I received the holy mysteries yesterday from someone who celebrated wearing brown shoes.
The shoes in question were beautifully polished and the feet that they were on were of the most reverend quality, (the Most!) but it still bothers me 24 hours later.
Time we rewrote the canon on clergy dress, I think.
Tell me someone do, is my desire for shiny black footwear at the altar of the Lord merely my own sad fetish which I should deal with quietly and with appropriate counselling?
I completely agree. Black, well-kept shoes for those officiating or singing and quiet – most important. I think shoe polishing should be part of the training!
Oh dear – I live in an environment where be-sandalled feet at the altar are the norm… and brown shoes come a close second. Something to do with the brown habits, methinks.
Franciscans may be able to do brown, but for all other clergy it MUST be black and well-polished. For those kneeling at the rail this may be the only part of your body they see and it would be very distracting from the Holy Mysteries to see pink desert boots or even gorgeous purple slippers.
Big problem today for me is that I have broken my wee toe and can’t get any shoes on without excrutiating pain. Guess I’ll have to offer it up. But those purple slippers do look awfully comfy…
A thought following the comment from Fr Ruth. When genuflecting the sole of the shoe is visible. If the upper of the shoe is highly polished black, would this follow that the sole should be black. I have known the instep to be polished.
Time for one or two comments from me in this debate.
Firstly, I am glad that I am not alone. It seems to me that there are people with a black shoe in church fetish at least as zealous as my own.
Asphodeline says that it should be part of the training. In fairness to TISEC, I was sent to a place where I was given instruction in black shoe wear in the sanctuary. And was so afraid of Fr Kevin that I would have dared to sport no other footwear. Fr Kevin has the most respectable clerical footwear in Scotland. In that same church, I was also taught to genuflect in front of a large mirror as though in ballet class.
Moyra – the Franciscan Exemption very clearly applies to you. Do not fear.
Chris says that it is as well that I am not going to be a pope. Well, if Paris was worth a mass, the throne of St Peter might be worth a pair of red Prada loafers. It might be my view that had the clerical feet which started this thread been sporting purple Prada loafers I would have had no cause to comment, except for a derisory snort.
Zebadee rightly suggests that this has something to do with my past. He should know.
The Hot Climes exemption applies in the Cathedral in Glasgow when the temperature reaches 40 centigrade inside.
I am beginning to worry about oppression of the brown shoe wearer here. I suspect God might not really mind. Of course such an opinion will lead to total relativism within the Church and the ultimate break down of all Christian liturgical structures, so I can see why folk might be attached to the whole black shoe wearing thing. Is the question actually, not what colour of shoe should the priest be wearing, but what colour of shoe should the recipient be wearing and how clean does their sole (or soul, perhaps) need to be?
Would it help at all if I state clearly and unambiguously that I will never in my ministry refuse communion to someone on the basis of the colour of their footware?
I realise that in saying that, people might realise the extent of my liberalism, but then perhaps now is the time for clergy to be more open about these things.
I think that Stewart’s comments about the colour of shoe soles is leading us in unhelpful directions. Its the uppers that we are concerned about here, uppers I say.
And before anyone else suggests it, and although it smacks of protestantism, I’m going to rule out pink (or “rose”) shoes in the sanctuary on Rorate Sunday and Gaudate Sunday right here and now.
Reminds me of a parish which I knew where the Parish Priest ( a high anglo-catholic) didn’t have a fixed day-off (though he never failed to take one each week) he had a “brown shoes” day. He wore them for his day of, so people got used to looking at his feet to check, at the Vicarage he used to place a pair of old brown shoes in the study window overlooking the porch , and towards the end of his ministry when answerphones were expensive luxuries he was given one by a wealthy parishioner, and he used to leave a day off message saying that he was wearing brown shoes! I think sandals are an acceptable summer alternative under robes- but please no socks!
….but the sight of bare toes can be so off-putting!
So …. uniform (black) footwear every time!