We attended our old Traditional Parish on Sunday. It was a most pleasant experience. Just about everyone asked where we have been and told us they missed us. The couple of families we have had problems with were not there for some reason or other and that helped with anxiety levels. I was afraid of going and being whispered about my immodest dress or my black lace mantilla.
I so missed the TLM. It has become comfort food for me and this diocese left so much to be desired regarding the NO Masses. We have not found a good NO parish yet. Not one without really bad folk music, or silly affectations. One Mass we went to spent 45 minutes inducting a nun in a white alb as the Parish Life Director. Another one had us sing and do hand motions during the Prayer of the Faithful. "Our hands, our hearts, our incense rising, we ask you Lord hear our prayer"-with hand motions! We had to put our hands in the air and wiggle our fingers at the incense part. So coming back to people kneeling and Gregorian Chants felt so much like home.
I wish I did not have to travel an hour for a TLM to be in a Church that felt truly Catholic, but feel blessed at least to have this Church here.
What's wrong with a black lace mantilla? That's OK for a married woman, isn't it? (My wife wears a blue one when we go to the Latin Mass here in Canberra, Australia).
Julian O'Dea
"What's wrong with a black lace mantilla?"
Pansy raised the same question earlier.
THE NERVE OF SOME PEOPLE!!!
First, let me say I belong to a TLM Parish here in Atlanta (FSSP preists) and my sister (baptist) is probably the most modest person I know, by nature. (She never ever exposes more than her wrists and hands, neck and head, period, ever.)
That said, this sounds like someone with a serious spiritual pride problem. Lets assume you showed up in kneelength shorts and a sleeveless top for this get-together (since I have no idea what you actually wore.) If what you were wearing did actually pose a problem, the solution is to very diplomatically ask you to dress more appropriately with the next invite, or to not invite you again, BUT NEVER TO BE SO INDISCREET AS TO SAY WHY! That is just cruel and hurtful, sounds intentionally so.
Second, did you ask what colour mantilla would be more appropriate? All the "public" mantillas in our vestibule are black lace. I think Fr. Fromageot would be rather shocked to learn he is providing "distractions" to be worn by the ladies who may forget theirs.
This is a tangent, but if someone DOES dress immodestly -- like plunging necklines, serious cleavage, very clingy clothing -- how do you think you should approach socializing with them? I have an old friend who does this, and I'm pretty sure her current lapsed/ex-Catholic morals are all for being "proud of what you've got." She's almost family at this point, and as our priest always says, if you don't have a relationship how can you help bring them back? But it does annoy me sometimes especially that my husband must have to concentrate so hard on just looking at her face. I don't know if this is the kind of thing Davey shouldn't be "exposed" to as a small child. She's not exactly Britney Spears or anything. So should I just keep ignoring it those few times a year we do get together? I can't imagine her being receptive to the most diplomatic hints about it.