OH. MY. GOD. Listen up, kittens, PeaceBang has some spanking to do!
She got this from Alert Reader C.M. earlier this week:
I’ve got some qualms with clergy shirts.
I hate seeing regular button down shirts converted to clergy shirts. It is evident, by the collar not being appropriately tacked down, that a plastic collar should not be inserted. I understand that there are emergency situations where a regular shirt needs to be converted into a collared shirt. I’ve seen clergy of both genders and all denominational flavors wearing their plastic tabs inserted into button down shirts on Sunday mornings at regular liturgies. This looks tacky and very unprofessional. It’s like nails on chalk board.
I also hate it when lower-church Protestant clergy wear purple clergy shirts. Purple is the color of bishops, not ordained pastors. I always cringe when I see a pastor wearing a purple clergy shirt. It’s offensive to those of us who have bishops (I’m ELCA, btw, but I’m thinking mostly of Roman Catholics and Episcopalians, who tend to enforce the episcopal purple rule more often.)
Further–and this complaint is without much basis–I hate white clergy shirts. It’s a waste of a shirt in my mind. When I’m ordained, I’ll never wear one. Can you defend it?
All the best and a profound bow of peace,
He-Who-Will-One-Day-Be-Ordained
OKAY, so problems with purple clergy shirts and preference for black clergy shirts aside, WHAT ARE YOU TELLING ME HERE? ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT CLERGY ARE JUST, LIKE, TAKING REGULAR BUTTON DOWN COLLAR SHIRTS AND STICKING A TAB IN THERE TO MAKE IT AN ERSATZ CLERICAL SHIRT? WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA???
Wait a moment. Mother PB needs some coffee for this. She needs a LATTE. I will be right back. I need coffee and possibly chocolate. Or even a cigarettte, and I have not been near tobacco for nine years.
Okay, I am back. I have a huge mug of coffee liberally sprinkled with Vietnamese cinnamon and I am ready to tackle this monster.
CLERICALS ARE CLERICALS. You no more stick a clerical tab through a regular shirt than you draw on a moustache and walk out the door to spend your day at the office with Sharpie all over your face. You no more stick a clerical tab through a regular shirt and consider yourself appropriately dressed than you wear a clip-on tie with a tuxedo.
Wearing a regular button-down shirt with a clergy tab stuck into the collar isn’t just tacky, it falls into the WHAT IN THE WORLD COULD YOU POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN THINKING? category. It just isn’t done. It is NOT done.
If one does not have clericals, one does not wear a collar. Therefore, it one imagines any time in their ministry during which they would be required to wear clericals, one obtains a proper clergy shirt.
Cody, thank you for alerting me to this practice. Or maybe not, as PeaceBang feels that some time on the fainting couch may be in order. Do you mean to tell me that people LEAD WORSHIP in such a get-up?
*faints*
First of all, you are killing me, PB, and it is an act of God that I did not sputter coffee all over my keyboard.
Second, I just want to note that tailors exist who will alter a shirt collar into a proper clerical collar. I know of people who have had this done because of dissatisfaction with the variety/fit/quality of available clericals, to great effect. If you’re handy with a sewing machine, you may be able to turn a shirt into a clerical shirt yourself.
Indeed, as Emily says, tailors can alter existing regular shirts so one may add a neckband collar, and I have converted a few of my own (being handy with a sewing machine that has a button hold attachment). It takes some tweaking and typically one must order one’s collars 1/2 – 1″ inch larger to properly fit.
But you point out the sin of just sticking a collar into regular shirts. I agree… looks awful.
In defense of white (and black) clergy shirts. I began my ministry in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in which the clergy collar shirt was a sign of submission to one’s calling. The collar was intended to be uncomfortable to evoke the yoke of the gospel. In that practice, it was not appropriate for the clergy shirt to be in fashion colors. We wore black or white as a uniform as our bishops wore purple. Our cousins in the African Methodist Episcopal Church wheat only black suits (or white on special occasions) with their black or white clergy suits. The practice of wearing only black or white in these two, historic African American denominations reflects a strand of holiness piety in our ancestral heritage. To this day, I will only wear a black or white clergy shirt. It is an act of submission and sacrifice, when I’m in my formal office as a priest, there are limits on what I can wear. I have a uniform that says who I am and what I represent. That is also why the only necklace I would ever wear with a clergy shirt is a cross or religious symbol. One does not accessorize a clergy shirt or collar. My lapel, however, may be adorned with a broach. In addition since our primary robes, (albs and cassocks) are black and white the clergy shirt blends seamlessly.
Now, a suitable button-down shirt can be converted into a neckband-collar style clerical fairly easily–tuck the collar of the shirt inside, sew a button on the back, and attach your collar, and (assuming you brought a tape measure the store to make sure that the neck of the shirt fit your preferred size of collar) one ends up with a stylish and fitting clerical shirt. (Depending on the fabric, you may need to cut off the shirt’s collar, if it shows through or is too bulky.)
However. Sticking a tab in a regular button-down? Gah. That’s what janies are for. (Although I don’t wear those with button-down shirts, but regular blouses.)
I’ve made clergy shirts with a special opening for the tab but I don’t make the front with the hidden button panel because a) there is nothing theologically significant about that and b) too damn much trouble to make that way.
Tip for my fellow frugal friars & friarettes:
If your plastic tab insert gets brittle and snaps in half, cutting up a yogurt container (and bending it print-side in, obvs) works like a charm!
I am laughing remembering a sister who was among the early women ordained in the Episcopal church, when if a soman wanted a tab shirt she had to have it specially made. This was also the early 80’s so there was still a lot of “anti-traditional” stuff going on. She would just look for shirts with mandarin collars and wear a full “dog collar” — florals, plaids, georgette, cotton, shiny polyester… it mattered not. Sorry, PB, I can feel your shudder from here!
There are clergy shirts made with standard shirt collars and an insert for the tab: http://www.clergyshirtsusa.com/gents-clerical-shirts/men-s-clergy-shirts-collar-attached-long-sleeved-grey.html
Might not be the style for many, but it’s a clergy shirt that’s reflective of modern dress rather than tradition.
As for the color of shirts, there’s no ecumenical color code that I know of, just codes within denominations. If a minister who is not ordained in a denomination that has a color-of-the-shirt hierarchy wants to wear a purple or green or red clergy shirt in public, that’s okay, though maybe not particularly stylish–just don’t do it on the turf of those ministers who ID by clergy shirt color.
If you’re a snotty Episcopalian, this is a moot discussion, since tab collars on any kind of shirt are considered tacky. I’ve been ordained for 15 years and have never worn one. But I have had some fabulous shirts from Talbot’s converted into clergy shirts. Full collar clergy shirts.
Is C.M.’s last name Almy? I couldn’t resist that (and I agree that the practice this person describes is deplorable. It is much better to not wear a collar than wear this.)
I’m not a fan of clergy shirts and have resisted one for 8 years of ministry, but thanks for the advice… if I ever get one, I’ll get an actual clergy shirt (or have another shirt professionally tailored)
You should have seen the one clergy shirt I saw a few summers ago. It was homemade, almost like a mock tee neck line, and the “tab” part was fabric – just sewn right on. I wish I was joking. It did up with a zipper up the back. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen and distracted me during the service.
I own one black collar shirt, a hand-me-down from a Presby colleague (male), when I was serving as on-call hospital chaplain. Our small town hospital asked clergy to take shift or two per month with the pager. I was young and female and wanted to instantly communicate “clergy”. I thanked him for the shirt, and said, “Just one thing, Phil. You need darts.” He laughed and said, “No, YOU need darts.” True enough. I’d fork over the money if I had it to do again.