Out go the robes, in come hoodies: how vicars might update their look
VICARS could be free to conduct services in tracksuits and hoodies, as the Church of England attempts to be seen as “relevant” in the modern world.
Its House of Bishops has opened a consultation on relaxing canon law, which requires priests to wear traditional clerical robes when leading communion or services such as weddings, baptisms and funerals.
It is the first formal step by the Church to easing rules and a tradition dating from late Roman times.
The move follows a debate in the General Synod in 2014, but opponents of relaxation said at the time that abandoning the legal requirement could leave the Church looking “slovenly”.
Current rules say priests must wear an alb, similar to a cassock, or surplice, a thin white gown, with clerical scarf at communion services and would “normally” also do so at special services. In practice, this is widely ignored, particularly during informal services involving more modern styles of worship.
The rules do not specifically require clergy to wear dog collars, although most do in daily life as a traditional mark of their calling.
A consultation paper sent to Synod members suggests amending the canon to let priests depart from the traditional vesture during communion and other regular services, with the agreement of leading parishioners. At weddings, baptisms or funerals, they would also be free to wear other clothes if the couple or family involved requested it.
But the paper adds the amended rules could include a caveat that any alternative dress “should be seemly” and not involve “any departure from the doctrine of the Church of England”.
The Rt Rev Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool, said: “If that canonical compulsion were to be relaxed, some people say then the Church would be more relevant to the modern society and they believe that passionately. Others say that if that were to happen the Church would lose some of its distinctiveness. The conversation between those points of view is the conversation we will be having.”
One prominent bishop – who often wears a denim jacket in services – has warned against ditching flamboyant traditional dress altogether in a quest to appeal to contemporary culture.
The Rt Rev Peter Broadbent, Bishop of Willesden, said in some inner city parishes he felt “underdressed” without his “episcopal bling” – mitre, robes and crozier: “If you’re in a place which is very multi-cultural and people come from Africa and Asia, the Christians with that background, because we’d exported all the regalia to them, that’s their culture they’ve grown up with and they would be very surprised not to see a bishop dressed up.”
The consultation runs to mid-April; changes would need Synod approval and passing by the House of Bishops.