Thursday, September 14, 2006

There is Shock in Rad-Trad-dom; Canon Lawyer Finds No Requirements For Women to Cover Their Heads!

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Although, there might be a biblical order from St Paul requiring them to shave their heads.

Dr Ed Peters, a canon lawer who blogs at In the Light of the Law, found it to be a slow day for litigation and started thumbing through the Code of Canon Law to see what the deal is with the use of mantillas, or "chapel veils" in English.

I recently saw an advertisement for chapel veils. The ad features a lovely young lady wearing a handmade veil, and presents the following text: "Did you know that nothing in Vatican II changes the practice of headcoverings for women and that Canon 1262 is still in force?" Assertions about canon law always get my attention, and so I wondered, is Canon 1262 still in force?

Indeed it is. It states: "The faithful are to give support to the Church by responding to appeals and according to the norms issued by the conference of bishops." Hmmm. Nothing in there about chapel veils. In fact, nothing in there about liturgy. But that's not surprising: Canon 1262 is not located within Book IV of the 1983 Code of Canon Law where most norms on liturgy and sacraments are found, but rather, it is in Book V where Church property is regulated. Okay then, what about Vatican II? [snip]

If you suffer from scrupulosity about observing Church mandates, you'd better check out Dr. Peters' findings HERE.


1 comment:

Terry Nelson said...

I'm so relieved!

Most women wear them out of piety rather than some mandatum.

I'm not a fan - as everyone knows.

I don't like birettas much either...I'm not a woman of course, nor a priest...let them wear what they like.