Dear Karen:

The issue of "pants on women" is the issue of modesty. This subject is both complicated and simple. The complicated part is that standards of modesty are different from culture to culture and from historical era to era.

At one time society though it was considered a grave scandal for a woman to wear pants for any reason. What caught my eye about what your family and friends are telling you is that they believe pants on women is an immoral act "unless she absolutely needs to." I find this odd. Under what circumstance is a moral law, if that is what it is, suspended? Is not something that is immoral always immoral?

Besides, when is it ever "necessary" to wear pants. For most of human history women have worn some sort of dress or skirt no matter what task they performed. Women have chopped wood in a dress, birthed babies, plowed the fields, harvested the crops, built barns, fixed roofs, performed surgery, operated dangerous farm equipment, even broke bucking wild horses. There is no task that pants are "absolutely" necessary. Now, there are many situations where wearing a dress or skirt might be impractical or even dangerous as a dress might get caught in machinery, or get in the way in fixing the roof, but "absolutely" necessary? I can think of nothing that falls into that category. The Scottish Highlanders even went to war wearing a dress (Kilt).

Now with all that said the real question, of course, is what does the Church teach about modesty and how does that apply to women wearing pants.

Here is the Catechism on the subject of modesty:

II. THE BATTLE FOR PURITY

2520 Baptism confers on its recipient the grace of purification from all sins. But the baptized must continue to struggle against concupiscence of the flesh and disordered desires. With God's grace he will prevail

- by the virtue and gift of chastity, for chastity lets us love with upright and undivided heart;

- by purity of intention which consists in seeking the true end of man: with simplicity of vision, the baptized person seeks to find and to fulfill God's will in everything;

- by purity of vision, external and internal; by discipline of feelings and imagination; by refusing all complicity in impure thoughts that incline us to turn aside from the path of God's commandments: "Appearance arouses yearning in fools";

- by prayer:

I thought that continence arose from one's own powers, which I did not recognize in myself. I was foolish enough not to know . . . that no one can be continent unless you grant it. For you would surely have granted it if my inner groaning had reached your ears and I with firm faith had cast my cares on you.

2521 Purity requires modesty, an integral part of 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.

2522 Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love. It encourages patience and moderation in loving relationships; it requires that the conditions for the definitive giving and commitment of man and woman to one another be fulfilled. Modesty is decency. It inspires one's choice of clothing. It keeps silence or reserve where there is evident risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet.

2523 There is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the body. It protests, for example, against the voyeuristic explorations of the human body in certain advertisements, or against the solicitations of certain media that go too far in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty inspires a way of life which makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and the pressures of prevailing ideologies.

2524 The forms taken by modesty vary from one culture to another. Everywhere, however, modesty exists as an intuition of the spiritual dignity proper to man. It is born with the awakening consciousness of being a subject. Teaching modesty to children and adolescents means awakening in them respect for the human person.

2525 Christian purity requires a purification of the social climate. It requires of the communications media that their presentations show concern for respect and restraint. Purity of heart brings freedom from widespread eroticism and avoids entertainment inclined to voyeurism and illusion.

2526 So called moral permissiveness rests on an erroneous conception of human freedom; the necessary precondition for the development of true freedom is to let oneself be educated in the moral law. Those in charge of education can reasonably be expected to give young people instruction respectful of the truth, the qualities of the heart, and the moral and spiritual dignity of man.

2527 "The Good News of Christ continually renews the life and culture of fallen man; it combats and removes the error and evil which flow from the ever-present attraction of sin. It never ceases to purify and elevate the morality of peoples. It takes the spiritual qualities and endowments of every age and nation, and with supernatural riches it causes them to blossom, as it were, from within; it fortifies, completes, and restores them in Christ."

This, of course, still does not answer your question, but it is the beginning point to understand the issue.

One of the things we have to be careful about is to impose European/American standards of modesty onto other cultures. There is a famous case, I think from the 17th or 18th century, of Protestant missionaries from Europe ministering in an African village. The Africans, as was their tradition and culture, wore very little clothing. This offended the European sensibilities and thus the missionaries made the villagers wear European-style clothing. Before long most of the villagers were dead from heat stroke.

You see there was a reason why the culture of that African village developed in such a way that included wearing little clothing -- the blistering African sun. They were acclimated to the heat in the dress of their tradition. When they put on European clothing they overheated and stroked out.

The near nakedness for the African villagers was not an occasion of lust as it was for the Europeans.

One may be tempted to say, then that anything goes as long as it is the style of the culture. Not exactly.

The African villagers, to begin with, have been dressing that way for hundreds of years. It is the way they evolved to live in that climate. The style of dress we encounter in the Western World is a result of fad and fickle changes in preferences. We have not been wearing the same clothing style for hundreds of years.

As a result, the definition of modesty changes with the changing fads and times that we live. At one time a woman exposing her ankle was considered immodest. Later that was accepted and exposing the knee was then considered immodest. Still later the standard of immodesty gradually climbed up the leg.

So what is immodest? Based upon what the Church has taught and what several saints have written, I think a one-liner definition of immodesty is that form of dress (for women or men) that is designed specifically for titillation of the sexual interest, or which unduly creates such titillation of sexual interest or lust.

Using that definition, women wearing pants, per se, is NOT immodest. BUT.... women wearing short shorts (hot pants), halter tops, revealing blouses or dresses, or very tight pants is immodest. Such fashions are specifically designed and meant to appeal to lust.

If I remember correctly, at the Vatican there is a sign that warns visitors that short shorts and halter tops are not to be worn in Vatican City.

There is nothing wrong with a women dressing nicely, but both women and men need to be careful about dressing in a way that is "attractive." Exactly what is being "attractive?" Well, that usually speaks directly to sexual attraction. While one does not need to wear a potato sack, one does need to be aware of the effects of their choices of clothing. Moderation is always a wise choice and modesty implies that we are always just a little more conservative than society's standards and fads.

St. Paul speaks to this issue in the Bible. He described the fads of his time, but the central message was that Christians are to be modest. We are to be "counter-cultural," which means that we do not follow the fads and views of the world.

The words of St. John Chrysostom are so relevant today even though he wrote them 1500 years ago:

"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."

Those are powerful words and words that we, as Christians who are suppose to follow a Christian worldview, need to remember.

As for as the book by Colleen Hammond, I have not read it, but I did take a look at her blog. In her blog, at least, there is no mention of pants. She does have pictures of various women's fashions.

I think the issue is not the clothing per se, but the degree the clothing is "sexy." I can think of many dresses that are far more titillating sexually than any pair of pants.

Bottomline: be modest, be more conservative than the current fads, be aware of how women's fashion are created (Hammond talks about that and the facts about how women's fashions come about will shock you), ask yourself if what you are wearing is too sexy, is it appropriate to wear before Jesus, to PTA, at the Vatican?

These are guidelines that are helpful, I think. The Church, however, as far as I know does not get into the nitty gritty details. Rather she teaches the principles of modesty and expects us to inform our consciences according.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary