Not sure I want to see photos of someone else's drunken mistake.  

I do not have any tattoos but some posters here may.  

Let's hear about it and post pics if you so desire.

 :cheers:

You do know that the Church has traditionally deemed tattoos sinful, don't you?

So it seems unbecoming to have a thread celebrating such mistakes on a Catholic forum.

Can someone please point me to sources showing that the Church has deemed tattoos as sinful?  I've always heard people refer to the Leviticus saying something to the effect of "make no markings in the flesh . . . " but haven't seen any official statement on them.

I sometimes see people who have the rosary or Our Lady of Guadalupe, etc tattooed on themselves- pretty sure they don't know Catholics aren't allowed to have tattoos. Can't help but wonder if they even know how to use a rosary.

Tattoos are pagan, period. They are a PERMANENT mutilation of the body. If you are young and crazy and have whatever kind of "issues" that move a person in that direction, at least go for something non-permanent, like:

grow your hair long
change your style of clothing
bleach and/or dye your hair a vivid color
wear a strange hairstyle
grow odd styles of facial hair
etc.

That will accomplish your goal of being different, making a statement, distinguishing yourself from your parents, or whatever it is that's eating you.

BUT NONE OF THESE THINGS ARE PERMANENT.

Once you mature/grow up/get a job/etc. you can easily get a haircut and go back to normal.

Whenever I see a person with tattoos, or nose rings, or men with large holes in their ears, that's what I think about and picture in my mind: tribes in Africa, living in the darkness of paganism, with no knowledge of Christ.

Because that is what pagans/heathens do: make cuttings in their flesh, mutilate their bodies in various ways, paint their face in various ways, etc. Like those people who stretch their necks with rings, or put plates in both lips so they look like ducks.

It's not what civilized Christians do.

I just shake my head when I see people with tattoos especially women.

They don't call them "tramp stamps" for nothing.

When you see a tattoo on a woman, you can be morally certain that she is "easy". That is to say, loose in her morals, particularly in the realm of chastity/purity. Not necessarily today, but at least at the time she got the tattoo.

Men with ignoble and lusty intentions can be optimistic about their chances to "score" with such a woman.


If you think about it, it makes sense:

1. Tattoos go against Catholic culture, so the woman must be willing to go against the grain. Not against the worldly grain, but against the grain of her Catholic upbringing.

2. Tattoos are usually done by more superficial people, not deep thinkers. They are done when drunk, or at least in a spontaneous "spirit of fun". That same spirit of fun and non-thinking allows a person to fornicate...

3. It is evidence of emotions (desire for fun, screaming things to the world) over reason. That same "emotions over reason" leads to fornication.

4. Related to #1, tattoos are enjoyed and promoted by pagans or WORLDLY people, not Catholics. If she were hanging around a bunch of good Traditional Catholic friends, they wouldn't be going to the tattoo parlor. She obviously hangs around with a bunch of non-Catholic friends, which will influence her in countless ways, including morality. Newsflash: modern-day pagans have no problem with fornication. Ergo...

I don't have any tattoos, but I know some trad Catholics have them from before they converted to the Catholic Faith. I don't look at them in a critical way as long as they're still not getting tattoos.