This is not about an occasion of sin for me, it is about the bad example it sets for all of the other younger girls in the chapel, it is a mortal sin for those girls who wear those clothes and scandalize the little ones:
“It were better for him, that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one of these little ones” (Luke 17:2)
Well, I don't disagree, in general. #1, IMO, would be closer to venial in general, but it's certainly compounded by the fact that it was at Mass.
Is this a systematic problem with the SSPX? Another sign that the SSPX is becoming more modernist?
This could have been handled with a, "At the Sanford SSPX chapel, no attempt is being made to enforce standards of modesty." I just don't think that the excessive huffing and puffing accomplishes anything. Nor does posting pictures of samples. Even if you were to post actual pictures, it's one thing that it's happening and QUITE ANOTHER if the priests are condoning it.
Perhaps it's a misguided prudential judgment about not wanting to harden their hearts and drive them away. Maybe it's cowardice. Perhaps it's that the priests aren't fully aware of the extent of it.
Have you even tried to go to the priest and said, "Father, there are women and young ladies here whose skirts are well above the knee. Can't you do anything about it?" I would be more interested in Father's response than in the mere fact that women are showing up there in short skirts. His response could speak volumes about the state of the SSPX. Would he say, "you're a bit of a prude" (ala the Theology of the Body crowd) or else "You're right, I need to try harder to enforce the standards." or "You're right, but I don't want to drive them away." I know one priest who simply responded with, "Well, that's just what the young people are all doing these days." (Yes, this was a Traditional priest). This seemed to come from a combination of laziness and a fear of confrontation. So I'd be more interested in the Father's response.
THEN, if the response is not acceptable, I would put the US District Superior on the spot, "Father N. said .... Is this the official position of the Society?" That I would be even MORE interested int.
Why don't you track it down this way rather than just venting anonymously here on CI?
Then I'd tell Father, "Father, if some young man came up and told you that he couldn't go to Communion because he was tempted to a sinful thought during Mass by one of these, what would you say or what would you do?" Would he say, "well, that young man needs to become more pure and toughen up"? To which, I would respond, "Well, that's not the Church's teaching on this subject, that this is merely a scandal of the weak. Shouldn't a young man who assists at Mass have the right not to be distracted, much less tempted, by immodest dress?"