Have you ever been the only one wearing a headcovering at a church/religious activity?

[Anastasia13]

Have you ever been the only one wearing a headcovering at a church/religious activity? Thoughts/reactions?

[truthfinder]

I've done it once or twice. I'm more likely to wear a headcovering when I go to the local parish for adoration, and there's only one other woman at that parish that I've seen who wears something as well.  

What sorts of thoughts are you asking about?

[Anastasia13]

Was it awkward? How did people react? Would you do that again?

[truthfinder]

Once I did it in my hometown parish, but it was really cold in there so people probably thought that I was just cold and didn't have a toque with me.  Other times, I've worn them in parishes that I've visited - I usually just wear scarves (kind of like in your photo). People probably do notice, but no one's ever approached me or had a visibly upset response. I do not wear a covering in my local parish at Mass.  I'm not sure about them yet - they seem ok with the one woman who wears a mantilla, so I'll probably do it yet.  But I do during private adoration, and no one's said anything.

You kind of have to take a read on the parish - I think there's some places that I wouldn't because they're known to be tradition-unfriendly. 

[EmilyAnn]

I'm almost always the only one. I wear either a scarf or ocassionally a mantilla, whenever I go to Mass or Adoration. I prefer wearing a scarf to a mantilla because it makes me feel less conspicuous, and I prefer a black mantilla to a white one (even though I'm not married) because I have dark hair.

My experiences have been...interesting. Most of the time I don't get any sort of reaction. When I wore a mantilla once, a man came up to me as I was leaving and commented on how nice it was to see someone in a mantilla nowadays. Once while I was wearing a scarf, an EMHC tried to deny me the Blood of Christ. That was unpleasant, but ultimately I wouldn't (and didn't) stop covering my head.

I've always had a 'screw what anyone else thinks' kind of attitude to it. It's something I like to do and do for myself, so if someone else has a problem with it then they can mind their own business.

[dominicansoul]

I wear mine all the time to every church I visit.  (I keep one handy in the car.) There's a growing trend for women to wear them now.  I believe I've helped to resurrect veils in my local parish.  Women have come up to me asking me where to get one.  I volunteer and run the parish bookstore so I've made sure to keep them in stock.

When I decided to veil, it was pretty scary at first,  but I just kept my focus on the Altar and tried not to look around at people's reactions.   Now it comes very naturally for me to wear it and I don't even think about what people's reactions are anymore.  

[Basilisa Marie]

I don't veil but at work we had a baptism during mass and one of the guests of the baptism family was veiled, grabbed some of the holy water out of the font during Mass, and went all the way around the church during communion to receive from my boss.  After mass he said some really uncharitable things about her to me and wouldn't listen when I told him there was nothing wrong with what she's doing.  

So in short some men are just awful. Even if they're priests.  

[He is Risen!]

I usually attend an FSSP parish where veiling with a mantilla is the norm.  When I'm at a regular Novos Ordo mass, which is about once a month, I will still cover my head but instead go for some kind of hat, usually a beret or winter hat when it's fall/ winter or some kind of sunhat or other mainstream fashion type hat when it's warm out.  I feel like this blends in better than a mantilla or scarf in that situation, especially since I already am wearing more formal clothes than most people there.  I figure that if I go in there looking like Little House on the Prairie it could be just as distracting for them as their yoga pantaloons and basketball shorts are for me, so I go for the middle ground: a nice skirt that is a little past my knees, a shirt with sleeves that isn't too clingy, and a cute hat.  For a Latin mass, I go for the mantilla because it's easy to stuff into my purse and it's the custom there.

Edited October 5, 2016 by He is Risen!

[Archaeology cat]

I think I've been the only one veiling before. I've certainly had reactions to it, perhaps because I wore a headscarf wrapped around a bun, and someone told me I looked the wrong religion (?). I don't think about others' reactions much now. 

[Kateri89]

Yes I've been veiling at Mass for over a year now whether it's the ordinary or extraordinary form.  Obviously, at the extraordinary form it's more uncommon for women not to veil so I don't get any looks or comments there.  At the ordinary form, I definitely get stares but so far nobody has said or done anything rude.  In fact, one woman who was probably in her 40s or 50s came up to me to ask where I bought my mantilla because she wanted to buy one to wear to mass.  Besides, after awhile I think the stares die down because people are used to seeing you in a veil or scarf.  Nowadays I think I'd feel naked without some sort of head covering.

[Quasar]

I have.  I feel more comfortable wearing a mantilla at adoration than at mass.  

 

My understanding is that in Northern Europe, the tradition was historically to wear a hat as a head covering. The mantilla is a Southern European tradition.  If so, I think that would explain why women in English-speaking countries might feel more comfortable and less conspicuous wearing a hat to mass.