Tattoos

[CrescentCity]

I apologize if this is the wrong forum for this question, but I just don’t really know where to post this question. Based on some other topics I read, I figured this might be a good place.

What is the Church’s position on tattoos, or specifically of Catholics getting tattoos?

I know…strange question. I appreciate any answers.

 

[belgianwaffles9]

they’re allowed.

search. this has been argued in depth here.

 

[CrescentCity]

Gracias, senor.

 

[brotherhrolf]

Not in the Crescent City in which I grew up. The body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit and one does not put graffitti on the temple walls. Granted, that was Church teaching before and just after Vatican II but that was what was taught in Catholic schools in my day.

 

[SenorSalsa]

Not in the Crescent City in which I grew up. The body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit and one does not put graffitti on the temple walls. Granted, that was Church teaching before and just after Vatican II but that was what was taught in Catholic schools in my day.

one does put icons on the wall though:shrug:

 

[Larowyn]

I suggest mehndi instead of permanent tattoos.

 

[Sam_Maloney]

NO church document bars the practice, so you are free in this instance to please yourself.

If you don’t like tattoo, fine. But don’t try to baptise your prejudice by claiming you speak for God. Unless your name used to be ‘Ratzinger’, it isn’t your job.

 

[Larowyn]

I may not be pope, but permanent tattoos are not exactly the brightest or most becoming thing people have ever done to themselves.

 

[belgianwaffles9]

I may not be pope, but permanent tattoos are not exactly the brightest or most becoming thing people have ever done to themselves.

And it just really isn’t YOUR place to decide either way for other people, especially considering the Church won’t do so.

 

[CrescentCity]

I apologize for not using the search function before posting my question. After reading a few other threads on this subject, I see that I didn’t have to post my question.
It seems that this thead is just a regurgitation of what’s been said before. I’m sorry I brought it up. Have a good day, everyone.

 

[Larowyn]

And it just really isn’t YOUR place to decide either way for other people, especially considering the Church won’t do so.

Did I say that people shouldn’t get permanent tattoos? They can if they want, but it’s a stupid idea. What if you don’t want the tattoo in a few years? Plus tattoos look ugly and scream “I am desperate for your attention! Look at me!”

 

[dconklin]

I may not be pope, but permanent tattoos are not exactly the brightest or most becoming thing people have ever done to themselves.

Nice! Either is posting derisive comments on a religious forum.

 

[Eliza10]

I may not be pope, but permanent tattoos are not exactly the brightest or most becoming thing people have ever done to themselves.

LOL. I feel the same way. I do not like them at all.

I have a friend - actually she was a girlhood friend that I reunited with as an adult, whose life took a whole different direction than mine in the interim - who has a whole slew of them and is always contemplating the next. She has a working Christian faith. She is bright. It’s an artistic expression to her, and she is artistic, with her her own truly artistic style that is very unique to her.

So I guess I see it as a matter of taste. Its definately not my taste, but it might be someone else’s.

God sees the heart.

…http://americanart.si.edu/education/online_activities/del_corazon/images/1991.65.3_1a.jpg

 

[thenewmrssears]

My mom always said “Don’t do anything to your body you would be embaressed to show the priest.”

That being said out of 5 siblings [3 old enough to have tattoos] 2 of us do. I’m not one of them.

I don’t like them, but it isn’t my job to judge those that have them. To each their own.

I always wonder how people cover them up for work…we have a girl who has one on the back of her neck and can never pull her hair back without wearing a turtleneck, because they are not allowed.

 

[mrs_abbott]

Did I say that people shouldn’t get permanent tattoos? They can if they want, but it’s a stupid idea. What if you don’t want the tattoo in a few years? Plus tattoos look ugly and scream “I am desperate for your attention! Look at me!”

That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard regarding tattoos!!!

 

[iluvmybabies]

they’re allowed.

search. this has been argued in depth here.

Really? My grandmother, major devout Catholic, once told me they were fine, until I got some…Then it turned out I was in mortal sin for destroying God’s temple and have stopped getting them all together…and this that they are hidden in places where you can’t see them… So it’s a big disappointment, because I even had a written will that when I pass on, to have the skin removed, it’s about 4 layers of it, so I was like maybe God will forgive me then, at least I won’t have the tats any more!!!

 

[os_justi]

Plus tattoos look ugly and scream “I am desperate for your attention! Look at me!”

Mine doesn’t, because it’s covered up by clothes 24/7. =) I thought about it for several years AFTER I decided I wanted it – it was not a spur-of-the-moment decision at all. It’s a line of music (the first two measures of Debussy’s ‘Syrinx’) around my hip, and six years later it’s still absolutely beautiful. It means a lot to ME (me being a classical musician), and that’s really the only person whose opinion matters when it comes to my tattoo.

I know of breast cancer survivors who have gotten tattoos to cover their mastectomy scars, turning something painful into something beautiful. I know of military personnel who have insignia tattoos. I know of mothers who have the names of their children tattooed on their body so they can show the world their family, even when that family isn’t with them at the time.

If you don’t like them, then don’t get one. But I don’t think anyone has the right to assume they know why someone else got a tattoo.

 

[iluvmybabies]

So is it a sin or bad to get tattoos? If anyone has a passage of a rejection from Jesus or anything about it in the Bible do you mind sharing it please? Because as I was informed by my grandmother I am living in mortal sin because I have some…I have 4 one for each child-3 and then one that I have always wanted since I was a kid, seriously…They are all covered as to not offend anyone, but if I feel like wearing something different that will show off my children’s initials etc then I do, it’s nothing provocative they are in my back so even v cut blouses or tank tops will show and that’s why I don’t wear them often…
I would appreciate it…

 

[os_justi]

So is it a sin or bad to get tattoos? If anyone has a passage of a rejection from Jesus or anything about it in the Bible do you mind sharing it please? Because as I was informed by my grandmother I am living in mortal sin because I have some…I have 4 one for each child-3 and then one that I have always wanted since I was a kid, seriously…They are all covered as to not offend anyone, but if I feel like wearing something different that will show off my children’s initials etc then I do, it’s nothing provocative they are in my back so even v cut blouses or tank tops will show and that’s why I don’t wear them often…
I would appreciate it…

I searched the Ask an Apologist forum and found this answer.

 

[iluvmybabies]

I searched the Ask an Apologist forum and found this answer.

WOOOHOOOO!!! OMG!! Thank you for your help!!!
I am sorry I am super excited because I have been living with this horrible thought and penance and everything about my tattoos!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you sooooooooooooo much for your help!!