“Why are clergy the worst dressed people in church?” said a lay friend of mine the other day. “I know they shouldn’t try to be too transcendent, but do they have to dress aiming to look like hobos?” he said.
It got me thinking. I must say I think he’s onto something. Commonly, but not always I am pleased to say, in my experience the clergy dress worse than the lay people. Not as a question of casual versus formal. There is a way of dressing casual that looks really good. There is a way that looks positively daggy and scruffy.
I wonder why this is. I guess one of the reasons is that overall now we are a much more informal society and that means that a Sunday best really doesn’t exist. A good guide is to just look at television. The Sunday presenters are dressed more casually than the weekday ones, and that should be a model, of course, to the clergy if they are not wearing more formal robes. Although there is a way of dressing casually which looks quite smart, there is a way of dressing casually that looks like you just don’t care.
It’s a good argument in favor of Anglican Clergy being “in uniform” — clerical shirt, slacks and nice shoes — rather than in ‘civvies’.
I’m always delighted when lay persons focus on the essentials, but when a bishop offers such a profound assessment of the clergy, I am nearly breathless.
I try to dress just slightly more neatly than most of the people in my community…the same clothes, shoes, etc, but neat. One day, while standing at the checkout at our only supermarket (which has a big hardware section, too), the checker asked, “Are you a doctor?” Ah! I knew I had got my dress sense right.
Also, Dan, I wonder if you intended that I should think your comment (#2) as condescending? As Oscar Wilde wrote, “It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.”
[blockquote]As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. – Matthew 11:7-9 [/blockquote]
[blockquote]”And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? – Matthew 6:28-30[/blockquote]
It’s a little hard for me to get worked up about clergy that aren’t “clothes hounds”. That is one of the least problems facing the Church today. No, the problem is a fundamental Scriptural illiteracy that is destroying the Western Church. The problem is pluralism. The problem is that there are pulpits with non-Christians preaching from them. So, why is anyone fretting over clothes worn by the clergy?
Readers should be aware this column is called “The grumpy bishop”. You don’t have to take it seriously.
“daggy”
Is that an ecclesiastical term?
[b]#5, Sick & Tired of Nuance:[/b] At Sewanee, we had (and still have) a “dress tradition;” it used to be a formal dress code, but now it’s something that the students follow voluntarily. Part of the reason for that is that we show how we think about others, occasions, situations, etc., by our attire — which is why courts don’t allow jurors to show up in ratty, ripped jeans. So what are clergy saying about the importance and respect they accord a service, or their parishioners, when they look like they’ve just rolled out of bed? The kids who serve for me at church have to follow the dress code, or not serve — they are forbidden to wear jeans, must wear dark dress shoes, etc. — and I don’t think it’s excessive to expect adult clergy to be better dressed than the teenagers serving alongside them.
Personally, it bugs the heck out of me that so few clergy bother wearing their clerical collars anymore.
This all reminds me of C. S. Lewis’ comment on his teacher Kirkpatrick, in Surprised by Joy: