Modesty in Church

It seems to be that time of year when priests and parish bulletins start talking about appropriate dress for church. Somehow, my youth group took offense to Father’s opinions about yoga pants. At first, I thought the girls would give me strife over the topic. However, it was my boys, asking why Father would put the spotlight on girls wearing yoga pants now. I saw their point, since winter is almost over and the spring and summer will bring tank tops and flip flops. So I tried to explain Father’s point that what we wear to church can be distracting to others.

My boys made the argument that Father also should have addressed the inappropriate clothes men wear to church. If Father wants to make the case that each of us is made in the likeness and image of Christ, why is he only questioning what the girls wear? My boys continued to argue that the Greeters should make anyone dressed inappropriately—male or female—go home and change. However, they continued, if you cannot fill your pews to begin with, are you really going to send people away from church? My boys felt like Father was saying that because girls are distracting to others when they dress in a questionable way, they should be punished for their dress and dress more modestly. But, what happens to priests if they do their duties in attire that is not appropriate for a priest?

The boys felt that if attire is such a big deal, then why aren’t we going back to the reverence of wearing our Sunday best to church? Some say that attire can cause men to lust towards women, but what about the attire that men wear? As my youth group kids know from our recent lesson about body image, we discussed that eventually, each person could become someone’s husband or wife. Would you want your future wife or husband to have damaged relationships because of lust? Lust can be damaging, and sometimes we forget that being modest is more important than showing every aspect of our bodies. If we are going to be someone’s spouse, or if we take religious vows, do we want to damage our future relationships?

As much as we do not want to admit it and want to test the waters, we need to understand the importance of modesty. Why give people the opportunity to be tempted by your body? Understanding why my youth group boys were upset with Father’s focus on girls and yoga pants, the talk should have been about the value of modesty for everyone. We need to go back to the times where we all were wearing our Sunday best. We need to understand that our bodies are not ours. Our bodies are loaned to us by God, and we are the Tabernacle of the Body of Christ. We need to demand respect for our bodies and also take it back. By dressing modestly, we are promoting a good self-image, especially for girls. We need to learn that our self-image does not come from others’ viewpoints, either.

Those viewpoints are not God. Those viewpoints do not allow us to embrace the way Christ made us, and they do nothing but make us aware of our own insecurities. Hopefully, Father will discuss both male and female dress in Church and hopefully, people will understand and value the importance of modesty—both in and out of Church.