No, in all seriousness, Mrs. Philocrites has a big hamburger to get off her chest. So listen up, ya’ll, because she is one fierce little Piskie!
But even though you’re not blogging right now, PB, I just wanted to share a brief clergy shirt pet peeve: I can accept that UU and UCC clergy who never wear clergy shirts at their churches wear them in public, to rallies etc. It’s difficult, but I can accept it. What I cannot accept, however, is said UU and UCC clergy wearing PURPLE clergy shirts. Purple shirts are for bishops and bishops only, my non-liturgical tradition friends. And you look silly to all your Catholic and Episcopal colleagues wearing them if you don’t have a miter to go with the ensemble.
There, I’ve said it. I feel much better now.
And we thank you for saying it, too. Because while some of my colleagues might scoff, “Well, if I’m not in yer tradition, whudd I care about your color preferences,” I would say, “We should care, sassy people. It’s called respect, it’s called not playing dress-up in clothes that we know represents a level of authority and meaning for a religious tradition not our own, and not caring about that.”
We’re glad you feel better now, Mrs. P. And we promise that you’ll be seeing no more purple clerical shirts on readers of this blog who are clergy in the Free Church tradition and not bishops (which, um, they wouldn’t be anyway). Thanks for the friendly slap upside the head.
“Hey mister, where’s your miter, huh? Okay you kidder, we’re gonna have to pull you over for impersonating a bishop.”
Could you please also avoid green shirts? They are used by permanent deacons (and only permanent deacons) in some traditions, Church of Sweden among them.
Clergy shirt pet peeves, don’t get me started. Clergy shirts that I hate include:
-Anything that is funky like splashy colors, rainbows or patterns on a clergy shirt.
-Unkempt clergy shirts. Please iron and add a little starch.
-I hhhhhaaaaaattttteeeee denim clergy shirts.
Thanks for letting me vent PB. You are a dear.
Hmmm… I have a really light lavender clergy shirt (almost gray). Would that be okay?
I have another one that’s purple and really pretty… Sniff… Any bishops out there need another size 16 women’s clergy shirt?
I had no idea. None. I’m very grateful to know this, and be able to side-step potentially offensive shirt purchases… but it also makes me paranoid. What else do I not know? Is it OK that my clergy shirts (grey and mint green) have the little 2-inches of white collar showing? As a UU, am I supposed to wear a specific kind of collar? Oy vey.
Eh, I’m of a liturgical tradition, and I have a purple clergy shirt – which I wear only during Lent. I know it’s the bishop’s color. But I think Lent trumps that. And I figure as long as I don’t wear the ginormous cross around my neck, no one’s going to confuse me with a bishop anyway.
I completely agree with god_guurlll on the evil nature of the denim clergy shirt. Never, never, never good. Never.
I have a purple robe I wear for Lent and Advent.
Barney’s a bishop?
Just because we don’t have your high liturgy doesn’t mean we don’t have liturgy, so please don’t call us non-liturgical.
I can think of lots of good reasons to wear a purple shirt. If one doesn’t recognize a bishop as having any authority over one, then colors take on different meanings—such as tied to liturgical colors.
Many of us in the lower or freer churches do wear collars to lead worship, by the way. The collar is not owned by a particular liturgical tradition. [PPB, “non-liturgical traditions” is a legitimate and widely-used term that refers to the Free Church tradition. No need to take umbrage. – PB]
I plead guilty to owning a denim clergy shirt. It’s a very dark denim, and I wear it with skirts. Several of us have one! I even knew one clergylady who had a dark denim shirtdress. Isn’t it okay if it’s a verrrry dark denim?
As far as purple, it’s not my place to argue with other traditions. However, if you are in a denomination with Bishops, if you are not one, I feel you have no business wearing purple. Not for Lent. not to match your shoes. It’s a matter of respect. Now, I do have two sweaters (one is an argyle, one is a raspberry), that I occasionally wear with a collar, but never to conventions or meetings with the Bishop. Several colleagues have dresses with purple and wear black shirts with them. I’m okay with that, as long as the fabric of the shirt itself is not purple.
It’s just respecting the authority over you. To me, wearing a purple shirt would be like a street officer wearing the gold badge. If he didn’t earn it through promotion, he has no business wearing something he didn’t earn.
To paraphrase a former bishop who had just returned from an extended and contentious meeting, was back at the cathedral and was intentionally wearing a black shirt “I’ve seen enough purple shirts”.
BJ
Ithink the color question depends on why the UU cleric is wearing the collar.
If it represents an understanding s/he has come to about relationship with a collar-wearing community, then go with the rules thereof.
If, however, like many UUs, you are just trying to make a generic statement to passersby, witnesses and maybe legislators or courts, that you are indeed ordained and living the ministerial covenant, why wear something that is jarring to the folks you’re trying to impress? Assumeat least a few who know that “purple means bishop” and dress accordingly, because those who know are the ones most likely to feel that desired visceral jolt from spotting a collar.
As to whether “regular people” would know this “purple means bishop” thing, remember that the Piskies and Romans have annual visits from such a person, presumably in full regalia. Given that there’s a ritual for renewal and refreshment of these relationships, I imagine at least a few of the faithful have figured out the color code.
Greetings to Mrs P and the baby.
Thoughts on the Purple:
Some churches use colour-coding, and not all colour codes are the same. If your church uses strict colour-codes then wearing purple may lead people to believe that you are misrepresenting yourself. A prepared set speech about wearing purple to honour the season, and the significance of the colour, could alleviate any questions.
Bishop’s blouses are made in blue-purple, red-purple, and fuchsia, so wearing lavender shouldn’t cause any confusion. The plethora of colours now available encourage women to dress smartly instead of always being required to ape their male colleagues.
Most bishops still hang on to one or two black shirts. I wear mine for jury duty and pastoral calls to anywhere engines are being repaired.
Not all bishops wear honking big pectorals . . . mine is actually small and light enough not to take out any teeth. The ring, on the other hand . . . .
What about a white clergy shirt, like the one from Fair trade?
I am from a pentecostal denomination, and there are distinctions in the colors. Like a few of the past comments I’ve read, I must agree-if you’re not a bishop, you do NOT wear purple, or red, for that matter. Whether you wear a cross or not is immaterial. If you’re wearing either of those colors, most people in the religious community will presume you are a bishop. When in doubt, like Wesley Snipes said in the movie Passenger 57,”always bet on black’.
Clergy apparel is so confusing. My one comment about the purple shirt in absence of a bishop’s mitre is that the mitre would never be worn outside of a ritual, certainly not “on the street”. You might ask instead, where is your purple zucchetto? Or (rarely) where is your purple biretta? And, as a catholic (non-Roman) priest who is a bishop-designate, I am still a bit confused as to what is appropriate even to me. (My own bishop never wears a Roman collar (doesn’t even own one), and he only vests for liturgy, so he is not one to ask for direction in these matters.) I’ve settled on fuchsia for the rare instances I would be out in public in clerical garb (fuchsia rabat and zucchetto), i.e. rallys, meetings, marches, protests, etc.