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#83543 - 06/29/06 09:13 AM
Re: Pope gave queen rosary beads in underhand way
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True Blue Soulmate
Registered: 12/16/04
Posts: 22732
Loc: UK
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Instead of going back & forth and round in circles, let's look at the real issue here.
How offensive is the rosary to Protestants?
To Freejohn, very offensive.
To SouthSideSlim, not so offensive.
Can I ask, Freejohn, if your C of E vicar gave you an 'Anglican' rosary, would you be offended?
Would I be offended by a rosary?
Well, it would depend upon who gave it to me and what the intent was.
My Mum gave me a rosary. It had been hers and it meant a lot to her. She wanted me to have it. I don't use it, but I am certainly not offended by it, because it was given with love.
If one of my RC relatives gave me a rosary, because it was significant to her, and she was giving it with love, then no, that couldn't be offensive.
If one of my relatives gave me a rosary, deliberately, knowing that I did not want to belong to the RC church, but trying to push me that way against my will, then I would find it offensive. I find it offensive when anyone tries to foist their beliefs on me. This is something we have discussed on other threads.
I am agnostic; I don't know what, if anything, about Christianity is right; and I don't want to belong to a church that I see as alien to myself and my country and which I consider has many faults. So, deliberately giving me a rosary, in order to activate my anger and irritation, would probably do exactly that.
If I chose to visit the Vatican and see the Pope (not that I'd be likely to get an audience), I think that I would actually be inviting a Roman Catholic response - so, if he gave me a rosary, I think I'd have to say ~ well, what did I expect?
If I were Queen, and were simply trying to help the relationship between RCs & Protestants in my country, then I think I would have to react in the same manner: if you visit the Pope, in the Vatican, then you can expect a 'Papist' gift.
Should the Pope have given a rosary? Well, I can see the argument that he should have respected her religious role - as leader of the Church of England. On the other hand, he may have considered that his role as Pope meant that he had to give a 'Papal' gift - something that represented him, his church, the Vatican - and possibly which represented a queen ~ Mary, Queen of Heaven.
I don't know whether he gave a rosary or not; I don't know if the Queen was offended or not. Privately, if she did receive one, she might have felt a bit irritated; but publicly, I would imagine that she would see this as a representative gift, which could be put on display, somewhere with other representative gifts.
_________________________
"The secret of success is constancy to purpose" - Benjamin Disraeli.
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