Is Rosary a requirement

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As a protestant who is soon starting a RCIA course I don’t have a problem saying the Hail Mary at mass or gatherings but I rarely say the Rosary at home personally. Is there a requirement to say it. Would it be ok to say Blessed Mother Mary, how are you today and talk to her personally in a conversation as a person.

Being from a Pentecostal and Charusmatic Catholic background we never say set prayers as we want to be specific and if we don’t know what to pray, we pray in tongues. If I don’t know what to say to Mary, and Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit, surely I can pray in tongues for Mary intercession.
 
No, it’s not a requirement at all. It can be a great blessing to persevere with, but it isn’t, as far as i am aware, absolutely necessary.
 
It’s a personaldevotion. No requirement. Get through RCIA first, then worry about adding things! Good journey!
 
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Thanks, everyone at this forum and Catholics overall have been gentle in their help in my journey. For me personally I prefer to light a candle with some cross , pictures of Jesus etc and just meditate and pray slowly. Of course it would be great to see the Blessed Mother in a dream or vision so I can understand it more.
 
I started out with candles and icons and meditation. Eventually I found that the rosary was a really helpful meditation in itself, but that’s not the case for everyone. Just pray as you can, not as you can’t.
 
No, praying the Rosary is not required. The only prayer-related requirement for lay Catholics is to assist at Mass on Sundays and other holy days of obligation, unless it is impossible to do so for some grave reason. (See Code of Canon Law, Canons 1247 and 1248) And, the Rosary is not one of the prescribed Mass prayers. Everything else prayer-related, like praying the Rosary, is optional.

The only time I can think of when a Catholic might have any obligation to pray the Rosary is if, as part of the sacrament of Confession, the priest directed her to pray a Rosary as her penance. However, even then, if she had an issue with praying the Rosary, she could always ask the priest for a different penance.
 
No, it’s not required. However, once you are Catholic, and please take it at your own speed, you might find yourself interested in meditating on the mysteries of the rosary WITHOUT the rosary prayers at first. That would keep you in your tradition of ‘not set prayer’ and make you comfortable. Then maybe the prayers (maybe listening to on CD?) coming later would start to also become comfortable. Again, this is all for later, for the Holy Spirit drawing you at your own time, etc. Welcome and God bless.
 
For the record st therese of Lisieux disliked saying the rosary. It’s not a mandatory but outside the mass its one of the most powerful prayers. Saying maybe just one decade at first for a month or so then slowly add in more decades and it will become more natural over time.
 
Todd_Easton said:
No, praying the Rosary is not required. The only prayer-related requirement for lay Catholics is to assist at Mass on Sundays and other holy days of obligation, unless it is impossible to do so for some grave reason. (See Code of Canon Law, Canons 1247 and 1248) And, the Rosary is not one of the prescribed Mass prayers. Everything else prayer-related, like praying the Rosary, is optional.

The only time I can think of when a Catholic might have any obligation to pray the Rosary is if, as part of the sacrament of Confession, the priest directed her to pray a Rosary as her penance. However, even then, if she had an issue with praying the Rosary, she could always ask the priest for a different penance.
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Possibly an overstatement. You are correct that, for most of us most of the time, no specific prayer or devotion is required, however daily prayer, in some form is required, and deliberate neglect is, in itself, a sin. It is not sufficient to complete only the minimum formal requirements (Sunday Mass, etc).

All the exhortations and commands to pray within the Bible are binding on Catholics, without the Church having to repeat each one.
 
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Inbetweener said:
As a protestant who is soon starting a RCIA course I don’t have a problem saying the Hail Mary at mass or gatherings but I rarely say the Rosary at home personally. Is there a requirement to say it. Would it be ok to say Blessed Mother Mary, how are you today and talk to her personally in a conversation as a person.

Being from a Pentecostal and Charusmatic Catholic background we never say set prayers as we want to be specific and if we don’t know what to pray, we pray in tongues. If I don’t know what to say to Mary, and Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit, surely I can pray in tongues for Mary intercession.
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http://www.themostholyrosary.com/15promises.htm
 
It’s not required, and I agree that you should just focus first on getting through RCIA and finding your feet. You may feel more comfortable just talking to Mary, which is fine, I do that all the time. (I talk to Jesus too. Catholics do not feel it is required to always say a formal prayer.) You can also read Scripture.

But once you are more comfortable with your Catholicism, I would recommend that you at least try the Rosary. Mary likes us to say it, and it is good to try different prayer forms. There are lots to choose from in addition to Scripture reading and "talking " to Mary or God. I’ve never understood why anyone would want to limit their prayer forms; that would be like doing only one type of exercise at your workout. Sure, it’s still exercise and it’s good, but different forms involve different muscles, and sometimes the difficult exercise is the one we benefit most from doing.
 
I would say it’s not required in the same way that a parachute is not required when jumping out of an airplane.
 
God bless you! You’ve asked some great questions.
Heres’ the thing about rote prayers:
THink of them as the ABC’s of conversation with God.
A person would love to write a book, but needs to learn how to form letters, phonics, sentence structure, etc. Rote prayer is nothing more than familiarizing ourselves with prayers that have been handed down through the centuries.
THe rosary is very beneficial, but it’snot anything you should worry about now, and in the event that you never develop a rosary habit, it’s not a deal breaker. THe rosary is a walk through the life of Christ through the lens of His holy mother. Not everyone prays it. It’s fine.

One more small tidbit of advice though…purchase or get your church to give you a crucifix for your prayer table or your room. Like a 6 inch one, maybe, doesn’t have to be terribly fancy. Meditating on the Crucifix will help you on the RCIA journey and is a big part of life for Catholics. Here’s why:
The Cross is:
An instrument of torture and symbol of the death penalty
A shape, 2 pieces of wood
A Crucifix is:
A sign of hope, salvation, and the greatest action of love,
because Christ is upon it. No Easter morning without Christ on the cross the day before. Remember, there were 2 others hanging on crosses on that Good Friday. Only one of the three is your Savior.
He is what transformed the cross, the world, our lives.

God bless you on your journey and welcome home 😇
 
Thank you for the clarification. When I replied I was just focused on what prayers composed by others a lay Catholic is required to pray and whether the Rosary was one of them - it is not.
 
I also came from Pentecostal background. First baptized Calvinist, though.

It’s not a requirement. But my RCIA teacher gave me a rosary, even though I already have more than 5 rosaries.
 
I am a convert from Protestant background. While I have no issue with saying the rosary, it isn’t a strong devotion for me. I love our blessed Mother dearly but I just don’t have special devotion to the rosary. I talk to her conversationally often.

As far as praying in tongues ❓
 
I only do the divine mercy at the prayer group and they say it has amazing results. It worth doing in a group but I find doing it alone pretty tough going. But glad you clarified it isn’t an obligation.
 
I’m one who will always recommend the Rosary. Even if you say only a decade a day to work into it. Remember that it is not just rote prayer but a seriously spectacular form of meditation on the life of Christ. Generations of people, including myself, have found it truly is a pathway to Jesus and to peace. I would not ignore a form of prayer extolled by countless saints and holy people, as well as one urgently recommended by no less than the Blessed Mother herself.
 
Saxum said:
Our Lady of Fatima asked us to pray to the Rosary daily. I’ll do as my Mother says.
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The apparitions at Fatima are also a personal / private devotion. Belief in Fatima, saying the rosary and any other devotional practice is not required. One can be a very good Catholic and not participate or believe in these things.
 
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