PrayTheRosary Apostolate

My dog got at a set of rosary beads of mine, and now they are damaged. They are blessed, and I know I have to either burry or burn them, same thing with a statue of Jesus that I have, it got damaged.

But, I can not bring myself to doing either one, it feels wrong, even dirty to me, is that silly? Am I being sinfull?

Is it alos wrong to have statues of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, etc..... in your house? I have heard from people who say it is becasue it is a form of idol worship, sittting in front of them praying the rosary and other prayers. Is six or eight items too much? A private altar wrong cause of this?

Thanks,

David

Regarding disposing of blessed articles, please follow the link to a good article on the subject:

http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0635.html

It is right to warn people against the sin of idolatry when they are committing it. But calling Catholics idolaters because they have images of Christ and the saints is based on misunderstanding or ignorance of what the Bible says about the purpose and uses (both good and bad) of statues. Since the days of the apostles, the Catholic Church has consistently condemned the sin of idolatry. The Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566) taught that idolatry is committed "by worshipping idols and images as God, or believing that they possess any divinity or virtue entitling them to our worship, by praying to, or reposing confidence in them"

People who oppose religious statuary forget about the many passages where the Lord commands the making of statues. For example: "And you shall make two cherubim of gold [i.e., two gold statues of angels]; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be" (Ex. 25:18–20).

Catholics use statues, paintings, and other artistic devices to recall the person or thing depicted. Just as it helps to remember one’s mother by looking at her photograph, so it helps to recall the example of the saints by looking at pictures of them. Catholics also use statues as teaching tools. In the early Church they were especially useful for the instruction of the illiterate. What anti-Catholics fail to recognize is the distinction between thinking a piece of stone or plaster is a god and desiring to visually remember Christ and the saints in heaven by making statues in their honor. The making and use of religious statues is a thoroughly biblical practice. Anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know his Bible.

So be confident to have as many statues and/or religious pictures as will be an aid to your faith. My children call my house a little church...as it should be!

Thank you for the information, extremely helpfull as always. Do you know of a good bible search engine I could use in the future?

An excellent and authentic search engine for the approved version of Holy Scripture can be found at the following link:

http://www.drbo.org/

The Latin Vulgate Bible, translated by St. Jerome is considered the "official" Bible of the Catholic Church.

The Church assures us that the text of the Vulgate is substantially correct with the originals insofar that it does not conflict with the originals in doctrine. Therefore the Latin Vulgate version of the Sacred Scriptures is the primary Bible of the Church.

The ecumenical Council of Trent declared that the Catholic Church, "ordains and declares, that the said old and vulgate edition, which, by the lengthened usage of so many years, has been approved of in the Church, be, in public lectures, disputations, sermons and expositions, held as authentic; and that no one is to dare, or presume to reject it under any pretext whatever." -Council of Trent, 4th Session