Dear Ryan:

Well, it is still to be seen if I go on the up elevator at the Final Judgment.

The Vatican has a dress code that is enforced by the Swiss Guard.

One blogger writes:

Leaders fear the casual styles that are increasingly appropriate for a night out on the town remain inappropriate for church in the morning. Moreover, the outfits can reveal a wrong attitude about worship.

“There’s this idea of ‘God accepts me how I am’… or ‘If it bothers you, you shouldn't’ be looking,’” said Wood. “But the way we prepare ourselves to celebrate the liturgy is the way we present ourselves to God. In the Catholic Church, and I think other churches would say this too, people aren’t looked at as being spectators but active participants in worship.”

Dressing appropriately shows mindfulness toward God, as well as respect for the sanctity of the service and the experience of fellow parishioners, Catholics say.

While the Vatican is well-known for posting signs prohibiting clothes that expose shoulders, knees or chests, on a parish-to-parish level, restrictions aren’t so clear-cut. It can be up to congregations to address modesty issues, if necessary.

The OSV mentioned bulletin inserts and messages from the pulpit serve as “friendly reminders” to keep a little more covered for Mass.

“It has come up at our liturgical workshops, and it’s not an issue priests are comfortable with. The style of dress that’s generally less acceptable for church is worn by women,” said Wood.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks for itself on this issue:

Purity requires modesty, an integral part of the temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity.

Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, Archbishop of Geneo issued in 1960 a "Notification Concerning Men's Dress Worn by Woman

 G. Cardinal Larenti, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Religious issues a 1928 Letter to the Congregating for Religious on this subject.

Donato Cardinal Sbaretti, Prefect, Congregation of the Council, Rome, January 12, 1930 issued this 1930 Letter of the Congregation of the Council:

By virtue of the supreme apostolate which he wields over the Universal Church by Divine Will, our Most Holy Father Pope Pius XI has never ceased to inculcate, both verbally and by his writings, the words of St. Paul (1 Tim. xi,9-10), namely, “Women ... adorning themselves with modesty and sobriety ... and professing godliness with good works.”

Very often, when occasion arose, the same Supreme Pontiff condemned emphatically the immodest fashion of dress adopted by Catholic women and girls -- which fashion not only offends the dignity of women and against her adornment, but conduces to the temporal ruin of the women and girls, and, what is still worse, to their eternal ruin, miserably dragging down others in their fall. It is not surprising, therefore, that all Bishops and other ordinaries, as is the duty of ministers of Christ, should in their own dioceses have unanimously opposed their depraved licentiousness and promiscuity of manners, often bearing with fortitude the derision and mockery leveled against them for this cause.

Therefore this Sacred Council, which watches over the discipline of clergy and people, while cordially commending the action of the Venerable Bishops, most emphatically exhorts them to persevere in their attitude and increase their activities insofar as their strength permits, in order that this unwholesome disease be definitely uprooted from human society.

In order to facilitate the desired effect, this Sacred Congregation, by the mandate of the Most Holy Father, has decreed as follows:

Exhortation to Those in Authority

1. The parish priest, and especially the preacher, when occasion arises, should, according to the words of the Apostle Paul (2 Tim. iv, 2), insist, argue exhort and command that feminine garb be based on modesty and womanly ornament be a defense of virtue. Let them likewise admonish parents to cause their daughters to cease wearing indecorous dress.

2. Parents, conscious of their grave obligations toward the education, especially religious and moral, to their offspring, should see to it that their daughters are solidly instructed, from earliest childhood, in Christian doctrine; and they themselves should assiduously inculcate in their souls, by word and example, love for the virtues of modesty and chastity; and since their family should follow the example of the Holy Family, they must rule in such a manner that all its members, reared within the walls of the home, should find reason and incentive to love and preserve modesty.

3. Let parents keep their daughters away from public gymnastic games and contests; but if their daughters are compelled to attend such exhibitions, let them see that they are fully and modestly dressed. Let them never permit their daughters to don immodest garb.

4. Superioresses and teachers in schools for girls must do their utmost to instill love of modesty in the hearts of maidens confided to their care and urge them to dress modestly.

5. Said Superioresses and teachers must not receive in their colleges and schools immodestly dressed girls, and should not even make an exception in the case of mothers of pupils. If, after being admitted, girls persist in dressing immodestly, such pupils should be dismissed.

6. Nuns, in compliance with the Letter dated August 23, 1928, by the Sacred Congregation of Religious, must not receive in their colleges, schools, oratories or recreation grounds, or, if once admitted, tolerate girls who are not dressed with Christian modesty; said Nuns, in addition, should do their utmost so that love for holy chastity and Christian modesty may become deeply rooted in the hearts of their pupils.

7. It is desirable that pious organizations of women be founded, which by their counsel, example and propaganda should combat the wearing of apparel unsuited to Christian modesty, and should promote purity of customs and modesty of dress.

8. In the pious associations of women those who dress immodestly should not be admitted to membership; but if, perchance, they are received, and after having been admitted, fall again into their error, they should be dismissed forthwith.

9. Maidens and women dressed immodestly are to be debarred from Holy Communion and from acting as sponsors at the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation; further, if the offense be extreme, they may even be forbidden to enter the church.

 We must never forget who is culpable. St. John Chrysostom instructed women of all times about dress when in the fourth century he declared:

 You carry your snare everywhere and spread your nets in all places. You allege that you never invited others to sin. You did not, indeed, by your words, but you have done so by your dress and your deportment. ... When you have made another sin in his heart, how can you be innocent? Tell me, whom does this world condemn? Whom do judges punish? Those who drink poison or those who prepare it and administer the fatal potion? You have prepared the abominable cup, you have given the death dealing drink, and you are more criminal than are those who poison the body; you murder not the body but the soul. And it is not to enemies you do this, nor are you urged on by any imaginary necessity, nor provoked by injury, but out of foolish vanity and pride.

At Fatima, Our Lady has prophesied:

Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much. ... More souls go to Hell because of sins of the flesh than for any other reason.