I was remembering that, when we were in Rome, in the height of the summer, Janet was wearing a sundress. We had intentions of sightseeing and, of course, we wanted to see some of the wonderful churches. It didn’t occur to us, until we got there, that Janet wasn’t allowed into the churches baring exposed shoulders and without a shawl. There were a couple churches which actually had a box of shawls available at the entry. And some others who looked the other way. Most, however, did not.
I passed Winter Park’s St. Margaret Mary today and I happened to see a woman coming out of the church who had a low cut dress, which she fully filled out, but she definitely had her shoulders covered.
At first, I wondered whether the rules have somehow changed or, whether covering your shoulders was sufficient regardless of how much cleavage you showed. But mostly, I wondered why such heightened sensitivity since we live here in America, to a fundamental component we all share. Shoulders, after all, may be divine, but we are still after all, quite organic.
Original writing date: March 31, 2008