Thompson Valley High School student's rosary beads taken away

KMGH TV ^ | 9/13/2012

[Alex Murphy]

LOVELAND, Colo. - A Thompson Valley High School student had his rosary beads taken away twice in three weeks after school officials said they were gang-related.

The Loveland Reporter-Herald reported the story of Manuel Vigil, a junior at the high school. He is also Catholic and his mother told the newspaper that the beads had been especially important to him in dealing with the recent slaying of an uncle.

School officials said the beads themselves are not prohibited, but they way they are worn could be gang-related and violate the school's dress code.

Loveland Police Sgt. David Murphy, who heads the school resource officers in the Thompson School District, Vigil's rosary had a red-flagging 13 beads in a row instead of a traditional rosary with 10 beads. The number 13 is sometimes associated with the Sureños gang, Murphy told the newspaper.

[Alex Murphy]

A Thompson Valley High School student had his rosary beads taken away twice in three weeks after school officials said they were gang-related....

....Loveland Police Sgt. David Murphy, who heads the school resource officers in the Thompson School District, Vigil's rosary had a red-flagging 13 beads in a row instead of a traditional rosary with 10 beads. The number 13 is sometimes associated with the Sureños gang, Murphy told the newspaper.

[SampleMan]

Rosary beads are not to be worn. They are not a necklace.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

If he wants to wear a rosary he should become a nun.

A rosary is not jewelry. Wearing a rosary as jewelry is a sacrilege.

Dominican nuns taught me that.

[righttackle44]

The thirteen beads instead of the 10 is, I think, a dead-set give away that there is something wrong here. I am not a Catholic, but I used to work for a company that catered to Catholic clientele. Each set of 10 beads is called a decade, not A Thirteen.

[svcw]

As someone who is not Catholic, what is a typical Rosary bead supposed to look like or are there typical ones at all?

We have become a country where every citizen is looked on with suspicion because jthey ust might be a gang member or terrorist.

[Carpe Cerevisi]

A quick search mentions the 13 bead “decade” is used for the St. Philomena Chaplet. That’s the first I’ve heard of that.

[Jimmy4Toes]

If you want to wear your rosary around your neck do so UNDER your shirt. Then it will be touching you personally and will not be seen as a fad.

I think that even if the “intention” is good, for example as a sign of your faith, the current fad has degraded the practice to a fad, and it could be mistaken as one.

[Elendur]

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AjzXukzCJT_D.f0u4JVQqd6bvZx4?p=catholic+rosary+beads&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-701

///
i don’t see any with 13 beads...
in this case, it seems to be a legitimate suspicion...

[stylin19a]

tell that to the Nuns. I sure ain’t.

[Salvation]

Chaplet of St. Philomena

ST. PHILOMENA CHAPLET

This chaplet consists of three white beads and
thirteen red beads. On the medal say the Apostles'
Creed to ask for the grace of faith.

On each of the white beads say an Our Father in
honor of the three Divine Persons of the Blessed
Trinity in thanksgiving for all favors obtained
through her intercession.

On each of the red beads, which are thirteen in
number to commerate the thirteen years that St.
Philomena spent on earth, say the following prayer:

Hail, O holy St. Philomena, whom I ac-
knowledge, after Mary, as my advocate with
the Divine Spouse, intercede for me now and
at the hour of my death.

St, Philomena, beloved daughter of Jesus
and Mary, pray for us who have recourse to
thee. Amen.

In conclusion say:
Hail, O illustrious St. Philomena, who shed
so courageously your blood for Christ! I bless
the Lord for all the graces He has bestowed
upon thee during thy life, and especially at
thy death. I praise and glorify Him for the
honor and power with which He has crowned
thee, and I beg thee to obtain for me from God
the graces I ask through thy intercession.

[svcw]

By these images there does not seem to be a typical Rosary bead set.

I am just becoming greatly annoyed by the lost of freedom because people live in fear of gangs and terrorists.

[Vigilanteman]

If rosary beads are a gang symbol, here's a gang we could stand to have in the world again:

[rarestia]

See post #10. San Philomena Rosaries do exist.

I do not, however, believe this incident is related, personally, and agree that Rosaries are not to be worn.

[rarestia]

Rosary beads can be made from plastic, metal, wood, whatever material that can be molded, really.

My Rosary was handed down through 3 generations of my family and is made with crushed rose petals and hand-linked silver ringlets. It’s really a matter of preference, but I want to say that there are some requirements held by the church. What they are, I am unsure.

[JCBreckenridge]

“Rosaries are not to be worn.”

*sigh*

English speaking Catholics vs Spanish speaking Catholics.

[rarestia]

What’d I miss?

[JCBreckenridge]

Culture differences. :)

English speaking Catholics have a very different position on this than Spanish speaking Catholics.

[rarestia]

You are correct. My catechism teachers, Italian and Irish priests and nuns, reprimanded us for “wearing” the Holy Rosary except when wrapped around the wrist or hand. I’ve seen Puerto Rican and Cuban Catholics here in the Tampa area who wear them like jewelry.

[JCBreckenridge]

My parish where I teach at is about 50/50. I personally would never wear one, (being of English extraction myself).

[two134711]

While it might be true that this particular student is a gang member and co-opting the wearing of a rosary for an unGodly purpose, I can personally attest that faithful, God-loving Catholics of Hispanic descent do wear the rosary in honor of their religion.

This may seem odd to many Anglo-Catholics, yet it is not done out of disrespect, but reverence. I do not believe there is an "official" Catholic doctrine on this matter, other than if worn as a genuine statement of faith, it is not deemed profane.

Hispanic Catholics are very much accustomed to iconography, which may be seem sacrilegious or "Pagan" to certain Christian sects. Public prayer, use of religious symbols, and constant references to God, Jesus and his mother Mary in everyday speech (not done in vain), are a part of the earthly lives of many ardent Latin American Catholics. I've witnessed this among my own family members and Catholic church attendees: young and old alike.

It is not the veneration of the object--be it a statue of the Virgin Mary in a garden, rosary beads around the neck or pictures of saints in a wallet--but a physical token of their belief in God.

If this young man and others wear rosaries as a statement of pride in gang membership, certainly, that is disrespectful and should be addressed, however most of the people who openly wear them, do so as an honest religious declaration with no nefarious purpose.