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More and more people are using tattoos to communicate their faith or feelings that could be an opening to faith, a U.S.-based Jesuit said during a conference sponsored by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
BOGOTÁ, Colombia (CNS) -- The Catholic Church cannot measure people's engagement with religion only by looking at church attendance, but also must observe how they express religious sentiments outside of church -- even on their own bodies, a Jesuit priest said.
"It's important to understand tattoos in order to understand one of the many ways in which people practice religion," Jesuit Father Gustavo Morello, a professor of sociology of religion at Boston College, told Catholic News Service Nov. 28 during a theology conference in Bogotá.
"A lot of people have been expressing their faith through tattoos," he said, not always in a strictly religious sense, but as a "connection between the person and something beyond."
Jesuit Father Gustavo Morello, a professor of sociology of religion at Boston College, poses for a photo during a theology conference in Bogotá, Colombia, Nov. 28, 2023. (CNS photo/Justin McLellan)
According to the Pew Research Center, 32% of Americans have tattoos, and 41% of religiously unaffiliated adults have at least one tattoo compared to 29% of people affiliated with a religion.
For Father Morello, that data shows that "there is something going on there that is beyond one's personal identity," particularly for people who are religiously unaffiliated. He noted the common practice of tattooing the face, name or years of life for a deceased loved one, in addition to other "foundational" tattoos which depict the dates of weddings, children's birthdays or markers of major life milestones to retain a sense of their memory.
"Tattoos are a communication device," he said. "So as a minister of the church, as someone who deals with religion, you have to read the message."
Continued below.
www.usccb.org
BOGOTÁ, Colombia (CNS) -- The Catholic Church cannot measure people's engagement with religion only by looking at church attendance, but also must observe how they express religious sentiments outside of church -- even on their own bodies, a Jesuit priest said.
"It's important to understand tattoos in order to understand one of the many ways in which people practice religion," Jesuit Father Gustavo Morello, a professor of sociology of religion at Boston College, told Catholic News Service Nov. 28 during a theology conference in Bogotá.
"A lot of people have been expressing their faith through tattoos," he said, not always in a strictly religious sense, but as a "connection between the person and something beyond."
According to the Pew Research Center, 32% of Americans have tattoos, and 41% of religiously unaffiliated adults have at least one tattoo compared to 29% of people affiliated with a religion.
For Father Morello, that data shows that "there is something going on there that is beyond one's personal identity," particularly for people who are religiously unaffiliated. He noted the common practice of tattooing the face, name or years of life for a deceased loved one, in addition to other "foundational" tattoos which depict the dates of weddings, children's birthdays or markers of major life milestones to retain a sense of their memory.
"Tattoos are a communication device," he said. "So as a minister of the church, as someone who deals with religion, you have to read the message."
Continued below.
Holy ink: Tattoo culture shows faith is not skin deep, sociologist says
More and more people are using tattoos to communicate their faith or feelings that could be an opening to faith, a U.S.-based Jesuit said during a conference sp...
