We have asked our dear friend, Elbert, author of That’s Elbert with an E over in Laurel, Delaware to renounce his belief in dressing down for church. This forsaken man went so far as to send his own child to church dressed in a t-shirt bearing a tantalizing message: “I heard there’d be Christian girls here.” Gasp!

No, Elbert. T-shirts are not OK in church.

In penance, you shall explore and write upon the mystery and modesty of being human. Let the following excerpt start your journey, and be quick about it lest the flames of Hell burst your 100% cotton T-shirt into a raging fireball:

Many people come to Church dressed like they are ready to go to the beach or to play sports. One should not come to Church dressed in shorts, miniskirts, swimsuits, bikinis, tanktops, dresses above the knees, bare shoulders, bare arms, low cut dresses, sleeveless shirts, very tight fitting clothing, etc. As many find out, if you come to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, AL, USA, and you are not dressed properly don’t expect to get into the Chapel because of the dress code. Please don’t ever go into a Chapel before our Lord improperly dressed. If you do, hopefully you will be caught by security guards and asked to leave or to put on more clothing. We must return to having a holy fear for God and for His true Presence in the Eucharist and for being in His house. How can we expect to grow in the spiritual life if we are dressed like we don’t care? How dare we approach the Holy Eucharist dressed like we are going to the beach.

When a person dresses immodestly he or she can become an occasion of sin for other people. And this is the fashion for today. Each year it seems that the latest fashion is to see how little clothing one can wear and how much of one’s body can be shown. And what flesh is not shown is revealed by extremely tight clothing. To knowingly and intentionally dress like this is sinful, and can be even mortally sinful, because one becomes a temptation to sin for other people. We are all weak and can easily fall into sins of impurity by someone else’s immodesty.

Before we go out or buy new clothes we should do a modesty check. Ladies, remember some simple guidelines in buying and wearing an outfit, which are modeled here after a well known modesty promoter (cf. Colleen Hammond, Dressing with Dignity, www.ValoraMedia.com)… (ewtn.com)