Posted on 11/03/2014 2:54:11 AM PST by Libloather
Amarillo, TX - Local mother claims an officer used excessive force on her middle schooler at a football game.
14-year-old Jacob Herrera attended Sam Houston middle school's Wednesday night football game. Herrera wore a rosary outside of his clothes when officer Corporal Wilson asked him to remove it.
Marivell Chavez, a witness, says she was at the game Wednesday night and claimed while Herrera was being held to the ground, he yelled, "call my mom" and "I can't breathe."
(Excerpt) Read more at newschannel10.com ...
No mention of this Bozo -
That's correct.
Now the government has labeled the Catholic Church Youth Group as a terrorist organization as they are pro-life!!! sarc
Not to defend the police, but could have the kid just tucked his rosary under his shirt...?
So if he/she been muslim it would be okay too? NOT!
For what truly 1st Amendment (or the free exercise thereof) reason?
It doesn’t matter. It’s far more associated with the Roman Catholic religion. How many Catholics are estimated to wear rosaries as an act of religion?
Free Exercise of religion means an individual can be their religion anyplace they want without governmental influence. I didn’t read that this was a private school.
I gangs adopt Sunday morning meetings, does that mean police can stop church services?
I agree. I was just pointing out that the fact is accurate.
How many Catholics are estimated to wear rosaries as an act of religion?
As a percentage, not that many. Most who do are Latin American charismatics. There's a demographic similarity (e.g., young Salvadoran men) between this group and gang members, hence the mixed message.
The wearing of rosaries in shiny metals has caught on among Southern black men, whose participation in Catholicism is near zero. This is because they're known to be a gangster symbol.
All this is just sociological commentary, not intended to suggest I agree with the police action here. If the boy is a gangster planning to cause trouble, concealing his rosary won't make any difference.
Amusingly, the thread right before this has the title “The Rosary is the Remedy in this Present Crisis”
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3222546/posts
Is that irony? I never know.
Not to defend the police, but could have the kid just tucked his rosary under his shirt...?———————————
And why, pray tell, should the kid me made to do that? I agree that there seems something else going on here but a cop or any one else demanding that the cross or a crucifix be hidden under clothing in that venue is WRONG.
Methinks this article is missing a lot of information. It doesn’t read right.
Why?
A smart gang would pick a Muslim symbol and wear it proudly as a gang identifier. The police would never touch them.
Generally Catholics don’t “wear” Rosarys. They will pray the Rosary while holding it. It sounds like the cops were being excessive. I would like to hear the cops side on this one.
Gang bangers would rather deal with la policia than mooselimbs that will cut off their heads.
That the kid was at a middle school function and the police were there to make sure they were safe. On the street (among the south of the border Amish) rosaries are associated with gangs. Trust the cops on this one. They were there for public safety at a school event.
Asking a kid to tuck-in his rosary shouldn’t destroy his “freedom of speech rights” or his faith. The school probably has a dress code. At their events, honor it.
He has the “right to bear arms” too, but not at a middle school event
I taught school, and about 15 year ago, what color rosary you wore indicated a specific type of drug you had to sell.
The student’s choice was to remove the rosary or leave. Tucking it under the shirt wasn’t an option. So, leave his school’s football game or remove the rosary he wears to honor his deceased brother. Not going to happen. Was the kid doing anything else that attracted the cops attention, hanging out with gangbangers? Harassing others? Threatening violence? Endangering the peace? If not, he ought to have been left alone.
Not many that I am aware of.
...This latter point is something to bear in mind in the case of wearing a rosary around the neck. In the first place, while not unknown, it is not common Catholic practice.
Second, in relatively recent times, certain controversial public figures have popularized the fashion of wearing the rosary as a necklace, and not precisely in order to "do all to the glory of God." It would also appear that in some parts of the United States and elsewhere, wearing rosary beads around the neck has become a gang-related badge of identification.
Hence, while a Catholic may wear a rosary around the neck for a good purpose, he or she should consider if the practice will be positively understood in the cultural context in which the person moves. If any misunderstanding is likely, then it would be better to avoid the practice.
Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
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