Are Chapel Veils "Worth It"?

Our Lady of Good Counsel of Genezzano - Ora pro Nobis!

I think that chapel veils are beautiful and I love the tradition of wearing them in church. I must admit however that after the ninth time of pulling mine back on to my head, trying to get the little bobby pin through the tiny hole in the lace while balancing a five-month-old on my hip, and telling my oh-so-helfpul and oh-so-loud toddler that "yes I know my chapel veil fell off, again," I start to wish it wasn't such an important custom. But the fact of the matter is that it is very important.

The other day my husband got a question on his blog which he forwarded to me to answer. I am glad he did because I needed to remember why I keep struggling to put the chapel veil back on.

The lady, who I will call Mrs. E, wrote:

"You state on your blog you welcome questions, I have one for you: Please explain and clarify the issue of chapel veils for women. I know they went by the wayside after Vatican II, but I came across a pamphlet that says VatII never said anything about chapel veils and any woman that doesn't wear one is sinning.

Does the Church even have a "policy" about veils? Are we or are we not to wear them?? I for one would love to wear one, BUT to wear one at this stage at my parish would be a huge distraction for everyone - not to mention I believe it would bring down a world of persecution on my head. I'm not willing to undergo this if the wearing of the veil is not really necessary."

Here is my response:

Dear Mrs. E,

I can sympathize with your not knowing whether to wear the chapel veil or not. I usually go to the latin mass where it is the norm; however I sometimes attend a Melkite church (eastern-rite Catholic) and it is not the norm there. I have decided to wear it whenever I enter a church.

In your email it seems your main question is whether or not we are required to wear the chapel veil and whether it is a sin not to. Although it seems the two are one and the same, I think there is a distinction.

Up until 1983 the Code of Canon Law (1262.2) required women to wear a veil in church. We cannont judge the culpability of those many women who did not wear a veil, because there may have been circumstances that reduced or eliminated their culpability (such as ignorance of canon law or a misleading pastor), but it was however required of Catholic women. At that point in history it was very clear that for those informed, not to wear one would be a sin.

The new Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1983 makes no mention of the chapel veil whatsoever. It seems that it is no longer a "requirement". Unfortunately I have heard arguments, from priests that I respect, both that we are to refer to the previous code on issues not mentioned in the new one, and that only what is in the new code is binding. I know this just seems to confuse matters, but it goes to show the debate is still out. As a laymen however, we are not expected to be experts in canon law; therefore to follow what is in the new code seems to be a reasonable course of action.

For me, I feel it is a "better safe than sorry" issue when it comes to whether or not it is a sin not to wear one. In these troubled times (pardon the clichés), it is often difficult to tell the sheep from the wolves (sorry again). What I mean is that the omission of the rule from canon law may be a way that those who have agendas contrary to the Church have found to undermine it without explicitly doing so. After all, most women left their chapel veils at home because they were under the erroneus impression that the customs of the church were relative to the customs of the world and time. In other words, what St. Paul said in 1 Cor. 11 "But every woman praying or prophesying with her head not covered, disgraceth her head..." (read the full text if you can) was only relative to that time and, had he been writing in our time, he wouldn't have dreamt of mentioning what many feminists would call "chauvinistic" customs.

But this is not the way of the Church, for Her truth, God's truth, transcends all time. God has written creation in such a way as to reveal to us His truth. The veil, as St. paul explains, is a physical representation of the natural order that God established by making woman subject to man. And even more importantly it is a physical representation of the supernatural order that God has established with his Church, which is subject to Christ. If the term "subject to" immediately causes a feeling of injustice to well up within you, as it has in me many a time, take a deep breath and try to consider the issue from a "pre-feminism" point of view. Because of original sin there has always been an abuse of the natural hierarchy. No doubt men are not always just, and they do not always protect and cherish women as they should. However this is to be judged by God and has no effect on God's design. Read Genesis and you will see that this natural hierarchy was established even before the fall of man. God in His wisdom established a "system" that allowed the family and society to flourish. Moreover, the fact that woman is subject to man requires man's utmost love, care, and concern for her (i.e., he has a tremendous responsibility). At the same time, God created the most effective metaphor for Christ's love for the Church and the Church's love and submission to Christ.

Because St. Paul took time to ensure the Corinthians followed this tradition in order to preserve this physical representation of the natural and supernatural orders, and because the Holy Ghost took time to inspire the Church to include these instructions in Holy Scripture, it seems prideful at the least to assume it does not apply to us now.

Essentially the veil accomplishes three main things:
1) It is a symbol of the natural order--i.e., it represents woman's subjection/espousal to man as well as his duty to love, cherish, and care for her.

2) It is a symbol of the supernatural order--i.e., a woman wearing one represents the Church's subjection/espousal to Christ.

3) It is a symbol of womanly virtue--especially reverence, humility, and piety.

In your own spiritual life, the veil, aside from allowing you to follow what has been a binding catholic tradition for over 1000 years, will aid you in ordering your senses to a more God-centered participation in the liturgy of the Church.

As to the issue of being a distraction to others I would say let them be distracted for a moment. It is worth it (for you and for them). Under normal circumstances it would be a means to reduce distraction in church by way of covering up a women's hair and thereby allowing people to pray more intently. Now it will initially be more of a distraction than your beautiful hairdo yet it is a distraction that would cause people to be more concerned with showing reverence within the church. In addition it will be a means by which you can be a witness for the restoration of a reverent liturgy and even a restoration of the family because, as you may fear, people will ask.

I would suggest you visit "Tradition in Action", a website aimed at the restoration of Catholic culture and the traditional Latin Mass. This address will take you to a page in the site that has two very worthwihile articles on this topic.

http://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/d000rpCustomsMainPage.htm

I think you will find they do a far more thorough job at explaining the need for the return of this important Catholic tradition.

By wearing the veil you will be a much needed symbol of womanly virtue and piety.

God Bless,

Hilaire

If you are looking for a place to get a chapel veil you will find some here.

Our Easter Celebration

Christ is risen from the dead and by His death he has conquered death!

Here are the traditions we incorporated in our celebration this year.

EASTER EGGS:

This year we colored Easter eggs. We color them because eggs have always been a traditional Easter food. One reason for this is that the Church used to have a fast that eliminated dairy and eggs as well as red meat, so eggs were a special treat. In addition eggs were served on the Sabbath at the time of Jesus because they could be made ahead, so when Mary Magdalen was going to the tomb of Jesus, she carried eggs to share. The traditional story goes that when she found that Jesus had risen, she told a man on the way. The man replied that Jesus could rise from the dead no more than the eggs she carried could turn scarlet. As he finished saying this, the eggs turned bright red. This traditional story was told to me by the pastor of St. George's Melkite church which we attended from time to time in Milwaukee and I have found it retold in other sources for Traditional Catholic Customs. It is rather difficult to get eggs to turn red so we were content with the somewhat unnatural pastels from the supermarket.



THE PASCHAL CANDLE:

My oldest daughter helped with the paschal candle this year and it turned out lovely. We used cloves for incense and carved a cross which we painted red and gold. We placed the candle on the dinner table.

EASTER BASKETS:

The girls woke to Easter baskets that were a combination of gifts from us and their Nana. I tried to keep the baskets beautiful and not too over the top. Grandma got the lamb purses and I made little treat bags with mini decorated cookies and just a few small candies in delicate foil wrappers. They also each got a lollipop and a book about God. I think that it is important to give children beautiful things of good quality, as the budget allows (and things don't need to be exspensive to be beautiful).

MASS:

As usual we went to the Tridentine mass, which I know was beautiful, although I didn't get to see most of it. Unfortunately I spent the majority of the mass in the bathroom washing my five month old daughters new easter dress and trying to keep a little naked baby warm. I don't know why I didn't pack two outfits because a messy diaper was inevitable with that much white.

EGG HUNT:

After mass we had an Easter egg hunt with the eggs we colored the day before. My girls loved it. Our hunts don't have anything to do with the bunny, its just a fun easter game to play.

DINNER:
Before we ate dinner, we adults played a traditional Easter egg game. The winner got extra prayers that day from everyone else. This site, Fish Eaters, has a great explanation of the game and all the other traditions we observed this year.
The dinner was olive stuffed leg of lamb (thank you food network), roasted asparagus, mashed potatoes, spring mix salad, and crusty bread. For dessert we had cheesecake with a choice of either strawberries or chocolate hazelnut sauce. Yummy! The lamb recipe, which was mediterranean in flavor, was very good, especially since we splurged on free-range organic lamb (thank you Nana).
TREATS:

After dinner everyone got a goodie bag that I put together the night before. I put miniature sugar cookies decorated with white frosting, mints, and jordan almonds inside a plain white bag that I stamped a gold cross on. Then I just punched holes in the top and tied the bags with some beautiful green ribbon I found in the dollar section of the craft store.



In all it was a lovely celebration that was full of meaning and beauty.

I'm a member!

Yippee! I was accepted into the League of Warm Fuzzy Traditionalists. I don't exactly know what that means but I feel like I am in school again getting picked for a team. I certainly feel like a JV player since my blog is in its early stages and I hardly have the wit and humor I find on so many others. I have been reading various blogs from this webring for a while now, and feeling myself in good company I asked to be a part of the League. If you are also a Warm Fuzzy Traditionalist, please introduce yourself. I am new to the blog world and would love to get to know all of you great traditional Catholic bloggers.

The Simple Things

Today I decided to do something I haven't done in a while...take it easy. Everything that needed to happen did: prayers, catechism questions, breakfast, lunch, dinner, naps, and the bedtime routine.

But in addition we:

Drew pictures on the stepping stones...

Had a tea party...

And enjoyed a walk through the garden...

Sometimes it really is better to forget all the things you wish you could do or think you'd rather be doing and just enjoy the things around you. Today I took a break from that feeling that if I could just have more time or more quiet I could get things done. Lo' and behold I got more done!I even did extra things that I didn't know I wanted to do but now wouldn't trade for any amount of folded laundry. It is often said that "It's the simple things in life that make it grand," and as long as we can slow down enough to notice, it really is. God has blessed me with so many things simple and beautiful.

Preparing For Easter

My husbands grandmother always taught him that during Holy Week (Palm Sunday until Easter Sunday) there should be no t.v., movies, or radio. This was so that it would be easier to concentrate on the deep signifigance of Holy Week, so that it would be able to penetrate during those uncomfortable static free moments.

We have adopted this custom, which I think used to be common among Catholic families. It is amazing how distracting these forms of entertainment can be. I suppose we should probably add in the internet because it can be equally distracting, but for now we are just trying to use it for more reflective purposes (so blogging about Holy Week is ok). We make one exception for the movie rule by watching The Passion. I highly recommend the movie as a Good Friday meditation.

I must admit it is hard at first, especially when on vacation like we are. But I have been reminded that I do have plenty of time for prayer. The time the girls are not watching cartoons I am now trying to spend making an extra effort to help them understand what Jesus did for us and how every mass is a little Holy Week (which is why on Sundays we have a break from there usual lenten sacrifice of no treats).