Expert: Fr. Timothy Johnson - 7/17/2007

Question
QUESTION: Dear Father,

I am in a predicament. I am 26 years old and due to marry on the 30th of this month. My husband to be and I have both been attending the local Catholic church and are in the process of beginning to convert to catholicism. I will not go into detail here due to the mere depth of it all, but for the purpose of background, I have been on this journey since the day I was born. I have been Catholic in my opinion since day one, despite being born into a family of non believers. Now I finally have the support and the right circumstances in which to go ahead with my initiation into the Catholic church which I feel is the climax to what my life has been working towards. Finally, the time has come and I am very much humbled and grateful for it.

My problem is this.I am torn between whether it would be against the churches wishes for me to have a tattoo in honour of God and of my husband to be. My fiance had one already when I met him, and last weekend had my initials very prettily and elegantly tattoed on his wrist. I have felt for a while that I would also like to have this done, and have had thoughts of a sacred heart being tattoed on my back to profess my faith; of course, both things being eveything to me. My question is this: would having my husband's initials and a sacred heart tattoed on me, for all my good intentions, actually be the opposite of what I am hoping to achieve by having them done? I.e. would the church look on me with disdain? I cannot tell whether this would be an honourable act by me of the profession of the sanctity of marriage and my strong belief in the Catholic Church that I have, or whether it would be looked upon as the complete opposite.

I am very confused and cannot find an answer to solve this.

I would be grateful for your most respected opnion.

Thank you and God bless,

Jo

ANSWER: Hi, Joanna:

Thanks for the question(s).
Let's be sure you go through the standard procedures for becoming full-fledged Catholics.  I suppose that none of us is Catholic until he/she IS Catholic; though I understand your sentiment that you have felt "drawn" to the Catholic Church/Faith since youth.
I believe that the Catechism of the Catholic Church presents a stance against a person getting tatoos on the basis that it constitutes a certain degree of bodily mutilation.
In my own opinion, in addition to this, I have found through my own observation that there are issues deeper within the whole "subculture" of tatoo-making that AS A WHOLE are quite counter-establishment and often times hostile against Christian Religious values and principles in terms of drug-use, promiscuity, non-married unions, etc.  For me, even at that level, I would not want to support this subculture by means of patronage and paying for the service of the application of tatoos.  I really would not recommend that people get a tatoo, very honestly.

Fr. Timothy Johnson

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Father,

Firstly thank you for your views. It has certainly shed more light on the subject for me. I think it goes a fair way to say that instinctively I knew that there were seeds of doubt in my mind already, otherwise if I hadn't have had a gut feeling about it, I may already be in possession of a tattoo. I think it's safe to say now I will leave well alone.

On another note, I have been thinking of changing my job. I am a Legal Secretary in a Family Law firm. I took the job last year as there was nothing much around at the time, and since attending church more and more and researching more about the Catholic faith, I am inclined to think that working at this firm is more or less supporting divorces and children born out of wedlock. I wondered what your own view would be? Sometimes I wonder whether I am being needlessly pedantic about it; but I do feel that there may be some wrong in it.

I look forward once again to your advice.

Yours faithfully,

J. Robinson

Answer
Hi, Joanna:

It looks as though you have seen and experienced from the inside the tip of the iceberg that I have observed as an outsider that "family law" does seem to be a legal arm behind supporting and encouraging people to "take all they can get" through legal action as an extension of venting their anger and rage against a soured relationship rather than working and taking the effort to work on the emotional wounds toward reconciliation, taking personal responsibility, and striving to live up to their public marriage vows.
I won't presume to tell you what you ought to do in the particular concerning your own choices and career moves.  Just pray a lot, and ask God for His wisdom & guidance.

Fr. T. Johnson