[ropin71]

Never found a Bible in the pews of the RC Church either.
Only the priests are allowed to read, and interpret for us?

[Pyro7480]

There isn't a cover-to-cover Bible in many Catholic Churches for each person in the pew, but there are missal or missalettes that have the Sunday readings, and the daily Responsorial Psalm. That isn't to say Catholic "aren't allowed" to go out and get a Bible for themselves! As long as it has ALL of the books in the Good Book and it's a proper translation, Catholics can read the Bible all they want. In fact, one can get an indulgence for merely reading the Bible for more than half an hour.

A partial indulgence is granted the Christian faithful who read sacred Scripture with the veneration due God's word and as a form of spiritual reading. The indulgence will be a plenary one when such reading is done for at least one-half hour [provided the other conditions are met].

[RexBeach]

Not exactly.

The priests, or deacons, read the Gospel. That reading and the readings mentioned below usually form the basis of their homilies.

However, only LAY people read the lessons at mass from the old and new testaments - even if the pope himself is celebrating that mass. The laity is deeply involved in the celebration of the mass.

But we,too, pray directly to God and Christ daily(at least I do!). We also pray to saints to intervene for us. At this moment, I am wearing a St. Anthony’s medal. He was a remarkable man, and a superb example of how to live a sincere and thorough Christian life.

[NYer]

Never found a Bible in the pews of the RC Church either.

As Pyro pointed out, the missalettes in each pew contain the verses from scripture that will be read on each Sunday. For Catholics and Orthodox, the Holy Bible is so important, that it is worthy of veneration. Prior to reading from the Gospel, the priest incenses it. When he has finished proclaiming the Gospel, he blesses the congregation with the Word of God

But, from your perspective, one of the best explanations I have ever heard, comes from Dr. Scott Hahn, a former Evangelical minister.

Hahn begins by describing the first mass he ever attended.

"There I stood, a man incognito, a Protestant minister in plainclothes, slipping into the back of a Catholic chapel in Milwaukee to witness my first Mass. Curiosity had driven me there, and I still didn't feel sure that it was healthy curiosity. Studying the writings of the earliest Christians, I'd found countless references to "the liturgy," "the Eucharist," "the sacrifice." For those first Christians, the Bible - the book I loved above all - was incomprehensible apart from the event that today's Catholics called "the Mass."

"I wanted to understand the early Christians; yet I'd had no experience of Liturgy. So I persuaded myself to go and see, as a sort of academic exercise, but vowing all along that I would neither kneel nor take part in idolatry."

I took my seat in the shadows, in a pew at the very back of that basement chapel. Before me were a goodly number of worshipers, men and women of all ages. Their genuflections impressed me, as did their apparent concentration in prayer. Then a bell rang, and they all stood as the priest emerged from a door beside the altar.

Unsure of myself, I remained seated. For years, as an evangelical Calvinist, I'd been trained to believe that the Mass was the ultimate sacrilege a human could commit. The Mass, I had been taught, was a ritual that purported to "resacrifice Jesus Christ." So I would remain an observer. I would stay seated, with my Bible open beside me.

As the Mass moved on, however, something hit me. My Bible wasn't just beside me. It was before me - in the words of the Mass! One line was from Isaiah, another from Psalms, another from Paul. The experience was overwhelming. I wanted to stop everything and shout, "Hey, can I explain what's happening from Scripture? This is great!" Still, I maintained my observer status. I remained on the sidelines until I heard the priest pronounce the words of consecration: "This is My body . . . This is the cup of My blood."

Then I felt all my doubt drain away. As I saw the priest raise that white host, I felt a prayer surge from my heart in a whisper: "My Lord and my God. That's really you!"

I was what you might call a basket case from that point. I couldn't imagine a greater excitement than what those words had worked upon me. Yet the experience was intensified just a moment later, when I heard the congregation recite: "Lamb of God . . . Lamb of God . . . Lamb of God," and the priest respond, "This is the Lamb of God . . ." as he raised the host. In less than a minute, the phrase "Lamb of God" had rung out four times. From long years of studying the Bible, I immediately knew where I was. I was in the Book of Revelation, where Jesus is called the Lamb no less than twenty-eight times in twenty-two chapters. I was at the marriage feast that John describes at the end of that very last book of the Bible. I was before the throne of heaven, where Jesus is hailed forever as the Lamb. I wasn't ready for this, though - I was at Mass!

[Petronski]

Never found a Bible in the pews of the RC Church either.

The missalettes are filled with Scripture.

[tiki]

You are right, I haven’t been in a whole lot of Catholic Churches but there weren’t any Bibles in the pews.

What is there are missalettes and they contain the Bible readings for every day of the year. If you attend daily Mass in addition to Sundays, you will read and hear the Bible in its entirety in 3 years.

You are quite welcome to bring your own Bible and read along if you haven’t read the readings before Mass and pondered their significance.

Most parishes list the readings for the coming week in their bulletins. Many parishes have private Bible study groups and also Bible study with a deacon or a the priest. They also have their own private Bible reading.

The majority of the Mass is directly from the Bible.

So, no, there aren’t Bibles in the pew but there are Bible readings in the missalettes.

I have a question, don’t most Protestants own their own Bibles like Catholics do and the church has to provide them for Sunday-only reading?

[Puddleglum]

You want to hear a religious service filled front-to-back with scripture recitations, go the a Mass. Not just the readings, but the prayers and the psalms and the canon and the creed - all the discourse is scriptural. You want to hear a service filled with expressions of personal sentiment with Christian words thrown in now and again, go to an evangelical service (at least the ones I’ve been to). The songs and the sermons are sentimental effusions of emotion - great gushes of words - but are not as rich in the Word as the Mass. They are rich in sentiment and mawkish rephrasings to pump one up to see if one actually “feels” anything.

[andysandmikesmom]

I have attended services in several Methodist churches, a few Baptist churches, and a few non-denominational non-Catholic Christian churches...and in not one of those churches, have they ever provided Bibles in the pews, for the use of the parishioners...the parishioners are really expected to have their own Bibles...the churches provide the hymnals, and perhaps other materials in the pews, but they dont include the Bibles...indeed why should they, Bibles can be bought anywhere...

So the fact that the Catholic Church does not provide Bibles in their pews, is nothing unusual...and there is nothing of importance, gleaned from that fact...

Most Christian churches of all denominations, may provide those materials, which are unique to that denomination...for instance in the Methodist church, they often provided little booklets called the Upper Room, which provided a short daily message with appropriate Scriptural readings...and most churches provide the hymnals, that that church prefers to use...they provide these things as they would be difficult for the usual parishioner to find elsewhere...

But a Bible?....anyone, who lives anywhere, can go to any bookstore, and have a wide field of different Bibles....indeed, most Christian churches, expect that their members have their own Bibles, for study at home, and to use to follow along in their preferred church service...each member can buy the Bible, that he is comfortable with...

So the Catholic Church does not differ from any of the non-Catholic Christian churches on this score...

I would actually be quite surprised to go into any Christian church of any denomination, to find Bibles provided for all the members in the pews...I would actually expect that situation to the unusual one...

And all of my Catholic friends, do have their own Bibles, that they take with them to Mass...in fact, all of my Catholic friends, are encouraged to read their Bibles daily...

So I dont really understand why you would make a point of mentioning that the Catholic church does not provide Bibles in their pews, when this is also the situation in most non-Catholic Christian churches...and I also do not understand the true point of the conclusion you draw, that because the Catholic Church does not provide Bibles in the pews, somehow the ordinary layman is not allowed to read the Bible....that conclusion, makes absolutely no sense at all...

[x_plus_one]

The best bible ever translated is the Navarre bible - a catholic endeavor....

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1001641/Navarre-Bible-New-Testament-Complete-Set/