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Since 1983, men have technically been allowed to wear hats inside a Catholic Church. There's no longer any binding rule prohibiting this.
It was also in 1983 when the requirement that women wear a veil to Mass was dropped.
Yet while MANY women do not veil at Mass, or are even opposed to doing so, I have almost never seen a man wear a hat during Mass. And I have *NEVER* met a man who gets righteously indignant about his "right" to wear a hat in Church, or who makes some big statement by doing such a thing... though I have met many women who are this way about not veiling...
Of course, the custom of women covering their heads and men remaining bare-headed at the Mass comes from 1 Corinthians 11:1-16. The Scripture deals directly with this, and the Church has followed the practice as detailed in that book of the Bible for time immemorial, whether as a custom or as a binding and lawfully required practice.
As I have said before, in spite of the contention it has caused: the day my wife wears a pair of pants outside of the house is the day I wear a skirt outside of the house, for the nature of both practices is identical.
Likewise, the day my wife goes to Mass without veiling is the day I show up to Mass wearing a hat, for the spirit of both things is the same.
And if the idea of a man in a skirt and a hat at Mass strikes you as outrageous, it is not logically different from the idea of a woman in pants with her head uncovered, standing before the true Flesh and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Both are utterly ridiculous whether such practices are governed by canon law or not...
Saint Padre Pio was 1000% right about this stuff.
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