Modesty in Dress and Deportment

how am i supposed to dress modestly when i am training for a triathlon?

Hello again my dear friends! it has been a long time since you heard from me - since Sept. If you can remember, I said i was going to stay at a Dominican monastery for two months. Well, I never left! Last month Nov 7th, I entered, and joined the nuns in their life. I now live in a little town by the name of Senekal, in SA; over 700 miles away from Cape Town! I went, I saw, I stayed! So I won't be able to be member here on CAF anymore, unfortunately, as I do not have ready access to internet. I really enjoyed my time with you all, and miss you so much!

May God bless you all!

Love from Dolores
Dominican aspirant

We are currently asking all Catholic men and women To Donate $10 Or What You Can Afford To The Catholic Youth Ministries Bring Em To God Campaign

http://funds.gofundme.com/u050

I am happy to find a group that supports modesty in dress. I have always been a big fan of modest attire, not only because it's comfortable, but because I believe that my body is a gift from God and should only be seen by my future husband and doctors (when necessary). I am very modest and I would like to see a return in more modesty, especially in this sex-crazed world we live in. I hate seeing so much skin.

HI everyone! I have a question to ask. During our games lesson we have 1 hour of dance (compulsory). Dance is not something I enjoy or am very good at. Our teacher gave us some moves to incoperate into our dance. One of these moves was a body roll (basically, you stick out your backside then push forwards until you are sticking your chest out). I didn't feel comfortable doing this particular move so I asked the teacher if I could miss out the move or do another move as I felt uncomfortable. She said "oh it's only in front of the girls" but I still said I'd rather do something else. The dance teacher let me do something else (which she said was better) so I felt better. This morning I found out that she had told the other group what I had said and had been offended. I really didn't mean to offend her, or any of the other girls who liked the move. If they feel its ok, then that's fine by me- I don't want to force other people to miss the move out just as I don't want to be forced to do the move. Should I have said anything, or just got on with it? I don't want her to think I'm rude. Lots of people now think I'm "frigid" now. I don't want to get in trouble for offending a teacher either. I think I will apologise to her for any offense I may have caused. What do you think? (sorry this post is so long btw)

Hi my Friends!

I just thought I’d let you know so you don’t wonder at my silence…on Fri the 17th Sept, I will be going offline and away for two months. As many of you know, I have received the call to be a nun, which I have been discerning for over four years. I have tried at three different convents without finding my home, and after a sudden turn of events, I may have found an Order to call home – the Dominicans, with their emphasis on Truth. I went on a pilgrimage on the 20th August to see St. Therese’s relics when they toured here in Cape Town, SA. I really believe that this turn of events has something to do with her powerful intercession. On the 31st August I received an email from the Dominican contemplative nuns whom I enquired to. The letter described a way of life that was more spot-on with what is in my head and my heart, than any other Order I have encountered sp far. So a visit was arranged and I will be doing my aspirancy until end November. It is quite a challenge for me, as it is the first time I will be so far from home – this community, the only Dominican cloistered nuns in SA, are over 700 miles away. I am so terribly nervous, but it is also so exciting!

God bless
Dolores
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Hi, I'm a mother, grandmother and now a great grandmother ....and so glad to find this group. I am so fed up with the immodest dress of today......especially in church. But how do you say to people that it's inappropriate? I want to say to them, "now that you've shown us your body, why don't you go home and get dressed!"....but I don't. I calmly say a prayer for this person. I went to a Catholic school and we were taught modesty by the nuns. Please give some suggestions on how and when to speak up. Thank you!

Hi motherof10! Depending on how close you are to them and their personalities, you could recommend a book about Catholicism and modesty to them, or you could say how concerned you are that so many young women nowadays are dressing in an immodest way and ask them how they treat the issue with their children. Setting a good example is always a good idea and is one of the reasons I decided to dress modestly. I hope these ideas help, by the way I admire you for having 10 children- that must take some patience!

Hi I am new here and not really sure I know what I am doing. I grew up taking modesty for granted. That is how I was raised. But now taht I am married and have children I find myself wondering why the young mothers around me who are Catholic have no idea that wearing a low cut top is not what they should be doing. How do you approach the issue of modesty with people liek that? Thanks for the help

I just received an e-mail from a modest dressing friend, that includes these wonderful teachings on this important topic. I thought I would share it with all of you:

SOME DIRECTIVES OF THE MAGISTERIUM ON CHRISTIAN MODESTY
- Taken from http://www.olrl.org/virtues/modcrus.shtml -

We are all born with a fallen nature and, consequently, we must keep our bodies covered in order to avoid the dangers of concupiscence. This fact, a result of original sin, is deliberately ignored each time that naturalism attempts to insinuate itself into our Christian customs. Then it is that the purpose of clothing is lost sight of, and instead of being an invitation to virtue, it becomes an incitement to sin. The Church, like a vigilant Mother, full of tender care for the holiness and eternal salvation of Her children, has often been obliged to warn the faithful so that they might avoid the errors of fashion, and to take the measures necessary to ensure that the holy places and sacred things should not be profaned by immodesty in dress.

Unfortunately, we are living in times that have lost the sense of sin and, as a result, we see around us an eruption of styles of dress which are, in every way, contrary to Christian modesty. Christian people must not allow themselves to be carried along by the spirit of the world but must firmly resist such deviations . . . Jacinta Marto, one of the little seers of Fatima, although she was only eleven years old at the time, had a wisdom taught her by the Mother of God.

She merits, therefore, our attention. Here is what she said with regard to styles of dress: "Fashions will arise which will greatly offend God." When we consider the fashions of our day, we are led to conclude that the times foretold by the little seer have arrived. Indeed, the styles of dress of the women and girls of today such as: very tight clothing; dressing like men, including slacks and tights; low necklines; skirts with hemlines or slits which do not cover the leg below the knee -- are absolutely contrary to the norms of Christian modesty.

For this reason, in order to conform to the recommendations of the Holy See, and in particular to the instructions of the Sacred Congregation of the Council, we urge our faithful people to refrain from following such ways of dressing.

"Those who keep the Law of God", Jacinta said, "should not follow fashions". Our priests must try to apply the instructions of the Sacred Congregation of the Council, without violence or rudeness, but with firmness. They must not let persons, dressed in the styles described above, receive the Sacraments and, as far as possible, must not allow them access to the Temple of God.

Furthermore, they must frequently remind the faithful of these regulations. Also, when couples present themselves for marriage preparation, the priests must tell them to inform their wedding guests of the rules for dress in church. People dressed in these unacceptable ways must not be accepted as witnesses to the marriage and, after due warning, they must not be admitted to Holy Communion.

On January 12, 1930, the Sacred Congregation of the Council, by mandate of Pope Pius XI, issued emphatic instructions on modesty of dress to all bishops, directing them to insist on these prescriptions: "We recall that a dress cannot be called decent which is cut deeper than two fingers breadth under the pit of the throat, which does not cover the arms at least to the elbows, and scarcely reaches a bit beyond the knee. Furthermore, dresses of transparent material are improper.

The opinion which allows custom to dictate the question of modesty was refuted by Pope Pius XII in one short sentence: "There always exists an absolute norm to be preserved." Custom, of course, pays no attention to absolute norms; but, it is a follower of this false principle: ". . . the majority cannot go wrong."

To say that "... modesty is a matter of custom" is just as wrong as to say that "... honesty is a matter of custom." What about those who teach "What is customary does not affect us?" Pope Pius XII calls this application of an ancient principle to the virtue of modesty, "the most insidious of sophisms." He calls attention to the fact that some people use this sophism "...in order to brand as 'old fashioned' the rebellion of honest people against fashions they consider too bold."

Modern Catholics may now consider themselves "far too adult" and disdain such directives, but nevertheless they remain the wise counsels of our Holy Mother the Church.