Well,

DDM, I respect your question as to the use of a rosary as a necklace.....I know that some people from Mexico are going to have quite a bit of 'splaining to do when they go to heaven.

It's kind of tough to tell some poor 'bracero' (farm worker) that they are committing a sin by carrying their faith around their neck.

And what is faith?

Is faith the same thing that drove Junipero Serra up the coast of California trying to convert the indigenous indians to the Catholic faith? Is it the Crusades back in the Middle Ages? Kicking some Muslims around to take over some turf?

The Roman Catholic Church professes to be a religion of love, understanding and peace-and the followers follow the same doctrine-that coupled with a good first amendment right should guarantee a person's freedom of speech and the freedom to
inquire or pursue something that they feel they want to find out about.

And we, as good catholics and citizens should respect that desire.

I seriously doubt any of us are going to walk up to someone with a rosary around their neck and ask them their religious affliation and then castigate them for wearing a rosary in that manner.....

While it may not be the original use of a rosary, I admire anyone who has an interest in another religion and has the desire to find out more about it's artifacts and objects.

Wearing a cross, Star of David, Yarmulke, headdress is no one's business why you choose to wear it.

Of course, I grew up among a bunch of Mexicans who loved their religion so much that some would even go get the Virgin of Guadalupe tattooed on their bodies.

Again, who am I to question their faith or the reason why they want a religious icon needled into their skin?