Chapel Veils or Mantillas

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Why don't women cover their heads in church??
The story is told about someone asking Msgr. Annibale Bugnini, who during and after the Second Vatican Council "presided" over the "reform" of the Roman Missal and liturgy in general whether women still had to wear a headcover in the churches. His response was that the Bishops were considering other issues, and that women’s veils were not on the agenda. The next day, the international press announced throughout the world that women did not have to wear the veil anymore. A few days later, Msgr. Bugnini told the press he was misquoted and women must still had to wear the veil. But the Press did not retract the error, and many women stopped wearing the veil as out of confusion and because of pressure from feminist groups.

The former Code of Canon law (before the revision in 1983) said that women must cover their heads "...especially when they approach the holy table" (can.1262.2). But the 1983 Code is silent about this tradition.

This does not mean that the use of the veil is not to be observed or is simply an outdated custom, for the veil has roots in Scripture and Tradition as well.

Scripture contains reasons for women wearing the veil which, for the sake of brevity, I will omit here. Suffice to say that the veil, in this way of thinking, is a symbol of the
divine heirarchy established in the relationship of men and women in the bond of
matrimony that Paul describes in New Testement terms so beautifully in Ephesians.

If any women balk at this, keep in mind that the vestments of the priest had symbolic meanings as well.

St. Paul says an unveiled woman is a dishonor: "But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered disgraces her head, for it is the same as if she were shaven" (1 Corinthians 11:5). Paul also puts this in relation to the holy angels in 1 Corinthians 11:10. The invisible hierarchy should be respected because the holy
angels are present at Christian liturgical assemblies, offering with us the Holy Sacrifice with the honor due to God. St. John the Apostle wrote "And another Angel came and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense that he might offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which is before the throne." (Revelations 8:3)

I am always pleased when I see chapel veils in church. It is a sign that the woman wearing it has a solid sense of the majesty of the one in Whose presence she has come to pray. I very much hope that the custom will return soon and be widespread, especially amongst younger women who, alas, these days are being taught and pressured by the media especially to dress in a very dishonorable and disagreeable fashion. It is amazing to see what sort of garb (usually unchurched) young women sport when coming to, say, funeral and weddings. In decades past they might have been arrested for soliciting were they out in public. And they come to church dressed that way! Is there no longer any shame? The chapel veil is about as counter-cultural as you can get, in this light. It is therefore a good example. The chapel veil recommends itself on very many levels.

I hope this helps.
Fr Zuhlsdorf