Anonymous wrote:We are catholic and at our parish,the tween and teen girls show their purity and innocence for their baptisms by wearing a poofy,white,short sleeve,knee length dress with a bonnet,lace anklets and white maryjane shoes.To further add to their purity,a cloth diaper and plastic pants and tee shirt is worn under their dresses.All of the girls who were baptized this past Easter sunday were all dressed in the outfits.

Thanks for the good laugh

Anonymous wrote:No bare shoulders, no tight clothing, nothing above the knee, no deep v necks. I recently saw a young hs girl who was lector in a tight, short mini skirt and an off the shoulder sweater. The priest should have excused her. It’s highly inappropriate for mass!

The first sentence is about the dress standard our church has also.

We are catholic and at our parish,the tween and teen girls show their purity and innocence for their baptisms by wearing a poofy,white,short sleeve,knee length dress with a bonnet,lace anklets and white maryjane shoes.To further add to their purity,a cloth diaper and plastic pants and tee shirt is worn under their dresses.All of the girls who were baptized this past Easter sunday were all dressed in the outfits.

No bare shoulders, no tight clothing, nothing above the knee, no deep v necks. I recently saw a young hs girl who was lector in a tight, short mini skirt and an off the shoulder sweater. The priest should have excused her. It’s highly inappropriate for mass!

Adding: I haven’t been to an adult one in a while but there is anointing with oil involved, which may require access to, say, the area around where the collarbones meet the sternum. Talk to the program person.

Babies wear white, but adults usually wear "Sunday best".
I would just let your teens wear nice "church" clothes - dress shirt and tie for boy, dress or skirt for girl. The girl clothes are going to be more challenging, as PPs mentioned - everything is so short now.

You might want to ask for suggestions from whoever is in charge of the baptism program. Some places (still) have people dress up in some kind of robe and then douse them with a large amount of water, requiring a change of outfits. If that’s the case you’ll want something easy to get into. Otherwise, think about the water on the head and some extra splashing. White is a traditional baptismal sign, but the “white garment” comes after the water. For babies they sometimes use little white bins. For adults it is sometimes a white robe or alb. You might ask about that too. No reason a kid can’t wear white anyway though.

OP here. They are only being baptized.

Will your teens be making other sacraments as well? I think generally dressy, modest clothes (suit or just shirt with tie/ dress with sleeves, not too short or nice slacks). I think it would be kind of awkward for them to wear white at that age.

Thank you both. I have a boy and girl. I was thinking something that would not be see through would be a good choice, but something I was seeing were saying white.

I’d avoid tank or spaghetti or straps, anything too short/tight and anything with cut outs. Which all sounds obvious but shopping for teen girls now is hard if you’re looking for something appropriate for church. You’d think something that covers shoulders wouldn’t be so hard to fine.

Boys or girls?

I would probably put the girls in a white dress, and the boys in a white shirt, blazer, tie and slacks.

My teens will be baptized in a Catholic Church in a few weeks. What should they wear?