Posted on 06/07/2012 1:32:13 AM PDT by mn-bush-man
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 15-year-old Coon Rapids student says he wears a rosary as a necklace to feel close to his grandmother, who is suffering from breast cancer. But the Anoka-Hennepin School District told him to take the rosary off – or face the consequences.
Jake Balthazor says he prays for his grandmother’s health.
“She has breast cancer, and I’m trying to support her for it,” he said.
He wears his beliefs proudly. The rosary is one his grandmother gave him, but it’s also what landed him in the principal’s office.
“They think it’s like a gang sign,” Balthazor said.
A district spokesperson said the school asked Balthazor not to wear the rosary as a necklace again, saying policy forbids it.
The district’s student discipline policy forbids “any apparel, jewelry, accessories, or matter of grooming which by virtue of its color arrangement, trademark, or any other attribute (as a primary purpose) denotes membership in an organized gang.”
(Excerpt) Read more at minnesota.cbslocal.com ...
“Rosaries are the latest gang indicators in the Charlotte area. Catholics don’t wear rosaries but the MS-13 gang does. A white one was taken from a 14-year-old member of MS-13. White means they aren’t conducting criminal activity at that moment. A blue rosary, or “war beads,” means they are about to do something illegal. “
http://www.foxcharlotte.com/news/top-stories/87439592.html
FYI, just to clarify, the bishops and cardinals in that photo are wearing pectoral crosses, not rosaries.
What about Dominican friars and priests? Isn't a rosary part of their habits, also?
Possibly, but we’re not dealing with Dominican nuns and/or priests. These are obviously not nuns or priests, but youth and and some gangs/gang members are known to wear rosaries.
There was a mall in Texas that prohibits baseball caps being wore backwards. In that area, the schools did not allow earrings on male students. That was a while back and I wouldn’t be surprised if they prohibit rosaries as well. These were all ways to cut back on gang symbols. I have no problem with not allowing an outward display what is known as a gang symbol. If his intentions are pure, he can tuck it in his shirt and can display it off school campus.
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Public schools have way outlived their usefulness.
I could never have imagined WEARING a rosary. It was just too disrespectful a thing to do, to treat it like jewelry. Even now, years after having left the Catholic church, it just does not seem right. I'd still be very taken aback by seeing someone do that. It's just too profane a thing to do to something that has such significance to so many people.
I was also not aware of the gang implications of guys wearing it. That is a good thing to know.
Whatever happened to those little pink ribbons that people wear for breast cancer awareness? That would have been much more appropriate if he really felt the need to make a public issue about it.
My points were that, first, to a lutheran, the Rosary does not hold the significance that it would to a Catholic, and thus, the story wasn’t quite so much a religious liberty being encroached on story, as it initially seemed, and second, as a Catholic, believing as I do, that it is my duty to pray for others, that they would join what I believe with all my heart to be the one true Faith, so that he would hopefully become a faithful Catholic, and go to Heaven. In other words, I was acting in good faith to my Faith. That does not mean that I have something “against lutherans.” It means I have something for Catholicism. Please don’t take me the wrong way. In practice of your faith, whatever it may be, do you not wish that others might see the light, as you do? I do. And I wish you well, even as I pray for the young man’s conversion. What I forgot to add, and should have, is a desire to pray for his grandmother, also.
The church has the money and professional resources to establish a large legal activist institute to protect religious freedom. They don’t do it for a reason. Watch what they do and ignore their flapping lips.
While giving lip service to respect for human life and religious freedom, they pushed socialist medicine knowing the socialists are Marxists who hate religious freedom and human life. Still, Catholic leaders pushed it onto Christians in this society. They are not stupid. They know what they are doing and the alliances they are making and empowering, while they say the opposite.
Yep.
i understand. i agree that it is the duty of every christian to pray that people see the light, but in whichever of the multitude of forms of christianity is comfortable for the individual.
They are not worn as necklaces, jewelry, decorations.
Well!....Gee! ....I was taught by St. Joseph and IHM nuns and they wore their rosaries ( very visible) on their belts. The rosaries were so long they were a mere few inches from the floor.
So?...why are you assuming that this young man is not using his rosary for reasons of prayer?
it is against the teachings of the Catholic Church to wear them. >>
well, I don’t know if there is a law but most of the Catholics I know PRAY the rosary and don’t wear the rosary as a piece of jewelry or as an ornament hanging on their rear-view mirror. You’d be surprised how aggressive these drivers are, they think the rosary is some good luck charm and I’ve see drivers with their rosarys hanging from ther mirrors flip the bird.
catholic ping list.
Jake? What kind of Catholic name is that? sounds kind of WASPy to me. Back in the day, you named your children after saints. I bet he has brothers named taylor and tyler and sisters named ashly and madison.
That is not the question I asked.
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