Category: Pastoral Fashion Emergency, Or “PeaceBang, Help!”

Honeybees,

Mary Ann wants more help on red stoles. She writes,

Could you help me more with stoles? My lascivious desire to buy South American folklorico stoles at Third World craft sales at seminary turned out to be The Thrifty Pastor’s Choice, but I’m still low a red stole.

MaryAnn, my dove, we don’t do liturgical seasons so much in the Unitarian Universalist tradition but I do own a gorgeous red stole with embroidered peace doves all over it. I can’t recall where I got it, but it’s either Latin American or Eastern European. Maybe it was a gift? Anyhoo,
since my church interior is a kind of Federal mauve shade and I preach in front of a mauve-pink brocade curtain, I can’t really wear this stole as much as I’d like. It just plain clashes, in color and even a bit in style. My church is a beautiful, classic New England meetinghouse. Overtly ethnic stoles just don’t seem authentic in that setting, and if they’re being worn by me, they’re definitely not authentic. I have never preached in a foreign land or done ministry in a multi-cultural setting. For those reasons, I tend not to wear the Guatemalan stole I purchased this past January. I’m glad I bought it when I was there — just to support the local economy if nothing else, but I have to say that it looks more appropriate gracing my office than gracing me.

We do have a partner church in Transylvania with which we have a long and intimate relationship and I would be happy to wear one of the customary red and white stoles from that region. But African stoles, Latin American stoles, etc… I don’t think they’re appropriate for white pastors who don’t do mission and ministry with those communities to wear just for diversity’s sake. It’s a very personal decision and one with which many of my colleagues are likely to disagree.

I dream of being completely bi-lingual in English and Spanish and doing a ministry in a multi-cultural urban setting. Until then, I’ll be very judicious in my donning of vestments that communicate an intimacy with cultures I have very little acquaintance with (and admiration from afar, sending money, preaching about on occasion and/or reading about doesn’t count).

Sorry to be of so little help to you, MaryAnn! My stoles have almost all come to me as gifts, or as purchases at our General Assembly.

Dear ones, an Episcopalian colleague wrote to me off-line asking about the appropriate use of clericals. He is struggling with issues of pastoral authority and apparently getting some grief about wearing a collar in his chaplaincy work.

This is not an unusual scenario: many Protestant readers have undoubtedly been reacted to with a double-take when they wear a collar, which are seen by some laypeople to be a strictly Catholic convention.

Here, BoyIntheBands advises our dear writer, and hopefully some of you:

1. Under no circumstances should you be clever with clericals. It’s not
a costume but, in a sense, a uniform. Yes, it can be a help and a
shorthand to initiate a pastoral encounter. (People are also more prone,
in my experience, to ask directions when you wear them too.) They are
also a lightening rod to receive people’s undigested feelings about the
clergy and the church. Being cute with clericals shows you don’t
understand their power. You may wear black, dove grey or a slate blue
(if you must.) You can wear a jacket over a clergy shirt, or with a
suit, if its the kind of situation which calls for a jacket or suit.
Otherwise, gabardine trousers or worsted wool is best. No khakis or gym
shoes ever.

2. Don’t wear clericals in honor of past mentors. Don’t wear them for
your ego. Wear them to remind yourself of the awesome responsibility of
the ministry. Like anyone else who wears a uniform, you’re making
yourself vulnerable to inspection and criticism. Expect that.

3. Are you wearing clericals because you’re unsure of your authority?
Perhaps your supervisor has a point. Would you wear them to
denominational events or on those occasions where you supply preach or
teach? If not, perhaps you’ve answered your own question.

4. Protestants have a clericals tradition, including the UCC and UUA.
Avoid, however, little notch collars as these really more conventionally
Catholic. Shirtband collars, in my opinion, read more Protestant so at
least you can stand on studied principle. (A stroll through a hallway of
photographs in one of the older denominational churches, or in the old
scrapbooks might offer clues, if available.) But I don’t expect all low
Protestant clergymembers to know their history any more than I expect
Catholic laypersons to know what to call a Protestant clergymember.
(That said, I did get a cheery “Happy Father’s Day” greeting from a
perfect stranger walking to church a few Junes ago. Made my day. To
which the proper reply is “Thank you. God bless!”)

5. If you’re not “on duty” don’t wear them because if you wear them
you’re on duty. Have something you can change into if you have other
errands or business: I’ve learned this the hard way.

6. As a practical matter, commercial clergy shirts are too expensive for
their poor quality, but get the best you can afford. If you have a
spouse who sews, so much the better.

My blog has other practical advice, of course.

[You can browse BITB by category — PB]