severe arthritis in my knees preventing me from wearing heels anymore, I finally started wearing nice slacks and a blouse. However, I draw the line at shorts, flip flops, and sweats! I realize God cares about the condition of your heart and not your clothes, but I personally feel it would be disrespectful to the Lord to look like I'm going to the beach rather than to His house. And it's not just in church people are dressing way too casually. I'm shocked at some of the outfits people I know who work in an office environment wear now days - jeans, t-shirts, shorts, short dresses. I haven't worked in an office since 1990 and back then acceptable work attire was still suits and ties for men and suits, dresses, skirts/slacks and tops for ladies. Honestly, one woman I know who works in an office posts a photo of herself every week day on FB showing what she's wearing to the office - I have no idea why she thinks we all want to see it, but I digress. I kid you not, some of the outfits she wears to work would be much more appropriate being worn on a street corner - if you get my drift. I cannot believe her employer lets her wear these atrocious gaudy, tacky looking get ups to work.