Vogue
Q:
Lino,
why do Catholics dress so poorly at church? It's either sweats, dirty
t's and sneakers or a lack of clothing altogether.
-Dress 'em up, or at least dress 'em
A:
I'm
presuming "dress 'em up, or at least dress 'em" is not your legal name.
If it is, I think your question should be "Why do parents name their
kids such cruel names?"...
Anyway, onto your question:
I don't know every Catholic, of course, so I can't answer your question
by polling all of them. (Though there are some Catholics I'd like to
"poll" more than others).
In general, I think we Catholics sometimes have a laid back approach to
church. And we tend to take our faith for granted. After all, we're
supposed to be there every
Sunday...and so we can't be expected to dress up every week! That's
simply too much to ask! What's next, the Church will be asking us to
lay down our lives for our friends?
Unfortunately, I just don't think dressing up is part of modern-day
American Catholic culture. Partially, that's because we might not fully
understand what's going on at Mass. If we did, we wouldn't just be
dressed up. We'd be on our knees begging for forgiveness for the times
we showed up in our Twisted Sister T-shirts in the mid-80's...
I'm not suggesting that we need to be in full tuxedo and formal gown
for Mass. But "dressing up" for church seems like an old concept to
lots of people.
We've lost some of the mystery and respect we should have at Mass. And
until we get that back - sweatpants, dirty t's and "Winger" T-shirts
are gonna be acceptable.
Though, for the record, could you give me the address of churches where
people have a lack of clothing altogether? I'd like to visit for
"research" purposes.
