[Salvation]

One of my pet peeves is seeing older women with thin strapped dresses on at Mass — and not having their shoulder covered.

I wore a tank top today, but I wore a three-quarter length sleeve white top over it.

[trisham]

I was thinking the same thing. There are plenty of women who dress inappropriately too. It's not just girls.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

So modesty is going to be restored by ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ folks? I have my doubts.

[Desdemona]

One of my pet peeves is seeing older women with thin strapped dresses on at Mass — and not having their shoulder covered.

This past Sunday there was a woman in church, I assume a tourist, who was wearing a wide strapped tank dress that was plenty long with a chapel veil. I was hard pressed to keep a straight face.

For me, it isn't simply the covered shoulders, but skirts below the knee and nothing tight fitting. When it's hot, I will wear sleeveless under the choir robe, but otherwise, v-necks with 3/4 sleeves. It's not hard.

[markomalley]

Interesting. From our most recent bulletin:

…One choice we make is how we dress for Church. I would ask that ALL of us try to remember that Mass is different than the movies or shopping, that Church is different than the mall or a back yard picnic and that it would help us think about what we are doing if we took the time to choose to dress appropriately for being in the presence of God.

When we take the time to think about it, clean up, get dressed in some special way to come before the Lord, it makes a difference in our preparation, our attitude, our focus and our commitment to be with Him in a way that is different than all the other things we have to do. I urge all of us to make the time to prepare and to present ourselves in a way that speaks of our focus on God and our willingness to see Him as different from everything and everyone else. There is not a specific dress code, but if we all do our best for Him, that is all He asks of us.

I don't see a thing wrong in the world with making a comment, in a charitable manner, if a person is dressed inappropriately.

The trouble is that this stuff feeds on itself. If the majority of the parish dresses appropriately and acts appropriately, those who wouldn't do so would feel pressure to do so. (Who wants to be the only slobs in church?) On the other hand, if you're the only ones week after week who come dressed up, eventually most of us would eventually ask the question: why are we bothering?