The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1957-11-01
Modesty In Clothes
Tourists Find Varying
Acceptable Standards
by Erik W. KuehneIt-L addihn


This summer the Italian press carried a large num-
Der of articles dealing with foreign tourists ana tnelr
clothes. And, indeed, the objective visitor will be amazed
at the lack of good taste, modesty, and decorum dis
played by the hordeS which now invade Italy during the
summer
At almost every church door warnings are posted
In three or four languages eXhorting men and women not
to enter in shorts, in sleeveless or low cut dresses, In
shirt sleeves, etc. Hats or wells for women are vanish
ing even in Italy, they were never required in the Ger
manic and Slav countrieS)
Useful in themselves, these exhortations also point
out that not only time but geography too have given
rise to different notions about "decency" and modesty.
In Austrian or Swiss skiing resorts, you can. see women
in pants going to Holy Communion. Some of the Italian
posters raise no objection to female Stacks, or male
ard dress) Here we see the concept of modesty varying
from country to country-and also of good taste. / think
that women in "beach dress in an Italian museum full
of nudites on canvass are entirely out of place.
While the Church always and rightly demanded
modesty in dress, especially female dress, she always
realize that no definite, immutabIe rules can be estab-
We all know that we must not lead others into
temptation or offend them ~needlessly. But what, pre-
cisely, constitutes temptation or offense varies from
place to place, from period to period. l do not object to
English females in bathing suits at our nearby mount
ain lake, but, for aesthetic reasons, | do not want to see
them walking through our village that.
On the other hand, saw pictures Of a Corpus
Christi Procession in South Africa where the natives
walked behind the Blessed Sacrament in an attire not
even to be seen in q legitimate American show.
In these matters Rome is entirely liberal knowing
that various degrees of nudity, if part of a tradition or
custom, are neither offensive or dangerous.
Only In isolated cases and without authorization have
missionaries tried to persuade natives that their scanty
attire is sinful or indecent. The moral standards of ma
tons do not depend upon the volume of their cloths:
On the other hand, moral decay often goes handin-hand
with a wilful, carefully designed Decentralization in
dress.
For this reason the Church in Japan never started
any drives against mixed bathing in the nude, or dis
tributed blouSes in the Congo region. protestant mis-
sionaries frequently do) But what she tolerates in one
region she will, rightly, not permit in another where
nudity assumes a different significance -
Similar evolutions may be observed on the basis of
time. The fashions of 1857 with their short skirts would
have scandaiZed our ancestors in 1887, whereas we, in
turn, are amazed at their low cut dresses. It depends
upon the tact, good taste, and sensitiveness of women
to know how to dress modestly in a given country and
time. Main Street in an Illinois town and the Gale
Mayor in an Andalusian city have very different, I'M
written standards, and tastes.
Now, about nudity in art. Where real art is con-
eerned ii will only shock the very crude, because the
genuine artist represents man as the Image Of God, as
an intelligent being with an immortal soul as well as a
Catholic churches all over Europe show representa-
tons in the nude, an unusual spectacle for Protestants
or Catholics who live as a minority among Protestants.
It is not at all easy to walk down the narrow dividing
line between prudery and indecency (which is called
chastity, but this is precisely what the Church in her
basic policy has done through the centuries.
The human body-in its perfection-is of great
beauty and, since man is a spiritual creature, it carries
a spiritual message, which great artists have always en-
phsized. Conversely it is possible to paint human beings
fully clad and yet lasciviously vulgar.
One could not possibly object to a reproduction of
Botticenis Birth Of Venus in a good Christian home,
yet certain covers of reputable American magazines
should be confiscated outright.
Botticelh, after all, was a pious Catholic with great
reverence for the human body and never thought to
misuse it for venial purposes human appetties which are
low if they represent an end in themselves-as CONNER.
cialized sex always does
From all this it becomes clear that the external dis
tinguishing marks between decency and indecency,
chastity and ~unchastity usually cannot be summed UP
in a written code. What we have to inculcate into our
children is a sure instinct how to dress, how to talk, how
to behave. This, not the yardstick, will tell them how
to dress in a given place, at a given occasion.