Posted on 09/10/2015 3:32:00 PM PDT by NYer
Some mistakes can be erased with Confession and Reconciliation. Others require a laser. That’s the thinking behind a popular program sponsored by the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Monterey, Calif., in which retired and off-duty physicians volunteer their time to remove tattoos from people who feel their ink is holding them back from putting past mistakes behind them.
Laser tattoo removal usually costs hundreds of dollars a session, but Catholic Charities offers laser treatments for $20 or less to people who go the extra mile to prove that transforming their physical appearance is just the first step in transforming their lives.
Anyone wanting to access the program has to submit a letter in writing explaining why they want their ink removed, sit for an in-person interview, and perform 20 hours of community service as evidence of their desire to change their lives in a positive way. Most cite difficulty in getting legitimate work or a yearning to be a better example to their children as key reasons why they want to get rid of their tattoos. Others say the memories the tattoos bring up are too painful to allow them to move on.
“We’re not really talking about decorative tattoos,” said program director Maria Runciman, in a press release explaining the program. “We see former prostitutes who were branded by their pimps with tattoos, people who were in abusive relationships and want the names of their abusers removed. Some people are embarrassed about their gang tattoos and don’t want their kids to see them. Some want to go into the military or get a job and need that swastika or swear word removed.”
The program was started in 1993 by a single doctor at Dominican Hospital with help from the local Knights of Malta. Today, it serves about 300 people every year, thanks to a staff of volunteer doctors and contributions from the Catholic community on California’s Central Coast – especially Catholic Charities, which stepped in to take over operations and save the program two years ago when Dominican Hospital closed down the rehabilitation center where the program had previously been housed.
“It looks like there is not much hope for that one”
That female(?) person has plenty of other issues that obviously need to be addressed too.
And I almost had you till that low cattle guard and my nachos splattered all over the windshield!
(but you did dream of me??)
BWAAAAAA!
She was very determined!
I’m not tattooed. But the fact remains that the Catholic Church doesn’t (and never has, to my knowledge) condemn tattoos, unless they are so obscene and/or damaging that they fall under the more general prohibitions against compromising the dignity of the human person.
Hello.....they don’t need to come out....it’s IMPLIED in OUR TEACHINGS.....Your BODY is a TEMPLE of the HOLY SPIRIT....DON’T DEFILE IT.
I get it, you don't fancy tattoos. But like it or not the Church doesn't condemn them.
This kinda bothers me.
I’m glad these people WHO CHOSE to alter their appearance get a “do over” courtesy of this Catholic charity (and the donation of the services of the doctors)...BUT...there is a small segment of society that also needs the help these types of lasers can bring.
A lot of people have facial/neck port wine stains that are lessened and many times permanently removed by the same types of pulse lasers. Insurance doesn’t cover these very expensive treatments, and those with the birthmarks have had no “choice” in their appearance.
I would hope some concessions would made to help as many as possible, not just the tatt crowd.
Every person who votes for leftists Democrats needs to be tattooed in the future to mark what they’ve done. I have solutions for all of this.
That female(?) person has plenty of other issues that obviously need to be addressed too.
Yes, that female (?) person has issues far more serious. Her tacs (that's what we called them in prison) are only symptoms of far greater problems. She looks like she is in deep trouble.
I was making a bad joke about a form of tattoo removal.
I know someone who had that done. They botched it, and the scarring was really bad--far worse imho than the port wine stain, which I really didn't notice after I had known her a while. She regretted getting the procedure.
I figure God made us the way He wanted us, so why tinker with that?.
Besides, as tattoos go, I never saw anything I wanted to wear that long.
If it is on the wall, and your tastes change, you can take it down and put something else up.
I have known guys who were in Special Forces who got a tat in case they met a sudden and destructive demise, just to help with identifying the remains, but I figure that is different.
Well the Church may not condemn tattoos but here’s a verse that does:
Leviticus 19:28 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh on account of the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord.
Ceremonial Law of Israel. We are no longer bound by it, unless it coincides with moral law.
Same here. I have never seen anyone who looked better after getting a tattoo.
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