Should She Tell a Priest to Cut His Hair?

Dear Peter and Molly,

There is a Priest in my ward and everyone seems to love him, but apparently no one has bothered to mention to him that priesthood holders need to look the part. His hair is now down to his shoulders. I know that some parents want to pick their battles, and many think that your hair length, and by default how you present yourself to the world isn't important enough to talk about, but at least they should know that there are consequences for looking like a slob, mainly that you can't represent the Lord in blessing the Sacrament. The other thing is that he is working with food, and he doesn't put his hair back into a pony tail, or wear a hair net or anything. Who should I talk to? It seems like the Bishop would already know, should I tell him directly how uncomfortable he makes the sacrament, or should I talk to his parents?

Sincerely,

Grossed Out

Peter: GO, thanks for writing. I think your point that those who are blessing and passing the Sacrament should understand that they are both representing the Lord and handling food, and should look and behave accordingly is an important one, and if one of them was writing to me I would be sure to mention it to them. But you wrote to me, and I think to you I'd have to answer don't talk to anyone.

Molly: Amen. I certainly stand with you in expecting our priesthood holders to live up to the standards that they say they do, but unlike the other letter we posted today, the priest in your ward has never made a covenant to keep his hair short. You could say that by taking the name of Christ upon himself looking his best was implied, but looking your best and looking like a conservative mainstream Mormon are not always the same thing.

Peter: In fact maybe he's just trying to look more like the Savior when he blessed the first sacrament. Seriously, though, there are many legitimate reasons for him to keep his hair long. He could be growing it out to perform in a play, he could have sensitive skin and cutting his hair could be very painful.

Molly: He could be growing it out for Locks of Love.

Peter: Even if none of those things are true, we can't look for reasons to try and disqualify the priests, or else we'll find them. That age in life is hard enough. If growing his hair out is the way he is funneling all his rebellious tendencies, then more power to him.

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