Proper Dress

In today’s society, the image of a catholic school girl is a promiscuous young girl in a short skirt and tight shirt. The attire is meant to entice young men and promote their anti-catholic nature. While walking down the street in my Catholic school girl uniform, I have often received numerous honks and comments regarding my appearance. To some extent, this may be flattering for a young woman, making one feel good about her appearance to the opposite sex. However, when I really started to contemplate these remarks, I began to realize how rude and degrading they actually were. It was putting a label on young women, like myself, as sex symbols and demeaning them into objects for a man’s pleasure. Little do Catholic school girls realize, however, that this attire is simply that dress in which we are required to wear. Girls must wear skirts and knee socks; oftentimes pants are not even allowed, and if they are, the popularity of them is very low due to their extremely unflattering aspects. It seems to me that there is no way out of this promiscuous stereotype. Whether or not we choose to act in this way is our own decision, but when dressing this way, there is no choice.

So I asked myself, how does this fit into the view of women in the Catholic Church?

The Catholic Church clarifies that women and men are two separate identities, in which not to be confused. Because Jesus was a man and God is defined as a masculine being, this justifies that priests, the tellers of God’s word, must be males in order to ensure complete authenticity. As womanpriests.org explains: “[l]et us be clear on this matter: the Church has never denied women admission to the priesthood, because the "gift" was never offered to them by Christ. Put in other words, the female has never been deprived of the office, because she was never eligible for it.

The "equality" of the sexes (in the modern sense) has never been part of the Church's thinking about the priesthood. Her world-view has always been hierarchical.” In other words, women just are not “fit” for the job because they are not equivalent in authority and power to the man.

“In the Hebrew language, the names of God, Yahweh and Elohim, are masculine. He is described as "Father" (Ex. 4:22; Deut. 32:6; Isa. 63:16; Mal. 2:10, etc.). Jesus prays, ‘Our Father’ (Matt. 6:9). He is "father" in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Through baptism and the Spirit of adoption we are privileged to cry, ‘Abba, Father’ (Rom. 8:15). God has the title of King (ho basileus) Who rules a Kingdom (he basileia). He is Lord, ho kyrios. He is also Judge, Master, Savior, and Ancient of Days. The Old Testament speaks of Him as ‘the God of Abraham,’ not "the God of Sarah." The fact that the man Adam was created before the woman Eve suggests that God, in His actions (i.e., the Uncreated Energies), is masculine rather than feminine.”

It is quite apparent to most of us that men and women have significant differences. Instead of blurring theses lines, says the Bible, we must emphasize them. Masculinity and femininity have two opposite meanings, one power, and the other passivity. God, displayed as a very powerful creature, must likewise be portrayed as such. Women must therefore flaunt their femininity, showing we are incapable of power and control because this is the callings of Bible and mankind. In doing so, many young women portray this in a negative sense using little clothing and flirtatious attitudes, giving into the desire of men. The Bible most likely did not intend for these outcomes, however, the Bible is too often misinterpreted.

Sources used:

http://www.womenpriests.org/related/azkoul5.asp
http://www.womenpriests.org/related/azkoul5.asp