MJO: If a street person comes in smelly rags that are all he or she has, then he should be shown to the choicest seat on the front pew. But if the bank president’s or the professor’s son and daughter appear in flip flops, wrinkled shorts and groin and bosom enhancing attire, they should be denied entrance.

I was brought up in the privileged circumstances to which you allude, and I couldn’t disagree with you more. I find your assessment of the intersection between personal background, dress, and participation in an Christian assembly troubling. Expectations of behavior based on “class” gravely wound charity within an assembly.

Certainly, I was rash to reflexively impute a sexual motive to a pastor who posted attire regulations in his parish vestibules (c.f. #35.) I still maintain that such standards can discriminate by placing uncharitable emphasis on the behavior of women over men. This previous example underscores the reality that there is no male or female when the baptized are gathered as an assembly. There is also no ethnicity, differences in income, and professional titles in the assembly. When Christians are gathered for worship, they are only brother and sister.

The only expectation that each person should hold of any brother or sister at the eucharist is his or her desire to worship in goodwill. This goodwill should be presumed despite a brother or sister’s attire, decorum, or mannerisms. The presumption that a person’s material wealth or poverty should influence their attire or behavior in general undercuts the radical egalitarianism inherent in the Pauline Body and at every liturgy.

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Now that we are up to Comment 103, I noticed that clicking on Rita’s comment #99 at comment 103 did not bring me back to comment #99. Perhaps others will notice this problem, too.

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The bag could also keep all the things one might need for Sunday Mass, and could even be cushioned so as to serve as a seat for those places with uncomfortable pews. You take your bag with you and put on your prayer shawl when you get in church. One of our local parishes has neat self service coat rooms. It encourages people to arrive early, and not to bolt for the door afterwards.

A white or black prayer shawl would always be acceptable; reversible ones could be kept in the parish coat room so that anyone could borrow one if needed.

Of course the liturgical colors would be encouraged but not necessary.

Parish organizations and programs could have their own prayer shawls and people would be encouraged to use these anytime they wanted. Nice conversational starters: “Oh you are in the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, and you are in the Bible Study Group”

Each parish could have its distinctive prayer shawl so you can always take your home parish shawl with you when visiting or vacationing or at diocesan gatherings.

Of course Catholic Colleges and Universities will want to have prayer shawls for alumni. The academic garb color codes could be adapted for these.

National organizations, summer programs, conventions and retreat houses could all have their prayer shawls.

And then of course all those artists who are now doing elaborate stoles for clergy can have a field day doing prayer shawls for laity.

Finally, of course the fashion industry will provide an extra large and very cooling prayer shawl that you can wear over your bikini or speedo on those really hot summer days.

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Sorry – I was responding to thism but I didn’y read it carefully enough …

“If liturgy concerns matters of life and death, subjects of public concern, and events which are decisive even beyond the present needs and aspirations we may bring to them, how do we dress for that? Annie Dillard suggested crash helmets. A permissible hyperbolic suggestion for a writer of literature.”

I thought you were asking how we could dress in church for what was beyond our daily concerns – to optimize our spirituality – and I couldn’t see how clothing could affect that. Sorry, didn’t mean to offend.

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