Bullshit. I went to Catholic schools for 10 years and never saw a nun use a rosary as a whip.
The ones who gto physical prefered shaking, slapping or slamming someone into the chalkboard.
Not exactly. The beads are spaced in patterns to match the prayers to be said so it would still be identifiable as a rosary.
Rosaries aren’t supposed to be worn as necklaces either, although plenty of folks who identify as Catholic would wear them that way.
My take is that it wouldn’t be sacrilege because you wouldn’t hold the rosary in reverence to begin with; it would certainly have the potential to offend anyone who did.
I’m not sure where it ranks on the official offensiveness meter, but might not a similar question be asked of a crucifix, a star of David, or a religious symbol of Islam? Would Jews generally consider offensive the use of a star of David as a kitten play toy? How about Christians and a crucifix, or a representation of Muhammed?
Questions, questions.
See, I’ve no idea the process. In my little world, holy objects aren’t holy just because the have a certain name - a string of beads is just a string of beads until it’s used for or dedicated to a holy purpose. On the other hand, Bible and Koran are generally regarded as off-limits just because of what they are. So, Catholics, is anything special involved in the rosary process? Or are the sacred just because of the bead count/spacing?
Well yes, but I meant that a cross cat toy is going to annoy some people even if it’s not on a rosary.
Ok. If no one was to ever know, then obviously no one would be offended, and you could string rosaries from manoras stacked on korans all day long if you wanted.
I’m really not trying to be a Der Trihs or anything, I also am curious. My normal abrasiveness is showing through again.
ANY representation of Muhammed is sacriligious, no matter what it’s used for. The tabish, a bead string of 33, 66, or 99 beads used to count prayers, would be more analagous.
The komboschoinion, a knotted string, is used in the Greek Orthodox church
Prayer beads are used by Buddhists.
The important thing about a string of rosary beads is that it’s a counting device used so that the devout can meditate on the Mysteries. The prayers themselves, while not inconsequential, are not exactly the point - they induce a state of trance, which allows the real work to be done. That real work is meditation. Again, from The Catholic Encyclopedia:
Much in the same way, tabish, *komboschoinion *and prayer beads count prayers or mantras for their adherents, freeing up their minds to meditate fully on their Mysteries. One could just as well use pebbles and two tin cans. The power is in the meditation, not the beads.
Does that mean a Catholic won’t be offended if you use a rosary as a cat toy? No. I think it’s pretty clear that they would. Just because they may logically understand that the device is a primitive computer doesn’t mean it hasn’t come to have great emotional value as well.
However, it should be noted that there are no rituals or procedures outlined by the church for disposing of broken rosary beads. The beads themselves are not holy. I think a right-thinking priest would counsel that putting undue meaning into a string of rosary beads is skirting awfully close to idolatry.
The rosary is more properly a series of prayers and meditations on the mysteries of Jesus’ divine nature.
The rosary beads is a tool used to keep track of where you are in the process.
Strictly speaking you’re right that a string of beads is just a string of beads until it’s dedicated to a holy purpose. However, rosary beads are a unique design that, to a Catholic, says “holy purpose.” A similar association would be menorrah vs. candelabra to a Jew.
We can split hairs about this all day long, but the bottom line is, your Catholic friends will be offended whether or not the beads had been officially blessed.
Well, a rosary does have a crucifix (almost alway with the corpus on it, vs. just a plain cross), and often another holy medal (usually a Miraculous Medal, which depicts the Virgin Mary). So, in this sense, it is more than just a string of beads. And the beads do represent prayers and meditations. Taken separately, the beads are not special, but put together, they have meaning.
Right. I would not say that there would be a reason that the rosary cat toy would be MORE disrespectful than using a cross on a chain, for instance.
True, but I still think that a non-Catholic using it for a toy would show a rather shocking lack of respect for someone else’s religion.
Probably not. Our cats have a toy dreidel hanging off the doorknob of our bedroom door that my MiL gave them for Hanukkah. I’ve also seen dog fuzzy toys shaped like Torah scrolls.
The dreidel is one thing…that really IS a toy. 
But the Torah scroll…I don’t know. I do not get why someone would let a dog chew on something that was a representation of something that sacred. How would you feel about a non-Jew letting their dog have something like that? I would never, ever, get a toy like that for a pet.
It’s clearly not a Torah scroll, it just looks like the case for one. It doesn’t have an actual scroll with any writing on it. I don’t think it would bother me too much, unless there were other evidence that the person was anti-Semitic. I’ve seen Jewish people who gave their dogs or their kids those as toys.
And I just learned that rosaries don’t just have a cross on the end- it’s a crucifix with Jesus on it. OK, having that around for decorative or cat-toy purposes probably would squick me out a bit, even if it were a cool glow-in-the-dark crucifix, in a way that beads with a cross on them wouldn’t (No, I have no idea why that makes a difference, but it does).
In the spirit of the SDMB, please help me understand something here. Why would you wish to use any religious object in such a needlessly insensitive, provocative manner–especially in these times of intolerance, hatred and misunderstanding? From your posts, I infer that you are Jewish which, to me, would suggest greater sensitivity in these matters. A rosary isn’t a dreidel or fuzzy dog toy. Does your retailer lack a suitable inventory?
They’re probably eating bugs though behind your back. Wouldn’t those be terefah?
This is what I don’t get, as well. Anne Neville, I have always known you as a thoughtful and sensitive poster. And I am surprised, frankly, that an observant Jew would even ask such a question. It seems unlike you all the way around. Was the OP really a serious question?
Yeah, but kitties aren’t required to keep kosher Their cat food is treyf, too- if I wanted to give them kosher cat food, I’d probably have to import it from Israel, and I don’t want to know what that would cost.
Not entirely- just something I started thinking of when I read tashabot’s glow-in-the-dark rosary thread, and started thinking about what I would do if someone just randomly sent me a glow-in-the-dark rosary. (The fact that I haven’t been getting much sleep this week has something to do with it, too)
Now I’m totally not sure what I would do if someone did randomly send me a rosary. I wouldn’t keep it, because if it comes into my apartment, it is very likely to end up as a cat toy. I imagine throwing it out would be even more disrespectful. The best I can think of now is to just leave it somewhere, and if someone else wants it, they can pick it up.
Well, tashabot’s experience with receiving an unsolicited rosary is pretty unusual…typically, you have to at least send a contribution to the missions or something! Probably the nicest thing you could do is leave it in the vestibule or in a pew in a Catholic church…that way, nothing bad is likely to happen to it. Or, give it to a Catholic friend.
How would you feel if a well-educated Catholic used a rosary for a cat toy? Is this a case of “Only black people can call each other niggers?”
Frankly, I think a glow-in-the-dark plastic rosary being sent to random strangers through the mail is in and of itself a shocking lack of repect for a religious item. I think that’s partly what inspired Anne Neville’s intrigue.
Yes- if you go sending random people a rosary in the mail, someone is going to do something disrespectful with it, either deliberately or in ignorance. And it looks like they are deliberately sending the rosaries to people who know nothing about them- it came with literature on how to pray a rosary. I figured either it must not be so bad to use a rosary (that hasn’t been blessed) as a decoration or cat toy, or else someone at that church really didn’t think this thing through.
I can’t imagine Jews sending religious objects to random people through the mail- we don’t even get mailings of religious objects, and we belong to a synagogue and subscribe to a Jewish weekly newspaper.
I realized- it’s especially odd, because the Catholic Church doesn’t seem terribly interested in proselytizing non-Catholics. It’s one of the things I really like about them. I could almost see some group like the Jehovah’s Witnesses doing this kind of thing (if JWs used rosaries), but IME Catholics don’t seem to feel compelled to convert everybody the way some Protestant denominations do.
No, I didn’t mean to imply that. I would not like to see a rosary disrespected, no matter who is doing it. On the other hand, I think it’s important to go the extra mile in making sure we respect other people’s religion, especially since you might not know exactly how offensive a certain action might be perceived.
I would not disagree with that.
Well, definitely the latter, but I don’t think that means the only choices are “pray the rosary with it” or “use it as a cat toy”. I imagine most people would recognize that they had been given, unsolicited, a religious object. The fact that the person didn’t ask for it shouldn’t be a green light to disrespect it, if the person knows what it is.
I have no problem with just throwing it away; recognizing it is a religious object, it isn’t one you personally respect, you didn’t ask for it, and there’s no reason for you to accord it any special value. I don’t think you have any obligation to find it a nice Catholic home. But I do think the recognition that it is a religious object should prevent you from using it for any but its intended purpose. And since you’re not going to use this hypothetical rosary it for its intended purpose, just dispose of it as you would any other unsolicited “gift” you receive from people wanting your money, time, or soul.