Expert: Sal - 12/4/2007

Question
Dear Sal,

                       Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2 you! I have a few questions to ask,Should women dress up for church in nice bisness type clothing like skirts modest though? Also should women and girls of the catholic hertiage were long hair instead of men? I mean I am so outraged by immodest dress in clothing women showing there chest and figure like if its some sort of way of life! It discusses me!

Dearly beloved in Christ,

With the warmer weather of the summer months or the fall even spring and winter months this year, it is not only appropriate, but also necessary for our priests to preach to the faithful about the spiritual dangers that are so prevalent today in the areas of modesty and chastity.

This pastoral letter is intended to assist the priests in their moral responsibility to instruct their parishioners.

The principles of the virtues of modesty and chastity are based, first and foremost, on the Sixth and Ninth Commandments of God:

“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14)
and

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife” (Exodus 20:14)
Furthermore, we read in the Gospel of St. Matthew how our Divine Savior Jesus Christ reiterated the Ninth Commandment when He said:

“You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that anyone who even looks with lust at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ” (Matt. 5:27-28)

When we consider these matters, we are also reminded of some of the warnings of the Blessed Virgin at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. Why cant we dress like those days again how the girls of Fatima Lucia and Jacintha wore veils over there heads every day! Dressed in dresses modestly.

“Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much like how models show there figures to sell... More souls go to hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason and lust at human desires such as immodest dressing.”

Nearly 80 years have passed since the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima and how prophetic has her message been! With modern technology — the television, the movies and videos, and now computers — our young people are daily exposed to pornography and immorality which destroy their moral fiber. The wedespread effects of this moral destruction are so obvious — teenage promiscuity and pregnancy, abortion, the open promotion of artificial contraceptives and the rise of violent crimes against women and children.How tragic to see so many young people live as if there were no God like int the times of Saint Paul and St. Timothy, no Commandments, no such thing as mortal and vinal sin, no such thing as death or hell, judgment and eternity. As tragic as this is, it is even more tragic to see Catholic girls and women fall victims to the allurements of immodest styles and fashions, and by so doing, become the cause and occasion of sin for so many others we have to stop this right now and tell the media to stop selling this garbage they call so called garments!

Pope Pius XII lamented this sad and tragic spectacle on many an occasion. In 1954, the Pope sadly related:

“How many young girls there are who see nothing wrong in following certain shameless styles like so many sheep. They would certainly blush with shame if they could know the impression they make my mother says that she sees nothing wrong with the styles today I do I see thousands of things that are wrong with the styles today, and the feelings they evoke, in those who see them.”

On another occasion, Pope Pius XII addressed the Catholic Young Women’s Groups of Italy:

“The good of our soul is more important than that of our body; and we have to prefer the spiritual welfare of our neighbor to our bodily comforts... He is so right we have to just forget about our outward appearences then then forgetting the spiritual appearence.

If a certain kind of dress constitutes a grave and proximate occasion of sin, and endangers the salvation of your soul and others, it is your duty to give it up...

O Christian mothers and fathers of the heir of God, if you knew what a future of anxieties and perils, of ill-guarded shame you prepare for your sons and daughters, imprudently getting them accustomed to live scantily dressed and making them lose the sense of modesty, you would be ashamed of yourselves and you would dread the harm you are making for yourselves, the harm which you are causing to these children, whom Heaven has entrusted to you to be brought up as Christians.” Why thou hast fallen from God!

My other concern is this All of these considerations are fine and good, but they will remain meaningless if there are not some practical guidelines as to what exactly constitutes immodest dress for women and girls. Based on various excerpts from moral theology, the following general guidelines should not be too difficult for our Catholic women and girls to understand:

Immodesty dress pertains to:

1) Dresses or blouses with low cut neck lines;
2) Skirts or shorts which expose the upper portions of the legs;
3) Clothing which is sheer;
4) Excessively tight-fitting dresses or slacks.
5) And Shirts that are too tight fitted!

Here it may be asked about those particular occasions which seem to call for exceptions. What about extremely hot weather, or sports, or swimming? A woman will have to use common sense in these cases and take some extra precautions, realizing she has a serious responsibility in this regard. In hot weather a woman can wear a dress or culottes that are loose, light and cool and yet still modest. At sports she can be innovative in order to be modest, depending upon the activity. For swimming she can wear some type of pull-over or cover-up garment except for the times she is actually swimming. Choice of a swimming suit for women today is extremely important. Most women’s bathing suits are grossly immodest. A woman may have to make or provide her own combinations that will be modest, but if that is what it takes to be modest she should do so.

My thing is I wear a one piece bathing suit for the summer and it has a skirt around it to not show my butt I am very self conscience about my body because I dont like immodest clothing! For our Catholic women and girls, let them seriously reflect on their manner of dress and their moral obligation to refrain from any “styles and fashions which gravely offend our Divine Lord.” When we consider that the greatest of evils to befall anyone is the eternal loss of one’s soul to hell, how we should dread to be the cause or the occasion of sin for anyone! Also I am growing my hair to be down to my waist it will take me another two years so by 2009 it should be up to my waist by then! By all means I think the priest should have immodest girls and women go to confession and go home and change there garments or Girls and women who are immodestly dressed are to be refused Holy Communion and excluded from the office of sponsor in the sacraments of baptism and confirmation, and in proper cases are even to be excluded from the church.

Didnt God say also that it is a glory unto her if a women or little girl wears long hair? Also I recieved five roses from a shrine of Bayside NyC in Flushing New York. From Our lady of the roses its a true apparition it was tested many times, and concitered the Lourdes of America! Many healings and revivals have been happening since 1970! Our lady said she will use the rose petals as an instrument from Heaven. I was so happy that I recieved them when I prayed the hail Marys three times I felt a warmth from the rose and it was lovely I felt my acid reducing from the rose and I cried and prayed contencively until I dosed off to sleep. I felt better the next day. Do you think that God wants me to finish off what Veronica Leuken has started or am I to start a new pilgrimage in the USA? I am still learning my spanish lol I hope its good enough to understand lol! So also if I grow my hair this long down to my waist or hips am I doing something biblical?


In Christo Jesu et Maria Immaculata,
Jacqueline Lopez  

Answer
Dear Jacqueline:

Merry Christmas & a happy, healthy New Year to you and yours!

You are very correct in noting the importance of modest dress. In our current society morals are very low. The further this nation moves away from God the lower our morals become. We Catholics need to lead by example. Modest dress is a great place to start.

My understanding of the Bayside visions of Veronica Leuken is that they are not true.

Sal