The Rosary.

[Zapatista]

Surely if people want to 'talk to God', they can be a bit more imaginative and personal?

I'm sure they can. Catholics on the other hand say prayers. They talk to God, Mary, Jesus and the Saints through prayers and devote those prayers to certain things which are a part of the prayer.

Dont upset yourself, you are dealing with mainly A Le Carte catholics here so you are wasting your time have a reasonable discussion in regard to the subjust.

I don'tknow if you cansider me as an "A Le Carte catholic" but I'm happy to have a reasonable discussion with you.

[Tankie]

Zapatista it is not what i consider an A le Carte cathalic as gnerally the lines of difference are very clear so i am sure you know which one you are.

[nifan]

Obviously I am not catholic so have no rosary to do, but do people here pray at all, never mind the rosary.
I havent prayed since i was a child, though ive bowed the head on the handful of church services ive been to since i was 14, i wouldnt say i have prayed.

I am not a believer so this is understandable enough, but do those who do believe pray regularly or is it just a church thing?

[The Iceman]

we just finished two novenas for the safe birth of our new son - so i'm done with daily rosary for a while now lol

we still say it on longer journeys

would always have beads in my poket - something reassuring about having them

pray grace before meals every night and would say the odd wee prayer throughout the day - all depends

glad to see some people still pray

[Loughers]

We live beside a funeral home and the funeral director asks the mother to say it, more and more, as no one in the funeral party knows it.  She's a professional rosarian.  She was never allowed in the Olympics in the amateur days.

[stevo-08]

Obviously I am not catholic so have no rosary to do, but do people here pray at all, never mind the rosary.
I havent prayed since i was a child, though ive bowed the head on the handful of church services ive been to since i was 14, i wouldnt say i have prayed.

I am not a believer so this is understandable enough, but do those who do believe pray regularly or is it just a church thing?

I am a believer and I do pray, although not too regularly. I pray when I go to church - including mass every sunday, weddings, funerals etc. Outside of that I say private prayers on special occasions - eg. for friends/family at times when they need help/support. I also remember praying the night Pope John Paul II passed away. Just at times like that when I feel like speaking directly to God.

More recently, I remember praying to St.Anthony when my wife lost her engagement ring. We spent ages looking for the blasted thing one morning. Then at work, I took a few minutes to say some prayers and when we came home that evening, we found it on the ground as we opened the door. It was the strangest thing as I was convinced we'd never find that ring. But there you go...

[Loughers]

I'm a bit surprised by some answers here.  I presumed the ones who said it or prayed/went to mass were in the older bracket but when some of ye were on about saying it for kids births etc, I'm obviously wrong.  I don't go to mass or pray.  I happened to pass my grandparents grave in Roscommon the other day and popped in.  I blessed myself but didn't say anything.  I have remnants of Catholicism in me.  Maybe they'll be re-ignited,  Probably on my death bed.  Are northerners more practising than southerners?  I presume so.

[lynchbhoy]

Still say it the odd time, or at least say a decade when the opportunity arises.

Lets hope this thread doesnt descend into another religion bashing exercise by those disrespectful **** that want to either bash the Catholic religion (like chris owc) or consign it as mere piffle  - like the 'current' athiests of he board do with their refusal to allow people to do as they will !
(if you want to reply to this all you non believers and detractors, I am happy to do so by pm rather than ruin this thread).
thanks

Funny you mentioned my name.  Like I was the only one....   Says more about you really.

For the record.  It's not about bashing the Catholic religion.  I have no religion what so ever and therefore would have no reason to single out any particular element of Christianity over another (as I believe that is what you were implying).  Just so happened I voiced on an opinion on one aspect of that particular religion, as it was related to the topic of the thread.

well done for trying to ruin the thread folks

'creepy' was your first input into the discussion. Thats religion bashing if ever I saw it so just take your guilt and shut up.

tankie - thats your assumption that people are a la cart Catholics. you can reply to my other pm to your reply if you like. So far you have been less than convincing in your 'argument'.

turning off another reasonable thread to the athiests and detractors slagging off catholocism or religion in general is a poor show imo.

[Hardy]

I'm amazed to find that the demographic here seems more religious than a meeting of the college of cardinals. And especially when combined with the (presumed, admittedly) age demographic of the board it seems well out of kilter with the rest of society. It's also remarkable that the huge majority of those expressing belief in orthodox theology appear to be Northern. Is that significant?

[Edit - just saw Loughers's post now, but I'll let this stand - same point]

[the Deel Rover]

i don't say the rosary every night but i say prayers with my kids before i put them to bed, also go to mass and what i can see in my own parish is that there are a lot of young people attending mass ( in my area anyway) 

[The Iceman]

I think religion in the north because it was such a huge part of our identity was a lot more important in years gone by. 

Now its not so dangerous to be a catholic and mass attendance is dropping - people don't really care anymore or are not attracted to it.

There are a lot of young Catholics out there who continue to go to mass - lets home the trend continues.

There are a lot of great people working in youth ministry in Ireland, the problem they have is that the church still doesn't take the youth that serious and don't put enough money and resources into projects.

Armagh, the supposed Arch-Diocese of Ireland, has a youth director and her 40 hours are officially split between youth ministry and "other duties" which means she has to plan the Priests' annual conference and a whole load of other crap.  2 years ago they were going to invest in other people to work in vacariats (groups of 6 or more parishes) around the diocese but that feel through because Sean Brady pulled the money. 

[T Fearon]

I am more of  a Lord's Prayer and Glory be to the Father man myself. Mariology seems superfluous when you can go direct to the boss himself.

Lost a lot of faith in the power of prayer generally when a close relative died some years ago, the family prayed rosaries, had mass cards galore etc, acquired all sorts of reputed crucifixes and relics (that had worked for others)from every corner of Ireland, and spoke to a very famous nun renowned for her healing powers, who was in another continent at the time. Sadly not a button of good did any of it do

[Zapatista]

I am more of  a Lord's Prayer and Glory be to the Father man myself. Mariology seems superfluous when you can go direct to the boss himself.

Lost a lot of faith in the power of prayer generally when a close relative died some years ago, the family prayed rosaries, had mass cards galore etc, acquired all sorts of reputed crucifixes and relics (that had worked for others)from every corner of Ireland, and spoke to a very famous nun renowned for her healing powers, who was in another continent at the time. Sadly not a button of good did any of it do

You could be right. It is no more or less conclusive than Stevo-08 and his St. Anthony story though.

[westmayo]

Used to say it when I stayed with the grandparents when I was younger, but would be hard pushed to remember it now. I suppose I'd be considered catholic in name but I have only gone to church for funerals or weddings for about a decade now.

[T Fearon]

Sure how could anyone go wrong when he or she implores the assistance of anyone called "Anthony", the name is synonomous with success