A reader writes:
I was recently told by my sister that the father where she attends mass, had said that tattoos were bad because catholic doctrine says they’re bad. I have read your March 2004 response on the subject of tattoos and confirmed that there is NOT a catholic doctrine on this. My question would then be, what gives a deacon, father, or bishop the right to say these things? My sister believes her deacon, father, and bishop on this subject. My sister is also a catechism teacher that is teaching her students that the religion condemns tattoos and any kind of body piercings (including earrings). How can a father say this, if in fact, it’s not part of the catholic teachings. I believe in the Catholic Church and it’s teachings, but I’m reluctant to accept anybodys personal opinion on any subject. Please help me clear this up.
To answer your first question as posed: Nothing gives the a deacon, priest, or bishop the right to say that things are Church teachings when they aren’t. Doing so is misrepresenting the Church, and nobody has a right ot misrepresent the Church.
That being said, there are many people–and the priest may be one of them, as is your sister–who are simply misinformed about what constitutes Church teaching and who are not intentionally misrepresenting it. In such circumstances, they are not likely culpable for their misrepresentation and are even attempting to do a spiritual service to others by trying to communicate what they perceive to be Church teaching.
On the other hand, anyone who seeks to convey Church teaching to others has a responsibility to do due diligence in verifying that what they are telling others is, in fact, something taught by the Church. Regrettably, many fall down on this duty and are responsible for the damage they do to others’ belief systems by leading them to think that the Church teaches something when it doesn’t.
Sometimes they are even aware that they are stretching Church teaching because they want the Church to support something even though they know that this isn’t quite what the Church’s documents say.
I would talk to your sister, if you are able, and encourage her to go back and examine the Church’s official documents–things written by the popes or ecumenical councils or Vatican congregations–and try to back up her statements regarding tattoos and her even more extreme statements regarding ear piercings (which the Church clearly will not support). She will not be able to back these up, of course.
She may find certain passages that she may wish to use in this regard–like the Mosaic Law’s prohibition on tattoos or the Catechism’s statement regarding mutilating our bodies–but Christians are not bound by the Mosaic Law, and the Catechism has in mind things like cutting off your fingers–things that actually impede bodily function, not just making minor, harmless pricks in one’s skin or flesh. (Clearly not all such actions are illicit or one could never have surgery or sand off callouses or cut a hangnail or snip excess skin around your finger and toenails to prevent getting an ingrown nail–nor could one circumcize a baby as was required under the Mosaic Law!)
The only way to get these passages to support your sister’s position would thus be to stretch them beyond their proper meaning, which cannot be done legitimately. Once your sister realizes this, she needs to go back and tell her class that she was wrong about this and use the instance as an illustration about how important it is to distinguish personal opinion from Church teaching.
Even before then she needs to stop telling the kids this until she can undertake a careful study of the relevant Church documents. If she needs assistance with that, I’d be happy to help.
