The Wearing of Modest Clothes
The Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) last year imposed a pictures of the proper dress code to be worn inside the Church. This is to remind the people the significance of wearing proper dress inside the house of worship.
The “proper” garb calls for the usual short-sleeved or long-sleeved mens shirts, pants, dresses or uniforms, the injunctions against wearing certain types of clothes in Church seem more interesting.
“Improper” church attire seems to consist of anything that bares one’s shoulders or arms, such as sleeveless or spaghetti-strapped tops and sports jerseys, reveals too much leg, like shorts or miniskirts, or directs the eye downward, such as blouses with plunging necklines. And yet, the pious faithful also seem disturbed by men wearing baseball caps inside church, which has been deemed “improper.”
Way back on early 60’s, the people behave properly inside the Church particularly on the Sunday Mass, they have this particular dress that they wore everytime they go which they call it “Sunday’s best” or their “best dress”. They wear it as an offering to God by wearing in their best perfect attire. But nowadays, things extremely change, cultures and fashion trend progressed so much where it affects the behavior of the people. You can see how people choose and decide on what to wear, and how will they look good. I asked my colleagues from work, school and running place on how they choose their best dress to simple dress in attending the following events, and it came out like these.
Top 1: Wedding/Debut events- best dressed/formal dress-barong-tagalog, and custom made shirts with a tie.
Top 2: Christmas Party-semi formal- these people wears jeans, sandals, and comfortable shoes.
Top 3: Attending Sunday Masses- Casual Wear-these people wear walking shorts, slippers, even jersey uniform, sleeveless and skirts at times.
I’m not anymore surprised on the results of my inquiry with them. This practice can easily be seen and noticed whenever you attend Sunday Masses. We already forgot the real essence and importance of the “real proper dress code” with for example custom made shirts. Let us ask ourselves on our real intentions in attending the Holy Mass or Worship.
