Veiling tradition returns for some in diocese

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
In recent years, women veiling for Mass has become more commonplace in the Diocese of Sioux City. Small numbers of women throughout the diocese are returning to the tradition of covering their heads for Mass, often younger women who are drawn to traditional practices.
 
Veiling history
Father Andrew Galles, current diocesan director of worship, explained veiling is Biblically-based, specifically Paul’s letter in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 11.
 
“Some scholars have taken this as a description of hair length and styles and not necessarily a description of covering one’s head, but this is debated. The practice of head covering for women not surprisingly, will vary by nationality and culture, even to this day,” the priest explained. “Nonetheless, this was a tradition that was practiced in different ways for many years throughout the church and eventually enshrined in the 1917 Code of Canon Law.”
 
The 1917 Code states that women were required to cover their heads “and be modestly dressed.” The 1983 Code of Canon Law did not include this directive, but a 1976 document Inter Insigniores from the then-Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith addressed the requirement.
 
“But it must be noted that these ordinances, probably inspired by the customs of the period, concern scarcely more than disciplinary practices of minor importance, such as the obligation imposed upon women to wear a veil on their head (1 Cor 11:2-16): such requirements no longer have a normative value,” from Inter Insigniores.
 
Veiling is no longer required; however, the church does not prohibit the practice, the director of worship pointed out.
 
“My personal observation is that veiling is a practice that has certainly increased as an expression of personal piety,” Father Galles pointed out. “This occurs both in the Traditional Latin Mass as well as the normative form of Mass.”
 
First encounters
As veiling is no longer prescribed for women by the church, the practiced dropped off considerably since the 1970s. Many of the women who now veil discovered the practice when traveling or even on social media.
 
Sandra Joyce, member of Divine Mercy Parish in Algona and Emmetsburg resident, said about five years ago, her family of six was traveling the area visiting different Catholic churches outside the diocese including cathedrals and parishes that offered the Traditional Latin Mass.
 Anastasia and Sandra Joyce at St. Michael Church, Whittemore“We saw a lot of people veiling,” Joyce said, noting her young daughters were interested in the veils. “Our daughters thought it was so pretty and they wanted to veil.” 
The mother of four considered and researched the practice before jumping in to veiling and bringing her daughters with her.
 
“I thought this is so hard to just start that. I hadn’t seen anyone in our area veil,” Joyce said. “I thought if we are going to do this, we are going to have a discussion why we veil … We got veils and started during Lent. We started veiling at a parish which wasn’t our own, which made it easier for me.”
 
Dayna Toft of Storm Lake St. Mary Parish said she saw some women veil when she was growing up in Carroll. She saw different Catholic influencers on Instagram veiling, which piqued her interest and she began researching the topic.
 
“I decided I wanted to do it. I tend to be a little bit more traditional with things. It seemed like a beautiful devotion in a way. I wanted to try it out and see how it felt,” she said.
 
Abby Beadle of Bancroft said she also started researching the history and meaning of veiling after seeing a woman in Mass and wanted to know why some women choose to veil.
 
“When I learned about it, I thought this is something I feel like I should do as a respect thing towards Jesus. I thought about it and I was super-nervous and felt like I needed to do it, too. I just kind of ripped the Band-aid off and have been doing it for two years,” Beadle reflected.
 
Adeline Reynolds, Algona High School senior and Divine Mercy parishioner, first saw veiling as a freshman when attending a Steubenville Youth Conference. The St. Joseph native said she liked the devotion and searched for more information, finding the 1 Corinthians reference.

 Adeline Reynolds wore her veil for this senior photo“I pondered it for a while because my family isn’t traditional, they are more of a modern Catholic family,” Reynolds said. 

Beautiful symbol
Joyce said the student she recently sponsored for confirmation asked her why she was veiling. She explained that she loves the practice and that it’s a personal preference for the faithful.
 
“I think it’s beautiful. I love it,” she said. “And it cuts off my vision, you have to turn your head to see anything. Since I don’t have young kids or toddlers, I can really focus on the altar.”
 
“It does make you concentrate more,” Toft said of veiling. “You get a peace along with it. It’s a reminder to yourself that I am here for God … We attribute it to imitating Mary but also as an outward symbol that I really am devoting myself to God.”
 
Toft said she is hopeful that people don’t view veiling as “an oppressive practice.” She views it as a form of modesty when in church.
 
“It’s so much more than that. The church veils beautiful things such as Christ being veiled in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. The veil is a symbol of the beautiful dignity and femininity that God has blessed women with when he made us in his image and likeness,” she said. “When a woman veils it is an outward expression of an inward devotion and humbling of oneself to Christ truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.”
 
Some of the women see the return of the veil as a sign of younger generations desire to return to past traditions in the church.
 
“I think there’s been a huge traditional shift,” Beadle said. “People are just wanting to go back to the traditional … I feel like Catholicism gets a bad rap. It’s great to see young people fired up (for the faith).”
 
‘Holier than thou’ 
As the women often find they are the only people covering their heads at Mass, they have encountered reactions from curiosity to support to hostility.
 
“It’s a bit nerve-wracking if you’ve never done it at a parish. You don’t know what people are going to think,” Toft said. “And you don’t want them thinking, ‘She’s being holier than thou’ because that is something people tend to do.”
 
As a religion educator for St. Mary School in Storm Lake, Toft recently wore her veil to a school Mass for the first time. She said some of her older students had talked to her about veiling.
 Carroll native Dayna Toft at Storm Lake St. Mary Church“I didn’t get many big reactions at all. The little kids were more interested but looked at me like, ‘Why does she have that on her head?’ Some of the girls thought it was pretty and looked nice,” she said, noting she may have more questions from students after they see her veil more often. 

Reynolds said as a high school student, none of her classmates donned veils at Mass, which made her practice of veiling difficult.
 
“The first time I veiled in front of my peers was at confirmation. I did experience some bullying from it,” she said, noting derogatory remarks were made on social media regarding a photo of Reynolds veiled. “I saw it and it really hurt me. I don’t know why I let it hurt me. I should have been proud of it.”
 
Beadle said if other women ask her about veiling or are considering veiling, she said she’d definitely encourage them to pray about it. She said many women don’t want to draw attention to themselves or fear that they would feel awkward at Mass if they covered their heads.
 
“I get it because I definitely experienced that whole thing as well,” she said. “I would reassure them that it is awkward at first. After a while you get used to it and don’t care what other people think. I think sometimes we think people care more about it than they actually do.”