AmericanPapist Comments
Actually, just a couple years ago I was earning my M.Ed. at Berry College. That's in Rome, GA. Several of my classmates were teachers in the Dalton, GA area. Dalton is of course famous for two things: carpet and more carpet. And as you can imagine, at this point Latinos literally outnumber WASPS in the community. Thus, several of these teachers, some themselves Catholic, were talking about how as they had been studying Latino gang culture, they had found that in fact wearing a rosary around the neck was in fact a gang sign in some Latino gang or other, and they were having to tell kids to quit wearing them.
Question...is it actually appropriate to wear a rosary as an item of jewelry?
Yes, I also understand that the rosary is used as a gang symbol. And then we see pop culture stars touting them too, some who are far from the practice of praying the rosary, shall we say.
If one wishes to wear a rosary, wear ut undectected under the clothing. Now the metal ones might n ot make it through a detector, so if one is wearing it for reasons of piety, then get a cord or wood one.
Chris:
That's my question, too...aren't we to pray the Rosary, not wear it?
Right, Mary. I see people with them in their hip pockets all the time, or in purses, so they're handy for praying...for that matter, even hanging on the rearview mirror (though this could become hazardous in an accident)..but wearing it, whether on display or not, just seems a little odd.
Every religious I've seen who "wears" a rosary wears it on their belt or cord thingy (I forget the term.)
I say if could cause your brother to be scandalized don't wear it, carry it. Then agian I wouldn't wear one in the first place.
It's always been my understanding that wearing them - undisplayed - can be a practice of constantly reminding oneself of the rosary, its power, and its purpose. Using it as jewelry seems a bit trite, if not outright wrong, but I don't think taking advantage of its shape to have it constantly at one's side (or around one's neck) is intrinsically wrong.
I can't understand not wearing, or being prohibited from wearing a rosary (or anything else) because it can be a gang sign, unless it's never seen outside of a gang. I've observed one fellow in my current city who seems to use pencils tucked behind his ears to coordinate transactions on the street. Should students at the school at the other end of the street not be allowed to have pencils, because someone might be using them to signal to someone else?
I also see nothing wrong with wearing a rosary from a pious standpoint. In my experience, it's the best way to keep it with you without breaking it. I'm not sure why it would be wrong for it to be visible, either. My miraculous medal is visible. My crucifix is visible. If I wear a rosary (and get a crucifix and a miraculous medal in the bargain), why must it be covered up? I've just never understood the objection.
I echo the sentiment that a sacramental is not a piece of jewelry. I know that paratroopers have been known to put them around their necks, but then again, things have a tendency to get lost when jumping out of airplanes. If you want a sacramental for everyday wear, get a scapular.
In this tennis game, no advantage to either side. The authorities are culturally and religiously illiterate-clearly products of our finest public schools. The young lady wears the rosary in a manner suggesting blasphemy. I see similar displays regularly around my city. Perhaps also products of public schools. The rosary is a sacramental. It. Is. Not. Bling.
...until scapulars get adopted by some other gang as a symbol. The real issue IMHO is allowing holy symbols to be co-opted for unholy intentions. Look what happened to the rainbow.
"I went to school, walked through the metal detectors and they told me to take it off"
Yikes, my spoiled-brat suburbanite bubble just popped. I keep forgetting that there are schools where metal detectors are needed to ensure safety.
That said, I'm pretty sure if a school needs security gaurds and metal detectors, then the administration of that school is probably pretty in-tune to what constitutes a gang-symbol. Coupled with the fact that she's wearing it as a necklace, something I've long held to be verboten (it's not a bloody piece of jewelry), it all but seems that this is just an issue of a gang picking a sign with deniability. ("What, it's a religious symbol... my freedom of expression is being violated!!!")
"The young lady wears the rosary in a manner suggesting blasphemy"
There's no indication of this.
It is my understanding that this is very much a cultural thing with Latinos. Rome doesn't say you can't wear it. As others have pointed out, many religious wear a rosary as part of their habit. If I can wear a scapular (which I also use to pray with) or medal or crucifix, all of which have also been blessed, then I can wear a rosary.
We need to remember it is a sacramental and it is not the beads that are important but what they represent. Beads are beads. It's the prayer that counts.
I've known some punk kids in a school I'm familiar with wear the rosary around their neck, and I think it was gang related.
I've only noticed with with Hispanic teens.
This girl probably doesn't belong to a gang, just thinks it looks nice when she saw other people doing it.
I remember about a year or two ago there was a report, maybe in Zenit?, I think about Belgium or one of those countries, where the teens were all wearing the rosary as jewelry. The local bishop put out a statement on it, basically saying that it is not inherently wrong, and might be a work of the New Evangelization if done respectfully, but cautioned against abuse.
Related to all of this, I find it very offensive when on the major holy days some Soprano wanna-bes come to my church all decked out like they're employees at an adult establishment but wearing a crucifix down their brazenly visible cleavage.
The reaction to all of this? If not a return to modesty, surely Islam hijabs.
*bang head against wall*
All sorts of Hispanic people wear a rosary around their necks! It's not a gang symbol, it's a sign that one is a Hispanic Catholic! It has connotations of receiving protection and blessings from the contact with a sacramental, which is perfectly logical.
Furthermore, you can see people wearing their rosary beads in various ways, in formal art, for almost as long as strings of Catholic prayer beads have existed! Check out all the pictures of Baby Jesus _gnawing_ on coral rosaries, for example....
Now granted, some Catholics are gangmembers, and some wannabes wear rosaries for non-devotional reasons. But it's historically astigmatic to think that wearing the rosary is some sort of rude, crude act of blasphemy. And I refer you to the many fine historical Rosary info pages out there, particularly Paternoster Row.
And while we're at it, is there a suburban school in the US that doesn't have a metal detector, since Columbine? Needed or not?
Maureen, who would never wear a rosary, but realizes that's a marker of her culture, not her religion.
I have worn a rosary on several occasions. Once when I was at a theme park and didnt have anywhere to put it (no pockets and someone else was holding my money). Also when i helped with a really large youth retreat (Mount 2000) I put it around my neck so I could have it handy. It was not blasphemy, just a way of keeping it with me.
Maureen- yeah there still are schools without metal detectors at least there wasnt when was the last time I set foot in my old high school for a friends graduation about 3 years ago. :-)
I don't think we can draw a black and white line about wearing a rosary. It depends on the intent of the person wearing it. I think a big factor also may also be if it's blessed or not. Would it be wrong for a Catholic to wear an unblessed rosary for purely fashionable reasons? What about a non-Catholic? Could it be objectively wrong for a person to wear a blessed rosary in certain situations even if their intent is good? I'm not sure of the answer to those questions.
Whether it's good or bad, if you go to a place like paternosters blog, http://paternosters.blogspot.com/ , this isn't a new issue. As soon as people started stringing up beads into a rosary some of them started putting them on display.
Oh and about scapulars. I saw a show a few weeks ago, The Closer I think, where an undercover cop posing as a Latino gang member was wearing a scapular. He wore it under a wife beater with the two wool pieces just under the collar of the shirt and the cords pulled out, making it obvious that he was wearing it. I can't imagine that they'd just think of that on their own. If they did research for their gang member wardrobes, it might be that scapulars have become part of gang culture if not specific gang symbols.
I don't think the argument is being made that it's blasphemy to *wear* a rosary, as people have rightly cited various religious orders wearing them. I think people (myself included) are railing against the secularization of our beloved sacramentals.
That said, I've had it engraved into my brain from an early age that a rosary is not to be worn around the neck. I grant that it may be an incorrect notion, and clearly there's no official church teaching forbidding the matter, but it's not common practice in my metal-detector-free neck of the woods (DC/VA suburbs). Sure, you can make a case for wearing it like a necklace for various reasons as seen above, but I think Brian Walden's right, ultimately it depends on the intent of the wearer.
In that case, I still see no reason why the school shouldn't ban the necklace-wearing (if it's associated with gangs). It's not like they've banned rosaries altogether, or miraculous medals or crucifixes for that matter... They've just banned the practice of wearing them as necklaces because said practice was shown to be correlated with gang activity. The sad news is that a gang has probably co-opted that particular display of the sacramental, and forced the school to take action against it. I really don't think there are ogres here...
I get the ethnic tradition argument. I still don't bite. It travels very close to stereotypes. I'm of German-Irish descent. Does that mean I should advocate persecution of the Jewish people and public drunkenness. A rosary is not a toy or a piece of jewelry. It is a sacramental. It. Is. Not. Bling.
By the way- I do not- and never will-advocate either of those possible ethnic stereotypes.
The Celtic Cross is considered, by the US Navy, to be a White Supremacist symbol. Apparently some Norse god worshiping morons liked the way it looked. (really wish I was kidding)
Well, if a rosary is not to be worn as jewelry, what about all those rosary rings and rosary bracelets?
I like to wear my rosary bracelet because it has a Miraculous Medal on it, and I have trouble wearing anything around my neck (medals, scapulars--heck, I can't wear a turtleneck or shirt with a high collar). Also, if I get the opportunity to pray a quiet rosary I already have one with me. So how is this different, if it's acceptable in Hispanic culture to wear a rosary around the neck?
Gerald E. said:
"It is a sacramental. It. Is. Not. Bling."
That's exactly the point. If she were wearing it merely as bling, then yes it would be wrong. But we don't know that's why she's wearing it. If she's wearing it to remind her to pray, or for spiritual protection, or to encourage other Catholic students to live their faith, or even just because its a sentimental gift from her mother, I don't think it would be wrong.
But assuming that everyone who wears a rosary is wearing it as bling puts us in the exact same position as the school who assumes that everyone who wears a rosary is doing so as a gang symbol. I'm sure a quick discussion with the girl could determine why she's wearing it and whether it's an acceptable reason.
"I'm sure a quick discussion with the girl could determine why she's wearing it and whether it's an acceptable reason."
I'm not so inclinded to agree here. What would such a discussion entail? Would any smart "gangster" say "Why yes it's my gang sign, definitely no religious context here!"? How could the school defend itself against allegations of bias? More importantly, should a school spend resources having these discussions with everyone who wears a rosary as a necklace?
From a governmental/admin perspective, the answer will always be no, it ain't worth it. I know, it sucks and seems oppressive and unfair, but the school will act exactly like the Navy in the example foxfier cited, and it will ban that particular mode of expression.
As to the distinction between rosaries and rosary rings/bracelets, I think the latter were directly intended and manufactured to be used while being worn. I think it's a bit more of a difficult case to make for regular rosaries worn around the neck.
Several saints have worn them around their necks eg.Benedict Joseph Labre and the Cure of Ars.
When I was in the stockade in Ft Riley KS many years ago (long story), I began wearing the rosary around my neck as a way of identifying myself as a Catholic Christian in a sea of Evangelical/Pentecostal Christians, in emulation of St. Benedict Labre and a young Trappist monk I once encountered, and as sign of devotion to Our Lady, of course.
Soon my buddies were doing the same, and in short order practically the entire stockade was as well. The chaplain was simply dumbfounded at all the requests for rosary,
One day one of the prisoners asked, "Look, I've been wearing this thing for two weeks, how does it work?" I told him. He prayed it.
His case had been on hold forever, and he couldn't get the JAG to act on it. The day after he said his first rosary, he received the news his case was going to trial.
All in all, it was a wonderful thing. In my opinion the chaplain could have taken advantage of this in much more energetic fashion, but prisoners in the stockade were not considered great material for conversion, I guess.
RM-
Actually, my point was more that bureaucracies are stupid, not that it was a good idea. :^)
Can get with Lee's comments. In the jug, the rosary was his and the other prisoners' defense against Hell Knows What. Not used a something cute or trendy. Again- It. Is. Not. Bling.
That's why you get a wooden rosary. At school, way back then, we were not allowed to wear jewellery to school anyway. This sounds like a security issue and may not have anything to do with discrimination.
Re: scapular as part of costume of actor playing gang member on show
Who needs a scapular more than a gangmember? I mean, obviously the chances of violent death are high.... :)
Now, clearly it would be better if such a person would repent his actions, leave the gang, and make reparations. But if someone who's fallen into serious sin is still enough of a Catholic to wear the scapular his grandma gave him at First Communion (for example), surely it's not all that surprising that he would, even if his conscious motive was only as an old habit, a memento, or a good luck charm.
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