[riverrunner]

I wear a suit and tie Sunday morning as the greeter I try and set the example.

So does our pastor.

We have others that do and others that are dressed in jeans and flannel.

Some women in dresses some in slacks.

Rarely someone will show up dressed inappropriate.

[cnsmom]

Young people show up to mass in their morning after bar clothes. The parents say nothing.

[AppyPappy]

My pastor is 26 and wears a coat and tie on Sunday. So do I. There are great quality sport coats in the thrift stores. I even wear one going to “the Walmarts”. Button down shirt and a camel hair sport coat.

[Dr. Sivana]

Rarely someone will show up dressed inappropriate.

At our traditional Catholic church we actually have a sign with diagrams outside the front door. These are guidelines, as we haven't turn a lady away because her hem is too far above the knee, but it helps set the tone. Here in Phoenix, AZ, we have the added complication of 115°F and a Mexican contigent that habitually dresses down. We do NOT have a problem with men wearing shorts, flip-flops and tank tops.

The idea is to show respect for Our Lord, the nature of the event, and those around us. Even though Matthew 22:11–13* is not primarily addressed to the physical garment we wear, the parable works because the people (including us) who hear it understand the expectation and meaning, so the principle applies here, too.

*11 And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. 12 And he saith to him: Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? But he was silent. 13 Then the king said to the waiters: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

[GingisK]

I’m ugly. Playing dress-up doesn’t help.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I have wondered why people don’t dress up to go to church anymore.

When I was a little boy, everybody was dressed up.

Is it fallout from the social changes of the ‘60s and ‘70s that people in big numbers decided not to dress up to go to church?