I read this thread, and now I want a glow-in-the-dark rosary.
Thing is, I’m not Catholic or even Christian. I would just have it around to look cool, and I’d probably use it as a cat toy.
Would using a rosary as a cat toy be sacrilege? Would it be sacrilege for me, a non-Catholic, to own a rosary? Would it be offensive to Catholics?
Sacrilege? Perhaps a bit strong. But I think some Catholics would find the concept of “rosary as cat toy” a bit offensive. No doubt some others would think it quite amusing.
There is nothing offensive per se in a non-Catholic having a rosary.
Now, using it as a cat toy? Some would find that to be just a tad disrespectful. Others would have no problem with it. I’ve seen plenty of infants teething on rosaries in church.
I guess, as far as I can see it, it would come down to one question. Is the cat Catholic or thinking of converting?
No, they’re Jewish kitties- they love gefilte fish.
Could I be the only one who saw “Rosary” and “toy” together, and immedietly thought “Anal beads?”
Must be the prominance of anal beads in all aspects of Doper culture affecting my thought proccess.
Please pass the brain bleach… :eek:
If the Rosary hadn’t been blessed, I suppose you could argue that it’s no more a “sacred” object than a ball of twine. A disrespectful use, perhaps, but not sacrieligeous. On the other hand, a lot of Christians (and not just Catholics) would think allowing kitty to bat around the crucifix verging on contempt.
Anne Neville could I have the brain bleach when you’re through with it?
And I’m not even Catholic.
Let me just say that if you have any Catholic friends, and they see your new cat toy, you wil not have them much longer. AT the very least its a very serious insult.
Don’t worry, I’m not actually planning to do it. I just got to thinking about it when I read tashabot’s thread.
But would it be insulting if I just had a rosary around, sitting on a lamp for decoration or something? What if I fidgeted with it- I wouldn’t use it as Catholics do, because I don’t know how, but I might fidget with the beads or swing it around or something. Would either of those be offensive?
(Don’t worry, I’m still not planning to get one. That would require effort, and money, and I don’t want one that badly)
Hasn’t Madonna made videos where she toys with rosaries…?
Here’s the Catholic encyclopedia page on sacrilege. I suppose one could make a case that “violating” a Rosary should fall under “Real Sacrilege”, but it’s not explicitly stated.
With all the toys you can get for your cat, choosing a rosary is obviously an inflammatory move and will piss off a lot of people. Would it be offensive? Absolutely. You may as well flush the Koran down the toilet or piss on a menorah.
It’s so obvious that I can’t believe you even asked.
I figured it wouldn’t be kosher- I was wondering how bad it would be. Though I guess that answer would vary from Catholic to Catholic- some Jews think dog yarmulkes are sacreligious, some think they’re cute and buy them. (I have also seen stuffed dog toys shaped like Torah scrolls).
I think a more apt analogy would be this…how would you feel if I let my cat play with the straps of a tefillin, or the fringes of a tallit? Would you consider this disrespectful? What if a Christian had such an object just to keep around the house as a decoration? I don’t think it’s ever nice to take the sacred objects of another religion lightly.
The fluid retaining capabilities of menorah are not up to this kind of use, and Koran plug up the toilet. So of the three only using a rosary as a toy makes any kind of sense.
What about the use of a rosary as a whip on humans? Would you call that sacrilegious?
But ask any parochial school student, and they can recall it being used as a whip. And that was being done by nuns, too, who ought to be more sensitive to “sacrilege” than ordinary catholics.
Urp! “Submit Reply” and “Go Advanced” are still too close together.
Anyway, as I meant to say, if one was to carefully remove the cross, would they not be just a string of glow in the dark beads at that point? I am (obviously) not Catholic, so I don’t know - are they supposed to be blessed or anything?
I can’t see any way that a Cross-on-a-string could be a good cat toy, rosary or not. Unless there’s no chance that a christian will ever see it, and if that was the case I imagine the question wouldn’t have been asked.
:eek:
If I can believe Catholicism for Dummies, something that’s going to be sold can’t be blessed beforehand. So my guess would be that a rosary that I could buy online wouldn’t have been blessed first.
Cats, or at least my cats, like to bat at toys on strings.
It’s an interesting hypothetical question…