Changing Clergy Shirts

This is what happened this last week as I switched from tab collar shirts to the more Protestant banded collar shirt.

Comments

[brent]

Why the change?

[RevJATB]

You know, I've always worn a neckband collar. And after years of putting on a tie several times a week (whether a four-in-hand or a bow tie), buttoning on the neckband collar was much, much easier and quicker. And since the collar doesn't actually touch my neck, it's much more comfortable than any kind of tie I'd ever worn.

After I was ordained, I just assumed that those ministers in the PCA who believed in wearing a clerical shirt would wear neckbands ("dog collars"), until I went to the GA in Tampa several years ago and saw lots o' tab collars.

[Garrett]

Brent,

The banded collar (black shirt w/ white collar) has a much cleaner look under a black robe. The white tab collar shows too much material so that from a distance it looks like I'm wearing an ascot. In addition, the banded collar is the traditional Protestant clerical so I want to bring everything in line so as not to be mistaken for another tradition.

[Garrett]

RevJATB,

Week one it took me 30-40 minutes to get the collar on w/ my wife finally interceding. After that I talked to some Anglican friends and they gave me the scoop and now I do it in 10 seconds.

Regarding wearing the dog-collar, I guess I'm a purist and a bit of an Anglophile to boot. If we're going to tell people the "collar" is a Protestant invention, we should wear the right collar (Allen, I know you know this but the link is for other readers):

http://www.kencollins.com/glossary/vestments.htm#neckband

I work out of a Starbucks that is right next to an RCC church/school. The nuns see me sitting there with a tab collar and do a double take not knowing what to say. At least w/ a banded collar on I can stand up and scream, "Its a blooming Protestant clerical!!!" and call Presbyterian fire down from heaven.

[RevJATB]

Garrett, I find too that it makes a difference whence the shirt comes. The "Friar Tuck" brand shirts I got from Cokesbury (Friar Tuck: how corny) are somewhat cheaply made, but they're permanent press and are handy in a pinch. (As in, "Ooops, it's 9:15 and my shirt is not ironed. Good thing I have this permanent press one hanging in the closet!") They don't look as good, but the button hole in the back goes all the way through, which makes it much easier (for me, anyway) to attach the collar. The shirts from Almy are 100% cotton and look much nicer (when I remember to iron them the night before!), but the button in the back does not go all the way through. I find that kind a little harder to work with. (I guess some people don't like the feeling of the cold metal button touching the back of their neck, but it gets so hot in that robe I never mind it.) On the whole, though I much prefer the Almy shirts. I would compare them in quality to Jos. A. Bank or possibly even Brooks Brothers. I know a lot of friends who insist on clergy shirts from Wippell's, but I've never tried them.

[Garrett]

Allen,

I hear you. Their full line is:

Friar Tuck
Clothing for fat clerics and those who want to be.