How to hide a scapular

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If they threatened to fire you because you are Catholic, you might want to threaten to see an attorney about religious discrimination and filing an EEOC complaint.

You could wear a T-shirt under your dress shirt. We aren’t wearing it to make a scene, but we shouldn’t be ashamed of our faith or Jesus or His mother.
 
In the United States if you lose your job because of your religion that would be a violation of the civil rights.
 
It is true that in the USA and some other countries, it is a rights violation to fire on the basis of religion. However:
  1. We don’t know what country this person is in, or the full situation.
  2. Even if his rights are violated by an illegal firing, he would still be out of a job and also probably have to hire a lawyer and bring a court challenge regarding his rights, which is not guaranteed to go in his favor as the employer, at least in US, has wide latitude to fire and could claim it was done for some other reason, such as the person violating some other company policy or not competently performing his job. All things considered, it may be much easier for the person to just keep his head down and keep the job until such time that he can move to another area and/or find a different job, especially because he has a dependent to care for (mother).
 
mathematoons said:
Don’t tell me I need to lose my fear of being fired. If I am fired, my mother and I will become homeless. I would only risk that to avoid a mortal sin.)
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It’s important we respect this , in our responses to mathematoons.
 
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Then you are protected and no employer can fire you because you are Catholic.
You cannot be fired because of your religious beliefs. If you work for a company that has a “no jewelry” policy, even that should be given “reasonable accommodation” so long as it is worn under your clothes, unless it is a safety hazard (machine shop, for example).

If you have questions, go and talk to someone in human resources.
 
Oneofthewomen said:
Then you are protected and no employer can fire you because you are Catholic.
You cannot be fired because of your religious beliefs. If you work for a company that has a “no jewelry” policy, even that should be given “reasonable accommodation” so long as it is worn under your clothes, unless it is a safety hazard (machine shop, for example).

If you have questions, go and talk to someone in human resources.
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I think you are approaching this in a very nieve way.

I’m in a different bastion of liberalness. One of my co-workers came in with ashes on her forehead. After nearly a decade of great work, she was suddenly dismissed “for cause” less than 3 weeks later.

Yeah—sure—we all buy that line.

Thing is, employers in the US don’t even have to have cause. Unless they state that you cannot do XYZ, they can fire you and say it was a coincidence.

You have to also remember that quite a few people consider the Catholic Churches teaching “hate speech”…so any association can be construde as participating in hate speech.

Again, not legal advice, but I would suggest that you read up a bit more on your premise before you make assertions.
 
Wear an undershirt. Put the scapular under the undershirt. Problem solved.

On the other hand, who cares if people can see you scapular? Psalm 118:6 says “The Lord is with me; I am not afraid; What can mortals do against me?” Why even care if people shun you for your faith? After all, God is with you always.
 
Melodeonist said:
Wear an undershirt. Put the scapular under the undershirt. Problem solved.

On the other hand, who cares if people can see you scapular? Psalm 118:6 says “The Lord is with me; I am not afraid; What can mortals do against me?” Why even care if people shun you for your faith? After all, God is with you always.
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I think you do not understand the consequences of the “real world”. Taking a Psalm out of context is not nearly the comfort to those who have full time jobs and people who depend on them.
 
I too live in a bastion of liberalism. We have a Constitution to protect us from this kind of stuff.
I am not giving any legal advice, which is why I said to go to human resources.

There can always be “cause”, but it usually has nothing to do with religion.
 
Oneofthewomen said:
I too live in a bastion of liberalism. We have a Constitution to protect us from this kind of stuff.
I am not giving any legal advice, which is why I said to go to human resources.

There can always be “cause”, but it usually has nothing to do with religion.
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Our constitution does protect us but labor laws are so vague that any employer with half a brain can get around them.

The burden of proof then lies on the employee. Discrimination of any kind is nearly impossible to prove unless someone literally put it in writing. Askamanager.org is a great site if you want to read up on it.

Again, NOT offering legal advice. I’m just stating that one should read up on reality before stating that the “law” is on their side. It is (in theory) and it isn’t (in practice).
 
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Just get the medal already.
It’s fine, don’t let people tell you it doesn’t work.
It’s the prayers and the devotion that works, the “thing” is not magic in itself.
Casting medals and manufacturing them affordably is a recent thing in history. Scapulars were made out of materials that were easy to obtain. The world changes, and now most everyone wears something around their neck. My husband wears a small sterling 4-way medal that includes the Scapular and our priest blessed it. It;s fine. No one at his job-site (all men) have ever noticed it or asked what it was.
 
I am 100 percent in agreement with (name removed by moderator) on this one. It’s unfortunate how many people suddenly get degrees from the Internet School of Law and start handing out the advice when it’s not them in a situation.
 
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You could always just have it in your pocket. I always have a rosary in my pocket.
 
Jeff, thank you so much. Your post carries more weight because you’re a lawyer.

To every uncharitable person who gave me legal advice: people like you are why I only post on this forum as a last resort. Thanks for ruining it. It gives me more time to devote to that thing called real life.
 
However, the Scapular is optional for Catholics. If it were required that would be a different kettle of fish.

If the OP chooses this optional devotion, he may wear it under his undershirt (all well dressed men should be wearing an undershirt) or he may remove it when he is at work.
 
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
Our constitution does protect us but labor laws are so vague that any employer with half a brain can get around them.

The burden of proof then lies on the employee. Discrimination of any kind is nearly impossible to prove unless someone literally put it in writing. Askamanager.org is a great site if you want to read up on it.

Again, NOT offering legal advice. I’m just stating that one should read up on reality before stating that the “law” is on their side. It is (in theory) and it isn’t (in practice).
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Pretty much, yes. Because you don’t have to offer a reasonable explanation to fire someone in the U.S., it’s fairly easy to fire someone for a discriminatory reason and pretend it wasn’t. Especially if the employer doesn’t mind being patient, it’s usually fairly easy to start generating write-ups for an employee and fire them for a “cause” that has nothing to do with the real reason.
 
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