DRESSING MODESTLY
August In 1917, Our Lady of Fatima warned, "certain fashions will be
introduced that offend My Son very much."
 
No objective observer can deny that there has been a tremendous decline
in modesty in the past century. As long ago as 1921, Pope Benedict XV
wrote the: following in an encyclical letter, Sacra Propediem:
 
". . . Now it does not suffice to exhibit themselves on public
thoroughfares; they do not fear to cross the threshold of churches, to
assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and even to bear the seducing
food of shameful passions to the Eucharistic Table, where one receives
the Heavenly Author of Purity."
 
In 1930, Pope Pius XI directed that a strongly worded letter on
Christian Modesty be issued to the whole world. Among many other things
it stated:
"(girls) and women dressed immodestly are to be debarred from Holy
Communion and from acting as sponsors at the Sacraments of Baptism and
Confirmation; further, if the offense be extreme, they may even be
forbidden to enter the church."
Even though this statement was included in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis,
it received very little attention in the United States.
 
Our Lady, various Popes, St. Padre Pio, etc., have been very clear on
the subject, but it appears today that only a very small percentage of
Catholics have gotten the message.
 
Modesty is not just a private matter, since an immodest person becomes
an occasion of sin for others.
CHANGES IN THE LITURGY
 
The Missal prescribes what must be said and all options for the Mass. 
As the
Second Vatican Council said in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 
22. 1. Regulation of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority 
of
the Church, that is, on the Apostolic See and, as laws may determine, 
on the
bishop.
 
22.2. In virtue of power conceded by the law, the regulation of the 
liturgy
within certain defined limits belongs also to various kinds of 
competent
territorial bodies of bishops legitimately established.
 
22.3. Therefore no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, 
remove, or
change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.