Veiled heads, venerating hearts: Examining Catholic re-veiling practices in the United States post-Vatican II

Abstract

Veiling is a significant practice among many different religious groups around the world. While typically associated with Islam, some Catholic women have recently re-embraced veiling practices, nearly 40 years after the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council of the Catholic Church, also called “Vatican II,” indicated that women no longer needed to cover their heads during Mass in 1965. This tradition is tied to 1 Corinthians 11:2-6 in which Paul emphasized that men and women should differ in their head covering during religious worship. To investigate why some Catholic women have chosen to re-veil, the authors conducted 30 in-depth interviews with practicing Catholic women (and one nun) who veil or do not veil. The authors interviewed women in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, Colorado, Minnesota, Arizona, Washington, Virginia, New York, Idaho, Massachusetts, and Alabama to determine if Catholic veiling beliefs and practices vary geographically. The authors transcribed, coded, and analyzed all interviews, finding that many veiling women are 20-30 years old and their reasons for veiling indicate increased traditionalism among young Catholics with concomitant use of scapulars and the embrace of more conservative ideas about women’s modesty, femininity, and sexuality. The authors frame the discussion with the concept of teshuvah, referring to when one returns to a place of origin or a place where one belongs, as this re-veiling signals a return to tradition and feminine values associated with the Virgin Mary - values that seem to be at odds with contemporary ideas about sexuality and bodily expression.