“In Catholic schools, it was hit or miss...”
I think this is right. I graduated high school in 1968.
In Catholic grammar school, we read Old Testament Bible stories in the lower grades, and studied the New Testament in higher grades - I remember doing an in-depth study of the Acts of the Apostles in 8th Grade.
We all had to buy Bibles in freshman year of Catholic high school, and used them as we went through the Old and New Testaments in 4 years of Theology classes.
Although the Novus Ordo Mass leaves me cold, I really like the three-year cycle of readings in the New Mass as compared to the 1-year cycle in the Traditional Mass, which I otherwise strongly prefer.
I also agree with the author of the article that in Catholicism, the Bible is used more as a tool of worship at Mass, much like the Missal, rather than as subject of independent study in an of itself.
I see the Bible as the basis of my Catholic belief, and have been trained to understand the Old and New Testament readings as the underpinnings of Church teachings. In other words, Catholics use the Bible on a more contextual basis, both in study of out Faith and in our worship during the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
And, of course, the reason that Catholics don’t take Bibles to church is that the biblical readings for that particular day (i.e., the Proper of the Mass) have always been in the Missal - therefore, no need to carry the Bible when you have your Missal or a misssalette at Mass.
“And, of course, the reason that Catholics don’t take Bibles to church is that the biblical readings for that particular day (i.e., the Proper of the Mass) have always been in the Missal - therefore, no need to carry the Bible when you have your Missal or a misssalette at Mass.”
And that is exactly the problem... there’s hardly a verse that can be understood in its entirety without other Scripture to back it up. That’s exactly where the Catholic denomination fails is taking one verse and making up a complete doctrine according to that one verse. Never mind if there are other verses that will clarify it we will just make up more stuff to cover that mistake.