You are going to get flamed, and so am I, because I agree with you.
A real Catholic, of course, is biblically aware. But there are so many people that just go to mass and confession and that’s it. When I was a Catholic, I don’t ever remember the priest reading the old testament. I was young, but I just don’t remember it.
Protestants have Sunday School, and Catholics Religious Instruction. RI just doesn’t emphasize Bible Study. I remember learning church sacraments and catechism. Protestants think if you can’t find every book of the bible in 2.5 seconds, there’s something wrong with your Christian walk. It’s a different emphasis.
There are set readings for each day. Unless your Priest was breaking the rules, then he had to of read from the old testament.
“Protestants have Sunday School, and Catholics Religious Instruction. RI just doesn’t emphasize Bible Study. I remember learning church sacraments and catechism.”
I teach religious instruction, and we spend a significant amount of time in biblical study.
Sure, it’s different from the usual “take a book and get as close to it as possible”, but the overview is much broader.
The reason the sacraments figure so prominently is that these classes are preparation for confirmation. They have to know the essence of their Catholic faith in order to teach others. Now, there are similarities, and occasionally I do have to go over the areas where Catholics and Protestants agree, but we spend significantly more time on the differences.