AM I DRESSED PROPERLY FOR CHURCH?
Am I dressed properly for the House of God? Or am I dressed like I just came in from a picnic or volleyball game? Do I realize that I am entering holy ground and that the House of God is a sacred place? Am I dressed properly to receive Jesus Christ, the King of kings, the King of heaven into my soul? Am I modestly dressed? Would I wear what I have on into the court of heaven? St. Paul said the immodest shall not enter the kingdom of God. ”Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury. Idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God.” [Galatians 5:19-21. Do I realize that if I receive the Lord unworthily in immodest dress, that I have committed a grave sin of sacrilege? Is my attire in accordance with the DECREE ON MODESTY by Pope Pius XI, in 1930, when I die?
As a Pastor and the steward of the House of God, am I doing my duty in upholding the Norms for modesty laid down by Pope Pius XI? Am I aware that I will have to answer for all the sins and sacrileges committed in God’s house, and against Jesus Christ himself if I may remain silent and do nothing on the matter? Am I aware that I can go to hell for this most grave neglect if I am the cause of their damnation because of my silence? Am I afraid of persecution? If so, why am I a priest? “Woe to you when men bless you,” Jesus said, but “Blessed are you when they persecute you.”
A warning to the clergy. St. Leonard of Port Maurice relates a story of a priest damned because he would absolve an adulterer without making him give up his sin. The wife had a vision of the priest and the adulterer both damned, St. Leonard said. The wife asked her husband, “Who is that carrying you?” and he said, “It is the priest. He has to carry me and many others for all eternity because he was the cause of our damnation.” Here we have a similar situation. The priest was damned because he did not instruct and warn the adulterer. The immodest women will be damned if the clergy do not instruct and warn them. It is their grave duty, so how can the clergy save their souls when they turn a blind eye to these things and remain silent?
Hear the warning of St. Alphonsus to the clergy in his sermon, ADVICE TO PARENTS: “It was related that, in the year 1248, an ignorant priest was commanded, in a certain synod, to make a discourse. He was greatly agitated by the command and the Devil appearing to him, instructed him to say, “The rectors of infernal darkness salute the rectors of parishes, and thank them for their negligence in instructing the people; because from ignorance proceeds the misconduct and the damnation of many.” He says this to parents, “Were fathers or mothers to lead a life of piety and continual prayer, and to communicate every day, they should be damned if they neglected the care of their children.” The same applies to the clergy. Reverend Fathers, you need to think about these things. You have been silent for far too long.
Suggestions for the clergy, starting with the Bishops:
Designate one Sunday a month for the clergy to give a talk on modesty and the sin of immodesty. St. Paul says the immodest shall not inherit the kingdom of God,” Gal. 5:19-21, drbo.org. Instruct the people not only of modest dress but also proper attire. No shorts, no tee shirts, etc. I would suggest reading to the ladies the story of the woman damned to hell mainly for the sin of immodesty. This will wake a lot of women up. St. Alphonsus said a story often makes a greater impression than a theological argument. And it needs to be repeated. St. Alphonsus also said that men’s heads are like wood. You have to keep pounding things into them. You can find this story here: https://motherofgodlibrary.org/2019/12/20/
Place a notice in the bulletin weekly. Encourage reading the bulletin.
Display cards, booklets, and pamphlets out on display continuously, and encourage the people to pick them up on the way out. Place NOTICE stands at all the doors insisting on modest and proper dress.
Warn them, as Pope Pius XI instruction ordered, that if their dress is immodest, they will be asked to leave the church. It is time for women to learn the defiling of the House of God, where Jesus lives in the tabernacle in the Most Blessed Sacrament, is to stop. “Frequently, when the occasion has presented itself, the selfsame Holy Pontiff has reproved and bitterly condemned immodesty of dress pervasively introduced into use these days amongst Catholic women and girls, a thing which not only gravely offends feminine beauty and ornament, but leads most lamentably to the temporal and worse still the eternal ruin of these same women and unto the ruin of others still.” From the Decree, “1. May parish priests especially, and preachers when the occasion presents itself, and according to the words of St. Paul “…demand, reprove, beseech and rebuke…” women to wear clothes that redolent of modesty and such other things as are the ornament and vanguard of virtue, and may they warn parents not to permit their children to wear unseemly dress. “
God’s house on earth, and the clergy have a most grave obligation in this matter. Remember the warning God gave to Ezechiel, “You must warn the sinner, or He will require his blood at your hands,” like the story of the priest who would not correct the adulterer.
DECREE ON MODESTY, POPE PIUS XI, 1930, tinyurl.com/tdakwyaj
St. Paul, to wit: “…women also in decent apparel: adorning themselves with modesty and sobriety, … but as it becometh women professing godliness, with good works…” (I Tim II: 9-10). 9. Women and girls who wear immodest clothes are to be prohibited from Holy Communion and from the office of sponsor in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, and in certain cases, they are to be prohibited even from entry into the church. (Note: No Communion, and in certain cases, are to be debarred from entering the church).
What is decent? “A dress cannot be called decent which is cut deeper than two fingers breadth under the pit of the throat; which does not cover the arms at least to the elbows; and scarcely reaches a bit beyond the knees. Furthermore, dresses of transparent materials are improper.” (The Cardinal Vicar of Pope Pius XI). We still see women, even in traditional circles, whose dress does not even reach to the knees or barely past them. The Cardinal Vicar says even these are not decent. But the Novus Ordo churches are horrendous and far worse than these things, as any good Catholic can tell you. Men, if you go to these Masses and you do not complain to the pastors, and you support them financially, you are also part of the problem. Four humdred years ago our Blessed Mother warned of these immodest fashions to come in our time. One hundred years ago she told St. Jacinta that “Certain fashions would be introduced that would offend Our Lord very much. And about 60 years ago, she instructed Enzo Alocci: “Son, go and tell the priests to be stricter towards the faithful and send away all persons entering the church in indecent dresses, because it is not suitable to come in the Presence of the Divine Majesty in such indecency.” “Enzo was a stigmatist. He also had a Queen of the World statue that wept tears of blood.” Fr. Albert J. Hebert. S.M.
Papal Decree https://tinyurl.com/44wkvacw MotherofGodlibrary.org
“Man must cease offending God, who is already too much offended.” – Our Lady of Fatima.