February 27th 2023
Dear Diary,
It chaps my hide, as my dad always said, that I’ve only been on one Ad Lumina visit to Rome. The pandemic messed so much up. So they’re talking about our region getting over there soon. No firm date yet, maybe the fall. But I’ve already got a hankering for all that pasta and brushettas and expressos. Best is the wine. They’ve got both red and white of course, a lot of them named Monty something-er-other. I could down a tub of that one. The best.
I always brighten up when I think of my last Ad Lumina. Rome is the City of Lights after all! Lumina… brighten up… lights…. I crack myself up sometimes. But, seriously, it was great. We stayed at the North American College. Spectacular views and all those nice young men running around — gives me some hope for the future. Such a huge, grand place — the guys were hilarious, laughing about “it’s not home but it’s much!” HA! I wasn’t so sure what I thought about the number of men with cassocks. Still aren’t sure. A future rector’s going to have to deal with that. I mean, they’re okay, but they seemed to be kinda normal to them instead of something you use maybe a couple times a year. And there was the time when Dozer and me and a couple of the other bishops there for the trip looked into the chapel and they had a Mass going on in Latin, deacons and everything, and chant. “What the hell?!?”, said Dozer, a little too loud, and started in. Jude Noble looked like he was going to punch him in the face and Dozer piped down. Bully. Dozer, I mean. I’m not really into that Latin Mass thing, like Jude is, but I guess as long as it is in Rome and is rare in other places it isn’t too harmful. We want people to be happy, right? So long as it doesn’t catch on.
Another bright point was meeting the Pope in person. So meaningful for me. I went to Jesuit schools all the way through, K through undergrad, and I learned SO much. I remember hearing something about how Jesuits were supposed to refuse to become bishops, but this has worked out great.
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On cassocks, the pastor in the next but one parish has made it public that he has never worn a cassock since he was ordained – and never will. He is an excellent pastor. Wearing or not wearing a cassock has no bearing on how good a priest is.
[That’s quite a dogmatic statement from a layman. And you know this… how?]
[That’s quite a dogmatic statement from a layman. And you know this… how?]
From what I have observed myself and from what I have heard others say.
“Wearing or not wearing a cassock has no bearing on how good a priest is.”
Maybe. maybe not, Max. But it does have bearing on how good a Priest CAN BE.
AND wearing a cassock does have bearing on how others view the Priest. A priest who adopts the cut and form of a layman’s dress (a black 2-piece suit) adopts the appearance of a layman and thereby does injustice to the ontological reality that he is different from and “other” than a layman. Rather,
It is appropriate, fitting, and proper for one who IS different than a layman to DRESS differently than a layman. Doing so is also conducive to fostering a healthy sense of that difference in the mind and soul of the Priest. THAT, along with modesty, is what a cassock accomplishes for a Priest.
Following the truism that “Clothes make the (lay) man”, Cassocks make the Priest.
well, i know two young priests who habitually wear cassocks – one even wears the saturno when appropriate – and they’re awesome priests. if the proper attire helps to instill in them the proper attitude toward their responsibilities, then more power to them!
With regard to the wearing of cassocks, it seems to me we ought to remember that the tail doesn’t wag the dog:
1) Cassock wearing does produce a good pastor ‘in seipso’.
2) A good pastor does not have to wear a cassock. (The wearing of cassocks being accidental and not essential to the proper execution of their pastoral office). However…
3) Clerical dress is a ‘proper accident,’ as it were, which manifests the presence of that selfsame pastoral office. (This is why, when Hollywood wants to give a visual indication that a priest means serious business, he shows up in a cassock.)
As a corollary: to utterly disdain the wearing of a cassock is a highly suspicious dislike of the traditions of the Church which may indicate a problem.
The problem could be nugatory, and not interfere with the proper execution of priestcraft, like any number of personal foibles that the clergy, being human, are also prone to have. Or it could be more serious.
*1) Cassock wearing does NOT produce a good pastor in seipso.
Sorry about that.
Maximillian,
Maybe I am wrong but I think the dress of a cleric is like a sacramental, its value depends on the devotion and attitude of the clergyman. But it also speaks to laymen who may put more trust in a cleric who dresses like one. Finally I would ask, “how do you know and how does this excellent pastor know” that he would not be a better pastor if he dressed the part? For example, I could say I am a very good person and don’t say the Rosary every day. Whether one is a good Christian is independent of whether one says the Rosary. But unless I have some sort of pious daily devotions it is probably incorrect to say I am a good Christian or at least incorrect to say I would not benefit from saying a few (maybe 50) Hail Mary’s a day.
I hear what you all say. The priest I referred to in the opening post does not wear a cassock for no doubt very good reasons. Maybe he just doesn’t want to look like a Hollywood priest.
Anyhow in my opinion it is very wrong to judge a priest by whether he wears a cassock of not.
Also, we should be cautious about these young guys, newly ordained, who love swanning around in maniples, birettas, cassocks, lace etc. Something distinctly superficial about that.
@Maximillian
“Also, we should be cautious about these young guys, newly ordained, who love swanning around in maniples, birettas, cassocks, lace etc. Something distinctly superficial about that.”
Sed contra, and as my moniker might suggest, I think that a little ceremony and pageant is a welcome change from the streak of uninterrupted grey ooze which characterizes the current age.
As a side note, I love lace. My house is filled with lace. I am always the one who spots the various lace objects when the wife and I go antiquing. In the immortal words of Dr. Johnson: “Greek, sir, is like lace; every man gets as much of it as he can.” Doubly true of the clergy. I hope they all learn Greek.