Chapel Veils? You’ve got to be kidding

Sister Maureen asks, "When do Catholic women ever dictate what Catholic men will wear?"

I think a lot of married Catholic men will tell you that their Catholic wives tell them all the time what they should and should not wear!

Vatican II IS a strictly pastoral council. For more on this point, read Cardinal Francis George's new book, "The Difference God Makes." He expounds on this in one of the chapters of the book.

That women were to "cover their heads" or something to that effect was indeed a requirement vis a vis Canon Law before the 1950's, as well.

"This may have been meaningful imagery for St. Paul, but it makes absolutely no sense in today’s world or today’s church."

I'm actually very hazy as to the actual "theology of the veil," as it were, but the entire point of the mass is that it provides us with a link to Transcendent, objective beauty of the Trinity; I'm more than willing to bet there's something of that in the traditional head covering...could you post a link the blog post in question? I'd love to read it!

This happened 45 years ago in a church in a small town.

A little girl, 2nd grade, came late to school one morning. The other kids and the nuns were upstairs at Mass.

The little girl had forgotten her chapel veil, so she went downstairs to the girls' bathroom and took a length of toilet paper, wrapped it around her head, and tied it on top like a bandana. She then went upstairs and walked into Mass.

I was at a funeral in Orange County last week and almost every woman in that church had a chapel veil on. The priests all wore purple vestments, the homily was depressing - no celebration of life or resurrection thinking there! I felt lucky that the celebrant and concelebrants faced us. There were six huge candle sticks on the altar as well as a crucifix. Liturgical pastice.

"When do Catholic women ever dictate what Catholic men will wear?"
- obviously you don't read this site. I constantly see women posting on this site saying how priests, bishops, etc. shouldn't wear anything that remotly costs money, looks regal, etc. So, it actually happens a lot.

I see some women (mix of older and younger) who choose to wear the veil as I visit different parishes. They do it for their own personal reasons and I have no problem with it. The problem is trying to have this dictated to everyone as there is an major thread of male dominance in this requirement, you cannot argue it away. Since the SSPX-style Catholics usually push this, they also remember that the old Latin mass was an time of high male/clergy dominance along with the long discarded cultural submissive religious woman customs.

I forgot to mention that Kleenex for a chapel cap is not to be underrated. In the 1950's when my mom used to send us little kids to CCD on Saturday mornings (but didn't go to mass herself and didn't take or send us either on Sundays) my brothers and I would get to parish early and there would be weddings going on. We would slip into church to see the brides. I never had a "hat" or head covering, and this older lady with a gravely voice came up to me after about four Saturdays of bride-viewing. She said, "Did your mother send you to church?" "No, we just came to see the bride before catechism". Her name was Mrs. McCarthy and she took out a Kleenex and bobby-pinned it to my head to my brothers' amazed delight. The next week she asked for our phone number. The next week we came home from school one day and there was Mrs. McCarthy having coffee with our mom (and maybe a cigarette, too). The next Saturday I had a real live chapel cap and the next Sunday we started going to Mass as a family (our Dad was overseas.)

I am not a proponent of nostalgic religion, however, that Kleenex was a means of grace for our mom and for all of us kids. But it wasn't the Kleenex or a head-covering really; it was about a woman who recognized an opportunity for pastoral ministry and evangelization and gently responded. Mrs. McCarthy died in her 90's after bringing hundreds of people into the church - new Catholics and rusty ones, too. Evangelization is labor intensive. Reaching out is what matters and each era offers new means to pastor people to Mass and the sacraments. I believe finding the opportunities today is so much more important than covering one's head at Mass and such inconsequential. My mother needed a friend and Mrs. McCarthy was not only friend, but Christ to so many. Let us be Christ to one another. Paying attention to Kleenex, however.

If you do not have the time, money, and materials to avoid routinely having bad hair days, then the obvious solution is to wear a head covering. In such a case, wearing a head covering indicates that one is not consumed with vanity, since were one in these circumstances to take the time and resources to make one's hair look all right, it would be a misuse of that time and those resources. Much easier, not to mention attractive, to wear something like lace or nice fabric. Every tradition was once an innovation.

To the author's implication that veiling is submission to male dominance: I completely agree. It is humilty and respect for the greatest man of all time, Jesus Christ.

I'm an 18 year old woman and I am beginning to be quite disgusted at the awful things my parents' generation has done to the Church. You'd have to be blind to not see what the abandonment of tradition has done to us.

But I have high hopes for my generation. Two of my good friends are discerning the priesthood. Another I have recently addicted to adoration :). And this Sunday I will begin wearing my chapel veil for the first time, and hope to inspire others to do so as well.

For any adults wondering what happened to the Church, DO NOT FEAR, my generation cares and will fix this, with God's help.

I wear a veil over my head whenever I pray and it has nothing to do with being less then anyone nor does it have to do with men in general

I find it odd that women who choose not to veil themselves get so defensive about the whole matter. Veiling was canon law until I believe 1980 something... It is spelled out for us quite clearly in the bible, yet some "catholic" women attack the practise and those of us who choose, yes choose to wear it.

Besides what is truly wrong with casting yourself in the image of the blessed mother mary might i ask. Is she not to be a model for all mothers and even all women in fact.

But Erica truly expresses this best

"Wearing the veil is extremely important for several reasons (not just hiding your hair),

1. Like other pious practices, such as genuflecting, dressing in a dignified manner, and maintaining silence in the church, wearing the veil increases devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. It's of utmost importance not only to be respectful of Our Lord, who deserves all glory, but to set an example of reverence for others.

2. The veil is a visible sign of the invisible order established by God. It enhances and adorns the natural beauty of our femininity, which is so holy a vessel that it deserves to be ornamented.

3. Our Lord commanded it. To be Catholic, one must follow three essential things: the Magisterium, Sacred Scripture, and Sacred Tradition. While it may be true that no mention of the veil was made in the 1983 edition of Canon Law, it's a long-standing and well-respected rule that if the Church says something once, it still stands, unless she specifically revokes it. Contrary to popular misinformation, the Church taught that the veil must be worn, and she still teaches that the veil must be worn. As for the Bible, St. Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 11 that the angels are offended when women appear at Mass with their heads unveiled.

4. The veil is our heritage; women wore it faithfully until the 1960's, when radical feminism systematically attacked the usage of veils for showing submission. With all due respect, I feel that I am lowly enough, as a human, to submit to our Almighty God, and that submitting to Him is a good thing.

As for your concerns about being noticed during Mass, I would say that if you start wearing your veil, encourage others to do the same, and pray for Catholic women, it will become the norm again and no longer be a distraction.
"

I can remember as a little girl wearing a small white lacy chapel cap. I liked it.It felt special to me. By 1970, no one I knew was wearing the chapel caps or veils. Women's lib had taken hold and not wearing them became a "popular revolt" as it were. I am now becoming Orthodox, and yes I am wearing a headcovering to church by choice. Back then and even now I didn't question the idea of women covering or not covering the head. I didn't see it as women "subjugating" themselves to me. I saw it (and still see it) as a privilege!Besides,one should consider this: Have you ever seen the Theotokos/ Blessed Virgin Mary depicted without her headcovering? and shouldn't every Christian woman...particuarly those who are either Catholic or Orthodox, see Mary as her ultimate role model, the very woman who was the example of obedience to God by saying yes to giving birth to Jesus Christ, despite being a virgin? Why should anyone be afraid of a piece of cloth, especially if the wearing of that cloth may lead to a life of grace and blessing?

I also wear a Chapel Veil. I am 22 and have been wearing it for 2 years now. I am insanely shy, so it was definitely hard at first. If there are any other women reading this blog that are scared and discerning whether they should wear the veil or not, know that it really is a wonderful practice and MANY Catholic women support you!!

It is so encouraging for me to read testimonies of women who cover their heads when gathered together with other believers. I attend a baptist church and I have been covering my head for about four years. I am 52 years old. I started out with hats and even that made me feel conspicuous. Now I wear scarves, shawls, hats, lace mantillas; anything that will cover my head adequately. I also feel that it is a privilege. There are only maybe two other women that cover their heads at my church. Covering your head at a baptist church is definitely something I never saw when I was growing up. This symbol of a man with uncovered head and a woman with covered head expresses our obedience to God, our loyalty to Christ, and our respect for one another. This really is a glorious subject. The men with uncovered heads and the women with covered heads bear witness to the glorious realities of the realm of redemption I Cor. 11:3-6; to the realm of creation (11:7-12); and to the realm of nature (11:13-15).

I think its good that women wear the chapel veil, if non-catholic women wear to see veiled women then they would see that becoming a catholic is a true conversion of their life not just a change of name. I am acually very envies sometimes i look at the jewish rabbies that veil themselfs and wish i could do that as a catholic.

The snide remarks by Maureen Fiedler show her ignorance on the subject and her intolerance of others. Again, it is the me or them attitude of many who like to think of themselves as intelligent and free thinking. Who died and left you boss? You may think that the veil does not apply to "today's Catholic women" but, I disagree.

I was brought up in the pre-Vatican II Church and loved the reverence even as a child. I always felt a sense of personal protection and of personal dignity through the teachings of the Catholic Church. I do not feel the need to cowtow to anyone or anything except God and have CHOSEN to veil my head in church.

The purpose of the veil is to not to show inferiority to men. It cannot be discriminatory for women to be encouraged to veil when men are expected to forgo wearing a head covering when praying. Each is asked to perform certain behaviors.

A woman's hair is considered a glory to her - don't we spend a lot of time on our hair? By covering one's head, we forgo our own glory to speak to the glory of God in the Eucharist - the focus of the holy mass - the reason for mass. It is not about us! We believe that we worship in concert with the angels who offer with us the honor due to God. It offends the angels as well, when humans do not show ALL glory to God when in prayer.

“Receive the sacred veil, that thou mayst be known to have despised the world, and to be truly, humbly, and with all thy heart subject to Christ as his bride; and may he defend thee from all evil, and bring thee to life eternal” (Pontificale Romanum; de benedictione).

In all honesty, I am not interested in the opinion of your Muslim friends - I would think that they have enough to address with their own religion. And, interfaith opinions about the Catholic Church always bore me. Most Catholics don't know what they are talking about let alone those of other religions. You should remember what they say about opinions.

The Church is what it is, don't confuse the Church with modernism. Catholicism gives us a chance to rise above it all, to transend our daily lives and petty battles. Don't get stuck on petty issues. If you do not choose to wear a veil then fine - God bless you. But, leave us who do alone. What we do is important to us.

What a lively, interesting conversation! It is particularly enlightening to me since I became Catholic two years ago this Easter Vigil and I thirst for knowledge and guidance.

I fell in love with the "old" Catholic church many years ago, and after I finally became Catholic and saw how the church had changed so much, I learned a new word when searching out information on the difference between the mass today with its informality and the mass of "old"….the word is "trad"….I'm a "trad", a traditionalist!

In the tradition of the "hat and glove" day of the protestant church down south that I was used to, it was unthinkable that my aunt would go to church without wearing a hat, as one dressed up in their finest to visit God's house. But that was as far as it went.

In embracing Catholicism, I've come to understand that there is MORE than just dressing your best by wearing a hat to visit God's house. There is a deep reverence and a special peaceful aura that surrounds a Catholic woman when she dons the veil and enters into prayer. It is a private feeling….a special feeling. A feeling with God that his new Catholic had never enjoyed before.

A couple months ago, a friend of mine, also a convert (of over 20 years ago), gave me a lacy black veil which had been in her family for years. The parish we attend is VERY modern and no one wears veils. Even my "church hats" stand out, altho since I've been wearing hats, more and more women are also doing so.

I can tell you it took a LOT of courage for me to put that veil on because I knew it would cause a stir. But I felt compelled to do so. I read so much about the background of veiling in the church and how cultural changes such as women's lib influenced the elimination of this tradition. I learned that veiling was MORE than just a fashion or simply a tradition…not just "something we do". It is truly a personal reverence, a personal offering to God, that I put my veil on and approach His altar.

I am sure there are those in my parish who are making remarks about me, of all people, a new Catholic, wearing a veil. I must ignore their comments because if I let them influence me in whether I wear the veil or not, then I'm not wearing it in the spirit in which it was originally Scripturally inspired by the old Catholic church.

I'm letting God influence me in this decision.

one small question: Can black veils be worn at funerals for people who aren't catholic?
thanks for any answers :)

Veiling at Mass has another common-sense purpose, beyond reverence to God and adherence to scriptural teaching: It helps to counter distraction from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. As a young woman in her early thirties, I must confess that I have often fallen prey to the temptation to contemplate the terrific highlights or haircut of the woman in front of me. When I am focusing on making sure I catch a fellow congregant on the way out so I can find out which salon she goes to instead of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the necessity for veiling becomes apparent.

Another common-sense reason for veiling is that men find a gorgeous head of hair interesting and attractive for an entirely different reason. I have been told by multiple male friends and relatives that a woman's hair plays into lust big-time. Is that really what we, as women - if we are truly serious about keeping fellow Catholics from temptation - want to encourage during Mass?

I have recently decided to wear a chapel veil during mass and found an article on Patrick Madrid's website helpful. It presents the idea in a way for the individual to decide where they stand. I think the article was at www.patrickmadrid.com

I have being using a veil at church for about a year now, but I am having alot of thoughts of the Pharisees that Jesus was always challenging them to change -- also does this not bring undue attention since most women do not veil ? discerning :)

As for clothes in Church, when I look around I am confused as to whether I am in a bar or at a sporting event!!! I applaud any priest who has the guts to set the standard high, because if you don't all behaviour drops to the lowest common denominator. Wait a minute, that's exactly what has happened. Tank tops, shorts, jeans, flip flops, low cut tops, sound familiar? So much for respect for Christ, let alone yourself! Parents need to wak up and stop being lazy and realize they are the role models for their children.

As for veiling, it's about respect for the Eucharist and your surroundings. Just because someone decides to be respectful doesn't mean it has to do with Vatican II. I mysself have returned to veiling as a sign of respect for where I am and what I am participating in.

All this nonsense about Vatican II, what are you so afraid of???

Vatican II never expressly did away with the requirement for veiling. The grand assumption was that because Vatican II did not expressly reiterate the requirement, it was gone. Not so. Instead of thinking of it as an edict of the men of the church, look at it for what it is. It is an outward sign of respect and submission to GOD.... who among us doesn't want to submit to GOD? What bothers me immensely are people who go out of their way to try to make those of us who do choose to show this level of respect feel bad for it... as if we are somehow trying to drag ourselves back to the dark ages. I don't see how being modest, covering my hair, and respecting the church, the Eucharist and myself is doing that. I have heard comments that me wearing a veil is a distraction. I don't see how. If those folks are concentrating on their prayers or the homily, or whichever part of the Mass that is going on at the moment... what does it matter what is on my head? I choose not to accept responsibility for someone else being distracted by a piece of black lace on my head. Nicely, as I am praying, my lace veil falls to the sides of my face and allows me only to see what is directly in front of me - my Bible, or prayer book.... or the altar. Coincidence? I think not.

I recently started veiling. I feel that it is something that you can prayerfully decide on your own as to wheather or not you want to do it. The main reason I started to do so is because in June I will be entering a Religious Congregation and the Veil reminds me that I am to be the future bride of Christ. Some seminarian friends of mine also expressed some of the beauty of the tradition on its own, for example, the fact that there is a veil in the tabernacle represents its sacredness and how it is a gift to mankind, in the same way a woman who was a gift to man from God is sacred and she wears a veil... this is why even today a bride veils at her wedding. i feel as well if you dont want to wear one and it is just going to cause you to be distracted in prayer because you are embarrassed about what other people are thinking... then just go with out dont sacrifice your prayer life for a veil. but if you feel called to do it, thumbs up to you.

It seems strange to me that an argument against veiling is made because someone who is not on the right page about Vatican II is for it. All the rich imagery remains, it simply is not penned in Canon Law anymore. To reduce the mandatory wearing of the chapel veil to some kind of men suppressing women strategy with the rich imagery talk as just a cover up warrants proof. The only reason women stopped wearing them was because certain misleading people back then bought into the "men suppressing women" argument. I am disappointed in this article.

After 20+ years as an adult convert to Catholicism, I decided to wear the veil as part of my Lenten journey for 2012. I reject any notion that 'male-domination' was behind the original mandate. However, I also find it ridiculous that any sort of absolutism regarding said wearing would lead to ladies young and old resorting to kleenex or something equally silly. To cover one's head with paper intended for handling bodily fluids is almost sacriligious, in my opinion, and certainly puts form above substance! Women who choose to veil for healthy reasons (modesty, reverence--mainly for God but also for one's own femininity) can offer up those moments when the veil is lost, forgotten, etc as a part of their prayer at mass. It's what's in the heart that matters most. But I think the veil definitely helps.

I just came across this article while shopping online for a chapel veil. I had to borrow one from a friend and decided I enjoyed wearing it so much ( for many reasons) that I wanted my own. I don't feel compelled by anyone to do this. You can always find people who have strong views about the "right" way to do things, and you seem to have found one to pounce upon for your own use.

This article is all about angry feminism and not enlightening about being Catholic.I started reading over some of your publications other articles, and I wonder that you even call yourselves the National Catholic Reporter, as you seem to have a different agenda.

There are so many other important issues - I'm very unimpressed with the subject matter and tone of the writer.

I want to start veiling. I have, for quite a while,felt like that was what I should be doing. From respect to the Lord and in obedience to the Church.

My mother gave me a beautiful chapel veil and I prepared to wear it one Sunday to Church and my husband looked at me crossways. Kinda put me off. And it bothers me because I feel that I should be wearing it. So I am gonna drop back and punt so to speak. I found other typed of headcoverings that should raise the eyebrows so that is how I shall begin.

People at church don't bother me what they think, but I care what my husband thinks. We are both converts.