No Hats Allowed in Church

I was invited to appear, as Ray, at a Catholic Mass for high school students in Aurora. Several of the students knew me from past presentations so my disguise was of particular importance. One of the features of my "attire" is a wool cap where the flaps come down over my ears. I arrived early during the youth choir rehearsal. I caught myself in my own stereotyping when the lead guitarist finished playing and walked toward me. His hair went clear down to his belt. I thought to myself, "Finally, a liberal thinking person who is going to come welcome me to his church." Whoops!

I had been invited to several Catholic services before and was always approached, or rather checked out, and always asked to remove my hat. While I would never wear a hat inside a church as "John", or allow any of my children to wear a hat inside, I've never understood why people didn't see the likes of "Ray" and rejoice in his attendance.

The young man approached me and said, "Hey, take off the hat. You're in church." There was no "Welcome to..." or "Hi. What is your name? Are you a visitor?" Of course, I couldn't take my hat off or I would be risking the discovery of my identity. I responded nicely, "I can't." You would think that would be enough. He asked, "Why not?" Most people wouldn't want to know but he was clearly a stickler for the rules. "I spontaneously came up with, "Because, my doctor told me not to take it off." Now that I reflect on my response, it was pretty good. That should have quieted the most conservative anti-hat-in-church types. It did not! Unbelievably, he queried "What's your doctor's name?" I couldn't believe it. You want to know my doctor's name? I blurted out my actual doctor’s name, “Dr. Hrdlicka. He works out of Delnor Hospital." He looked at me and with a frustrated gasp ended the inquiry with, "Oh” and walked away.

Certainly, in our culture we don't wear hats in church. It's a sign of respect for the sacred space. It isn't so much for God's sake. Something tells me that if he was fine with Adam and Eve being naked, he'd be fine with us wearing hats. But, we human beings need to take our hats off because it's a helpful reminder to us. It places us in subliminal space and opens us to the largeness and otherness that is God. BUT, I hope that if I see a person who has bigger issues going on, I won't bring up the "hat" issue until that person has been welcomed, and knows that God loves them. Then I might share the cultural custom that is the removal of hats in sacred spaces.