That's rather astonishing if true. But could it be that your friends were engaging in a bit of whimsy with you?
I'll admit to not knowing a great deal about the culture of the Catholic Church which is why statements like this and the one from the original poster took me aback. I'll be looking forward to additional information from those who are Catholics. From my standpoint as a church of Christ member, our preacher encourages that all in the congregation read the Bible. He (there are no female preachers in the coC) has repeatedly stated that the Bible is the instruction manual for life and we all ought to "...read the instructions."
The previous posters are correct, unfortunately.
I was raised a Catholic, as well.
We dumped pay satellite because of Bath-House Barry’s attack on the American economy...we have very, VERY basic satellite TV, where you get mostly infommercials. But, I found “Shepard’s Chapel”, and the most wonderful pastor (a Marine) who teaches the Bible, chapter and verse. I am addicted to it. I feel I have not enough time to learn what I NEED to learn.
Arrogance and man’s traditions have robbed many people of the true meaning of the scriptures.
This Marine uses a Strong’s Concordance (sp?) in his teaching so that the root language the Bible was written in can be understood more easily—Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew meanings really bring the Word to people who never understood scripture before. He’s been teaching for fifty years or so, I think, and he’s getting on in age, but I hope he lives to be 200 so I can keep learning from him.
It really has been a gift from above to find this, as I think time’s fast running out. Who knew there could be such a wonderful silver lining to becoming poorer?