Why dont all Catholics pray the rosary, or wear the brown scapular?

[hausofferni]

My question is, why is it that not all Catholics pray the rosary or wear the brown scapular? If our lady wants us to pray it daily why don’t they? And what do people who don’t pray the rosary(or chaplet of divine mercy), pray? Do they just say an Our Father, Hail Mary and then head to bed? And also why don’t all Catholics wear the brown scapular??? Thank you all in advance, and God bless!

 

[godisgood77]

Because both of those things are private devotional, meaning optional to the faithful.

Also Mary’s apparitions are also private or optional. So the Church does not teach that we have been instructed by Mary to say the rosary or wear a scapular. If you have a devotion to those practices and they aid you spiritually, that is great!! However, the Church doesn’t impose personal devotions on the faithful.

 

[JD1789]

My question is, why is it that not all Catholics pray the rosary or wear the brown scapular? If our lady wants us to pray it daily why don’t they? And what do people who don’t pray the rosary(or chaplet of divine mercy), pray? Do they just say an Our Father, Hail Mary and then head to bed? And also why don’t all Catholics wear the brown scapular??? Thank you all in advance, and God bless!

As for the rosary, I don’t necessarily feel called to pray it. I have a terribly short attention span and when I attempt to pray the rosary I can almost never meditate on the mysteries. I chose to use other forms of prayer when I have time.

I’m not convinced the scapular is beneficial. To be fair, I haven’t looked into it much but I also tend to be pretty weary of items being associated with supernatural gifts. If it isn’t involved with a sacrament, I normally don’t give a lot of credibility.

 

[Millie123]

I think that for me personally as a Catholic I feel that we have a lot of different devotions to choose from within the our faith and enrich our spiritual life. I remember when I first came back to the church I involved myself with so many different devotions that all have many gifts and promises attached to them but adding them all together into my personal prayer life it felt overly burdensome in addition to that I felt like I was just chasing after devotions, so I had to greatly scale them back. I think that’s the best reason I can give as to why I’m not personally enrolled in the brown scapular…for me personally, at this time, I just don’t want add another devotional addition to my spiritual life

 

[porthos11]

My question is, why is it that not all Catholics pray the rosary or wear the brown scapular? If our lady wants us to pray it daily why don’t they? And what do people who don’t pray the rosary(or chaplet of divine mercy), pray? Do they just say an Our Father, Hail Mary and then head to bed? And also why don’t all Catholics wear the brown scapular??? Thank you all in advance, and God bless!

Different spiritualities within the Catholic Church.

Many of us already pray the Divine Office every day and find our spiritual food there, not in the Rosary. If Mary said so, it was in a private revelation, which is not binding on the faithful. The Rosary is a devotion only of the Western church. But the Divine Office is universal among all apostolic churches Catholic and Orthodox.

Brown Scapular? Not all of us will have an affinity for Carmelite spirituality. If one wants to practice another spirituality, such as Franciscan or Dominican, but have no attraction for Carmelite spirituality, then why should they have to wear the Carmelite scapular?

The Church calls for unity, not uniformity.

 

[Della]

I have restarted praying the rosary for the upcoming national elections in the USA, and even though I have composed a scriptural rosary with mysteries for every day of the week, I find praying Morning and Evening Prayer and meditating on the daily Mass readings more spiritually fulfilling. As for the brown scapular. It’s not a magical talisman, it’s a sacramental which I choose to wear in the form of a 4 Way Medal. No Catholic is obligated to follow any particular devotion. The rosary and the scapular happen to be the most popular in our times, others were popular in other times and culture. Whatever aids our faith is fine, but no devotion alone can give us what only the Sacraments which Christ established can.

 

[AKDee]

I’m a convert (just baptized/confirmed at Easter 2015). I’m developing a Marian devotion. I do pray the Rosary nearly every day, and I pray the Divine Mercy chaplet but not as often. I have not yet begun wearing a scapular. I expect I will eventually, but I take time to make commitments because I want to be absolutely sure that I can keep my commitment.

 

[Dorothy]

As for the rosary, I don’t necessarily feel called to pray it. I have a terribly short attention span and when I attempt to pray the rosary I can almost never meditate on the mysteries. I chose to use other forms of prayer when I have time.

I’m not convinced the scapular is beneficial. To be fair, I haven’t looked into it much but I also tend to be pretty weary of items being associated with supernatural gifts. If it isn’t involved with a sacrament, I normally don’t give a lot of credibility.

All sacramental are blessed objects that help us to remember to pray, remind us all the parts of our Lord’s life, reminds us of the intercession of our Blessed Mother and the saints, etc. There is much explanation about the Brown Scapular of our Lady of Mount Carmel, as it is the miniature habit of the Carmelite Order.
The charism of Carmel is prayer.

When sacramental are used rightly, they help to lead us to a deeper life in Christ.

---

I forgot who it was that said this…“Our mind is like a barrel of monkeys!”. It takes practice to focus when we pray due to our fallen nature. But, when we reach out earnestly to the Lord, He helps us form good habits. His grace can bring us where He wants us to be in Him.

 

[Jeannie52]

Different spiritualities within the Catholic Church.

Many of us already pray the Divine Office every day and find our spiritual food there, not in the Rosary. If Mary said so, it was in a private revelation, which is not binding on the faithful. The Rosary is a devotion only of the Western church. But the Divine Office is universal among all apostolic churches Catholic and Orthodox.

Brown Scapular? Not all of us will have an affinity for Carmelite spirituality. If one wants to practice another spirituality, such as Franciscan or Dominican, but have no attraction for Carmelite spirituality, then why should they have to wear the Carmelite scapular?

The Church calls for unity, not uniformity.

I’m glad you mentioned the Divine Office devotion because I did not know about this specific devotion. I will look into it and find time to add this devotion to my prayers each day. Thank you for sharing this post.

 

[AttendeDomine]

I don’t want to really get into it here, but I actually disagree with those who over-emphasize the “private devotion” aspect of the Rosary, or who say that all Marian Apparitions are merely “private revelation,” as if all private revelation was of equal importance and scope.

My understanding is that there is a sort of spectrum. On the one end of the spectrum, we have things that are revealed dogmas that must be believed by all the faithful. On the other end, there are private apparitions that some saintly nun might be experiencing somewhere in Poland or Italy, and which are only for her and for her own spiritual life, or at most for her immediate community. The former is called public revelation, the latter is called private revelation.

But something like Fatima, for example, is somewhere in between those two extremes. It’s not dogma, but then again, it’s clearly not intended for like 2 people living in a convent. While it is a “private revelation,” I don’t think it’s entirely fair to refer to it simply as a low grade of private revelation. It’s not the same thing as a “simple” locution to Sr. Francesca Benedicta that she should offer her sufferings for victims of possession. Fatima was clearly intended as being important for all of the Church, so much so that multiple Popes have been extremely supportive of it, and have defended its messages as well as proclaimed them. Our current Holy Father consecrated his whole papacy to Our Lady of Fatima. This is clearly beyond “mere” private revelation, but is, rather, something a bit more important than just that. I don’t think it’s fair to say it can be ignored willy-nilly, and that we can just kind of think whatever we want, because it’s not de Fide revelation from the Apostolic Age.

I guess I said I wouldn’t get into this, and then I kinda did: my apologies! But I believe the Rosary is very important, and I think it’s true that we’re a little quick to underestimate its importance. In fact, like others might, I get a little nervous about the idea of playing down the Rosary and playing up the private revelation aspect that concerns that particular devotion.

Having said that!!

… I’m also incredibly lazy, and so one reason I don’t pray the Rosary, often for long periods of time, is because prayer is hard work, and requires a habit being formed in order to lighten the burden. Perhaps it’s time for me to go pray it, then?

 

[Della]

I’m glad you mentioned the Divine Office devotion because I did not know about this specific devotion. I will look into it and find time to add this devotion to my prayers each day. Thank you for sharing this post.

A very easy way to pray the DO is online: divineoffice.org/#sthash.uE706VTB.dpbs. It’s very simple to follow.

AttendeDomine, I think you are reading into posts what isn’t there. No one, except you, said anything about the rosary being a low-grade devotion. Merely stating that it is a private devotion in no way denigrates it or lessens it’s importance/impact on anyone’s life. Having said that, we could go our whole lives without praying the rosary as long as we have the Church’s liturgy, especially the Mass, and we’d be no worse off. We have to remember that the rosary wasn’t even around for hundreds of years after the founding of the Church. Catholics managed to survive without it all that time. The rosary came into prominence when St. Dominic employed it against heresies, and it’s been a wonderful devotion for that purpose, as well as our private intentions, every since. But, it doesn’t have to be a necessary part of anyone devotional life.

 

[AttendeDomine]

No one, except you, said anything about the rosary being a low-grade devotion. .

No, I wasn’t directing my comments to anyone on this thread in particular.

Having said that, I didn’t refer to the Rosary as being a “low-grade devotion,” but I did speak to a position that would argue that something like Fatima is a low grade private revelation. No one here might hold that particular view, but then again, I didn’t respond to anyone either.

 

[Della]

No, I wasn’t directing my comments to anyone on this thread in particular.

Having said that, I didn’t refer to the Rosary as being a “low-grade devotion,” but I did speak to a position that would argue that something like Fatima is a low grade private revelation. No one here might hold that particular view, but then again, I didn’t respond to anyone either.

Considering the Church doesn’t use terms like low grade or high grade to describe any devotion, be in a couple of clositered nuns or a world-wide known one like Fatima, it’s probably best not to describe either like that. The CCC is the best source for describing private devotions. From the EWTN website: ewtn.com/expert/answers/apparitions.htm.

 

[AttendeDomine]

We have to remember that the rosary wasn’t even around for hundreds of years after the founding of the Church. Catholics managed to survive without it all that time.

Yeah, but we can kinda argue too much from that sort of thinking. I mean, it would be very silly to ask people to stop going to daily Mass, frequently going to Confession, privately studying Scripture, or reading the various Ecclesiastical documents that have been written since the time of St. Dominic, all because “Catholics managed to survive” without those tools for “hundreds of years” after Christ.

On the one hand, we obviously shouldn’t place unnecessary burdens on folks. On the other hand, I think that people are often very quick to point out that things like the Rosary are simply an option, and that no one need engage in praying it, because, after all, it is an option, and options are always optional.

While the Rosary is obviously an option, and while we’re not engaging in mortal sin if we don’t pray it, there’s like 43,287 other things in Catholicism that are technically “options,” but I don’t see the good in always making hay out of that fact. I think it’s important to understand that standards are pretty low for what we **have **to do in terms of our spiritual life, but that setting the lowest standard possible is also a bit of setting one’s self up for failure.

IMHO, I think we should encourage more people to pray the Rosary, simply because of its wonderful mental-vocal prayer nature, and because of its awesome efficacy. Only if folks are obviously struggling should we encourage them by pointing out that the Rosary is a noble and wonderful (but not technically required) option for their spiritual life. I wonder how often this gets reversed.

 

[AttendeDomine]

Considering the Church doesn’t use terms like low grade or high grade to describe any devotion…

Yes, those are my own terms, and my own failings at attempting to describe the spectrum I was alluding to.

On the other hand, I do stand by the notion of a spectrum: revelation is not simply private or public, but rather, those are two extremes between which all sorts of things can fit. People often use the term “private revelation” to describe things which are not of the Deposit of Faith, but which nonetheless are supernatural in origin, and which have been given to more fully understand and live out the Deposit of Faith, presumably for the whole Church, and which have been endorsed by the Holy See. In my understanding of things, that’s an abuse of the term, although it can work in a certain sense. The Rosary is an example of an Ecclesiastical Tradition which actually originates in apparitions which are somewhere between public and private revelation. THAT understanding of the Rosary is important, IMO, but it’s rarely framed in those terms.

 

[OraLabora]

And also why don’t all Catholics wear the brown scapular???

Because I’m a Benedictine and it would be more appropriate to wear a black scapular!

Porthos11 hit it square on the nail, there are different spiritualities in the Church. Rather than splitting into hundreds of denominations, we stay united by making room for these spiritualities: contemplation, mission, helping the poor, hospital work, preaching, teaching, etc., and for all, prayer in the prayer tradition of their spirituality. For me as a Benedictine it means a heavy focus on the Divine Office and lectio divina.

 

[porthos11]

I’m glad you mentioned the Divine Office devotion because I did not know about this specific devotion. I will look into it and find time to add this devotion to my prayers each day. Thank you for sharing this post.

The Divine Office is NOT a devotion. It is Liturgy, the official prayer of the Catholic Church, and as such, is a higher form of prayer than devotions, even the Rosary. It’s so important that clergy and religious receive the mandate to pray it while the Church warmly recommends it to the laity.

 

[Seamus_L]

I wouldn’t quite call the rosary a private devotion. I know of parishes where it’s listed in the bulletin, before or after mass, sometimes even lead by a priest. It’s often given, at least in part as penance in confession, so with that in mind, I’d have to say it’s not quite a private devotion.

 

[porthos11]

I wouldn’t quite call the rosary a private devotion. I know of parishes where it’s listed in the bulletin, before or after mass, sometimes even lead by a priest. It’s often given, at least in part as penance in confession, so with that in mind, I’d have to say it’s not quite a private devotion.

Even if prayed in a large group, the Rosary remains a private devotion because it is not a form of prayer promulgated by the authority of the Church as public prayer.

The Divine Office, on the other hand, even if prayed by a single person alone and according to its rubrics and using approved editions, remains public prayer because it is the prayer of the entire Church.

 

[Philomena321]

I don’t really understand not doing these things, either. At Fatima, Our Lady requested we wear the scapular and pray the rosary each day. She didn’t say “some of you should”. These are simple devotions, so as for why more don’t take up these two devotions, I suppose it’s because they’re not informed. Also, maybe they don’t know or believe in the benefits.