Any evidence to support claim?

[andersonbd1]

This is the claim made in a parish bulletin:
“Before V2 Catholics were advised not to read the Bible less we become confused in our faith”

I know that V2 pushed for more bible reading among Catholics, but was it really discouraged before then?

 

[patrick457]

This is the claim made in a parish bulletin:
“Before V2 Catholics were advised not to read the Bible less we become confused in our faith”

I know that V2 pushed for more bible reading among Catholics, but was it really discouraged before then?

I’ve heard that in a few locations, there were actually some who discouraged lay Bible reading pre-VII (so far, I still can’t verify if these anecdotes are true or not). However, as far as I know there was no official decree or something of the sort that discouraged lay reading of the Scriptures; so even if there were such local attempts, rest assured that the same was not going on for the majority of the Church.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Considering that Pope St. Pius X, back in the 19th century (IOW, well before Vatican II) mandated an indulgence for reading the Bible, (and other Popes even earlier did the same) it seems that the charge that ‘reading the Bible’ was not the case for Catholics before Vatican II was never an authentic teaching of the Church. If it existed (it certainly did not exist in the dioceses in which I–born 1956, my mother–born 1929–or my grandparents, who came to this country in 1911–ever lived. In fact, we grew up reading the Bible regularly, read the Bible in our religion classes at school, and received Bibles as 8th grade graduation presents), it existed in SPITE OF authentic Catholic teaching and through the erroneous if well-intentioned individual men or women who thus (one hopes inadvertently) taught it as the fact it most certainly was not.

 

[Ag_not]

Considering that Pope St. Pius X, back in the 19th century (IOW, well before Vatican II) mandated an indulgence for reading the Bible, (and other Popes even earlier did the same) it seems that the charge that ‘reading the Bible’ was not the case for Catholics before Vatican II was never an authentic teaching of the Church. If it existed (it certainly did not exist in the dioceses in which I–born 1956, my mother–born 1929–or my grandparents, who came to this country in 1911–ever lived. In fact, we grew up reading the Bible regularly, read the Bible in our religion classes at school, and received Bibles as 8th grade graduation presents), it existed in SPITE OF authentic Catholic teaching and through the erroneous if well-intentioned individual men or women who thus (one hopes inadvertently) taught it as the fact it most certainly was not.

Thank you I knew there was an indulgence for reading the Bible, and I was trying to locate when it was instituted - I knew it was pre VII and I was wading through trent Thankfully I checked back or Id be here all night looking for the reference.

 

[COPLAND_3]

I have heard the same rumors from some of the older people in my parish, but deep down I just can’t totally buy into it. I get the feeling that there are some who have tried to interpret the Church wrongly and have used that excuse as a cop out from learning their Bible and their Faith so they can play church but live like hell.

I guess I sound bitter but I feel like this generation and the next of lay people are having to play catch up because of some scattered abroad lay people and priests who have been idle and even impious to the beauty of true Catholicism. I am tired of trying to combat the usual stereotypes about Catholics as if we are a bunch of Bible-illiterate drunks.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

My great-grandfather’s bible includes a letter in the front format from Pope Pius VI [1778] thanking the author a new vernacular version of the Bible so that the Faithful might read it more easily.

. . .At a time that a vast number of bad books which grossly attack the Catholic religion are circulated even among the unlearned, to the great destruction of souls,you judge exceedingly well that the faithful should be excited to the reading of the Holy Scriptures . . .

 

[tiffinwood]

I received my very own copy of the Douay-Rheims bible when I was confirmed in 1955, well before VII. We were encouraged to read the bible in my Catholic religion classes and from the pulpit.