By Olivia Obijiaku
In his serial teaching on indecent dressing, the Parish Priest of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Fegge Onitsha, Rev Fr Sampson Ogbuebuna called for a life of modesty in every aspect of one’s life. He also blamed confusion in the Church and in cultures to indecent dressing describing it as a damage to the present time.
Commencing the teaching at the Holy Hour of Thursday 18th April 2024, the priest leaned on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2521 ‘Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person.
It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves towards them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity. Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love.
It encourages patience and moderation in loving relationship, it requires that the conditions for the definitive giving and commitment of man and woman to one another be fulfilled. So modesty is decency.
It inspires one’s choice of dressing,’ in affirming that today’s fashion is total destruction to the Christian Society.He said, “The primary goal for this is to destroy the human society so that the enemy can capture us. That is why our culture is confusing today.
The worst part of it is that it has infiltrated the Church. The world is now criticizing our dress code. You are not meant to live as you wish. Once you expose yourselves, it means you have no respect for your dignity – you are making yourself an animal.
So this modesty reawakens self-respect in us. Modesty guides one on neatness, proper dressing.Even in 1950s, and 1960s, public certified harlots and prostitutes dressed better than many Christians of today. They dressed decently but those who dressed a bit indecently were international prostitutes.
Then they do not come close to the Church because know that they are not worthy. You do not see sagging in those days. You keep asking what the Church is doing, the Church teaches round the clock but you unlearn what the Church teaches.”Fr Ogbuebuna asserted that modernization cannot force God to change, implying that His standard on modesty has not changed.
He called on those concerned to take the right decision so that they may make the needed change.
