Over at Answers.com, someone posted this question:
What does the roman catholic church think regarding women wearing a mantilla at church?
This is the current response:
I do not think that the church of Rome is as appalled by the lack of mantillas in these days as they were in the sixties. I was eight when my mother who's long jet black hair reached the small of here back wore for the first time in her life a black hand weaved mantilla. The priest stopped the sermon he was delivering to yell out "blasphemer, You dare to come into the house of God without your hair being Covered!". My Mother ran out of the church collapsed on the steps and vowed never to return. She cut her hair to a mans length and is today 78 years of age. She still has short hair and has only gone to the roman church for my wedding, under protest of course.
I think this could be improved, no?
The site has an edit option for this response - would some be willing to contribute something a little more factual and a little less dramatic?
The most frustrating thing about this is that it most likely did not happen. Things have a way of getting distorted as the story is told again and again. I highly doubt a priest would stop his sermon to admonish a woman regarding her veil.
ReplyDeleteIf the mother's decided to never return to church why did she cut her hair? Why is the poster referring to the Holy Roman Catholic Church using the anti-Catholic expressions "church of rome" and "Roman Church"? I am also suspicious that, with all the hurt and pain that came along with being cast out of the church, that her child would remain Catholic and choose to get married in the church. Just saying. :)
But then again, I am from the generation where some priests would rather deal with gross errors in faith than to tell someone they are doing something wrong...even if the person is BEGGING for some hard truths, tough love and real spiritual guidance.
I have posted a new answer to the question. My response is as follows:
ReplyDeleteUntil very recently, Catholic women were required by canon law to veil themselves when in church.
Canon 1262 §2 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law provided that:
Men, in a church or outside a church, while they are assisting at sacred rites, shall be bare-headed, unless the approved mores of the people or peculiar circumstances of things determine otherwise; women, however, shall have a covered head and be modestly dressed, especially when they approach the table of the Lord.
This was requirement was based on both tradition and scripture. In 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 St Paul argues that women should wear a veil when praying.
Canon law no longer requires Catholic women to cover their heads in church. The 1983 Code of Canon Law did not include this requirement and, in fact, abrogated those parts of the 1917 Code not intentionally included within the new legislation (including Can. 1262 §2).
This means, therefore, that Catholic women are free to cover their heads in church but are not required to do so.
Following the 2007 Motu Proprio (Summorum Pontificum) many Catholic women (especially young women) have returned to the tradition of wearing a mantilla when in church. Although most commonly seen at the extraordinary form mass, some women also wear them to the ordinary form mass.
Source: www.mantillawithme.com
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_the_roman_catholic_church_think_regarding_women_wearing_a_mantilla_at_church#ixzz1OAHPGkkf
http://stlouiscatholic.blogspot.com/2008/12/truth-unvieled-head-covering-still.html
ReplyDeleteTinman: Thanks for sharing this article and link. It was interesting.
ReplyDelete