28 April 2009

Rosaries and their Proper Usage

You'd think that at a Catholic school, students would know how to properly respect rosaries. And I'd hope that students would understand that a rosary is not a necklace.

I'm afraid that I am seeing far too many rosaries-as-necklaces. Today, I only saw one, but one is too many! A rosary is a set of prayer beads. Often, they are blessed. They are not intended to be worn. Rosary-style necklaces are okay, so long as they do not contain a counted number of beads and have a cross on the end. Seriously, though, wearing rosaries as jewelry is not cool. It secularizes something that should be holy.

Even in the news, rosaries are being worn as accessories.

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/17730/rosaries-fashion

Doesn't that just make you feel sick? I'd like to draw your attention to a particular design that got a note in the article:

Karmes often mixes religious symbols from various faiths in her designs. One of her rosarylike pieces contains an evil eye in sapphires and diamonds.

Her goal, she said, is never to disrespect the religious tradition from which she borrows. “I think it is exposing the religious symbol without mocking it,” she said.

How does an evil eye in a rosary not mock multiple religious symbols? A rosary is used to pray and to become closer to God. Evil is not even in the picture.

This world needs to sort out its priorities and learn some respect, or I just might toss a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church at the heads of people who call themselves "respectful of religion."

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