Posted on 12/19/2014 6:27:23 AM PST by Alex Murphy
Average Catholics asked today how often they read the Bible likely would say that they do not read the Bible regularly. However, if asked how often they read Scripture, the answer would be different. Practicing Catholics know they read and hear Scripture at every Mass. Many also recognize that basic prayers Catholics say, such as the Our Father and the Hail Mary, are scriptural. But for most Catholics, the Scripture they hear and read is not from the Bible. It is from a worship aid in the pew.
Scripture always has played an important role in the prayer life of the Catholic Church and its members. For the ordinary Catholic in earlier centuries, exposure to Scripture was passive. They heard it read aloud or prayed aloud but did not read it themselves. One simple reason: Centuries ago the average person could not read or afford a book. Popular reading and ownership of books began to flourish only after the invention of the printing press.
Once the printing press was invented, the most commonly printed book was the Bible, but this still did not make Bible-reading a Catholic’s common practice. Up until the mid-twentieth Century, the custom of reading the Bible and interpreting it for oneself was a hallmark of the Protestant churches springing up in Europe after the Reformation. Protestants rejected the authority of the Pope and of the Church and showed it by saying people could read and interpret the Bible for themselves. Catholics meanwhile were discouraged from reading Scripture.
Identifying the reading and interpreting of the Bible as “Protestant” even affected the study of Scripture. Until the twentieth Century, it was only Protestants who actively embraced Scripture study. That changed after 1943 when Pope Pius XII issued the encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu. This not only allowed Catholics to study Scripture, it encouraged them to do so. And with Catholics studying Scripture and teaching other Catholics about what they were studying, familiarity with Scripture grew.
Scripture awareness grew after the Second Vatican Council. Mass was celebrated in the vernacular and so the Scripture readings at Mass were read entirely in English. Adult faith formation programs began to develop, and the most common program run at a parish focused on Scripture study. The Charismatic movement and the rise of prayer groups exposed Catholics to Scripture even more. All of this contributed to Catholics becoming more familiar with the Bible and more interested in reading the Scriptures and praying with them.
In a round-about way, aspects of U.S. culture also have encouraged Catholics to become more familiar with the Scriptures. References to John 3:16 appear in the stands at sporting events. Catholics who hear of and see other Christians quote or cite Scripture verses wonder why they cannot. Such experiences lead Catholics to seek familiarity with the Bible.
Such attitudinal changes bode well for Catholics, especially when reading and praying with the Word of God leads to lessons learned, hearts inspired and lives profoundly moved for good.
....Once the printing press was invented, the most commonly printed book was the Bible, but this still did not make Bible-reading a Catholic’s common practice. Up until the mid-twentieth Century, the custom of reading the Bible and interpreting it for oneself was a hallmark of the Protestant churches springing up in Europe after the Reformation. Protestants rejected the authority of the Pope and of the Church and showed it by saying people could read and interpret the Bible for themselves. Catholics meanwhile were discouraged from reading Scripture.
Identifying the reading and interpreting of the Bible as “Protestant” even affected the study of Scripture. Until the twentieth Century, it was only Protestants who actively embraced Scripture study. That changed after 1943 when Pope Pius XII issued the encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu. This not only allowed Catholics to study Scripture, it encouraged them to do so. And with Catholics studying Scripture and teaching other Catholics about what they were studying, familiarity with Scripture grew....
....In a round-about way, aspects of U.S. culture also have encouraged Catholics to become more familiar with the Scriptures. References to John 3:16 appear in the stands at sporting events. Catholics who hear of and see other Christians quote or cite Scripture verses wonder why they cannot. Such experiences lead Catholics to seek familiarity with the Bible.
Huh? It's scripture from the bible, no matter if it is printed in a worship aid or not or printed on a page in the bible. What a silly thing to say.
Agree!
Not the Catholics on FR. I can’t speak for all, but I would daresay we read from the Bible everyday — and not just the Readings at Mass.
Well, sad to say, I DON'T read from the Bible every day outside of daily Mass.
I also need Scripture interpretation sometimes. I DO have a source for the this as I can e-mail our retired priest and ask him .
Monsignor or not the author is a dunderhead. So much in error in what he wrote. One example would be the whole bit about Catholics being discouraged from reading the Bible during the Reformation. Those that were literate usually had Bibles or at the very least a Book of Hours or a Psalter. What they were discouraged from doing was reading certain translations. Much like today’s Christians would be discouraged from reading a JW translation of the Bible.
I think he needs to read “Stripping of the Altars” to gain a better historic perspective of the faith life of the common people during the English Reformation.
He also errs when he writes, “Until the twentieth Century, it was only Protestants who actively embraced Scripture study.” So just what did the Church Fathers and great Theologians and Philosophers such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas appeal to in their writings on Christian belief and teachings? The local paper?
Catholics are still not supposed to interpret Scripture for themselves unless the plain meaning is obvious. That has always been the case. The Church has always taught that the Scripture and the Unwritten Tradition were given to the Church by the Holy Spirit. That the Church was entrusted with teaching and preaching the Word of God. Both so that the Truth could be known and for the edification of all the faithful. That is not the same thing as teaching that ordinary people should not and and must not read approved translations of the Bible and do so in light of Church teaching.
I read the readings and I have read the entire Bible a few times. Now I tend to skip Numbers and Judges, Kings, because frankly they bore me to tears.
I can probably recite the Gospel according to St. John, because he is my favorite. I would never do it, because if I were to leave out an "and" or "but", some Protestant would scream SEE! SEE! You don't know the Bible.
Today is the day that Elizabeth finds out she is with child and that child will be John the Baptist!
Funny story Salvation and my fellow Catholics. We were discussing one year for Bible School, how we could do the NT more. Like John the Baptist and all, we did the eating honey and locust thing, with the gummy worms and ground up Oreos and we kind of went through the whole head on a platter thing real fast. :)
And this is born out on FR discussion boards every day.
Can't wait to hear the catholic spin on this one!
I know I do
Read on, my friend. They already are!
It’s not spin. It’s the truth.
Get a grip. This statement is utter foolishness:
But for most Catholics, the Scripture they hear and read is not from the Bible. It is from a worship aid in the pew.
DUH! The "worship aid in the pew" gets its Scripture from the Bible. In fact, that's what the little italics up in the corner (e.g., Mt 5:42-48) mean.
Catholic parishes which are obedient to the Mass rubrics and sing the "mass propers" are singing more Scripture (yes, from the Bible). The "responsorial psalm" is also from the Bible (yes, it's true: the book of Psalms is in the Bible; I checked).
If the "spin" you want to hear is me expressing my sorrow that the USCCB has stupidity like this on its website, you got it.
(Contrast this to the Prottie preacher I used to listen to on the radio, who preached from Romans ... then Galatians ... then Romans again, etc. As far as he was concerned, those were the only books that mattered.)
Plus...you're already spinning better than Jay Carney!
I understand exactly what the source is.
you're already spinning better than Jay Carney!
I'm telling you the truth. You just can't handle it.
I think that the point is that Catholics are not in the habit of picking up a printed volume called the Bible. Rather, they hear the Scriptures regularly proclaimed in the liturgy. This was, indeed, the normal way that most Christians accessed the Scriptures for the 1500 years before the printing press made inexpensive Bibles available to everyone. Prior to that the idea the every Christian should privately study the Bible was absurd since it was impossible.
That changed after 1943 when Pope Pius XII issued the encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu. This not only allowed Catholics to study Scripture, it encouraged them to do so.
Except that there's this:
A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who, with the veneration due the divine Word, make a spiritual reading from the Sacred Scriptures. A plenary indulgence is granted if this reading is continued for at least one half an hour. -- Pope Benedict XV, Spiritus Paraclitus, 1920
There are many other examples. The Douay-Rheims was translated back in the 16th century. Not for priests to read (they could read the Latin Vulgate), but for laypeople.
I agree that catholics aren't in the habit of picking up the Bible and reading it. Sadly, a lot of Christians also fall into that group.
Amazing that we don't avail ourselves to the written word of God on a regular basis. I've been studying the Greek for about two years now and that takes the NT to a deeper level of understanding. It clears up a lot of the controversial things we debate about on FR.
It amazes me why more church leaders don't avail themselves of the Greek and Hebrew. We could learn so much more.
and the spin starts!
A dunderhead in clerical robes is still a dunderhead. I am not required to pretend a monsignor is right when he is clearly wrong.
I’m providing facts. You’re providing taunting. Grow up.
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