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I am wondering, in practice I don’t see Catholics encouraged to read scripture, and as I go up the ladder it’s not looking better.
Every post is from a Catholic source
for nearly four centuries the Catholic Church as effectively discourage the reading of the Bible
From the US Conference of Catholic Bishops
usccb.org/bible/understan…e-readings.cfm
"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. "
The Catholic Church has effectively deprecated the value of the Bible
catholicity.com/commentary/carlin/05386.html
.From Catholic city
“Of course, there is an old tradition among lay Catholics of not reading the Bible. Prior to the Protestant Reformation, this non-reading was a natural byproduct of the fact that the vast majority of lay Catholics were illiterate. Besides, such Bibles as were available were written in Latin, not the vernacular languages. And then, once the Reformation took place, Bible-reading took on the color of being a distinctively Protestant thing, therefore something faithful Catholics should avoid. Protestants, after all, appealed to the authority of the Bible to challenge the authority of the pope and the bishops, and when they read the Bible they came to certain theological conclusions that conflicted with Catholic doctrine.** Reading the Bible was dangerous for Catholics.”**
In the long period from the Council of Trent to Vatican II, a period of approximately four centuries, the Catholic Church adopted a highly defensive mode of being. There were two great intellectual dangers to the Faith – first the Protestant danger and then the secularist danger that stemmed from the Enlightenment. The Index of Prohibited Books was created to defend Catholics against these dangers.** Of course, it was impossible to put the Bible on the Index, since the Bible, according to Catholic teaching, was the inspired Word of God. But if the Bible couldn’t be banned, at least Catholics could be effectively discouraged from reading it. **
There were several ways of doing this:◦A strong emphasis on Natural Religion had the effect of
depreciating the value of Revelation generally.
◦
A strong emphasis on Tradition as a second source of Divine Revelation had the effect of depreciating the value of the Bible.◦
Secondhand narrations of biblical stories, instead of moving Catholics to consult the original sources (the Bible itself), more often gave them the impression that it was not necessary to examine the Bible.
◦Catholics were told that they must not read Protestant translations of the Bible (e.g., the Authorized Version); if they insisted on reading the Bible, they must read properly annotated Catholic translations.
◦Some gentle ridicule directed at the Biblicism of our “separated brethren” taught Catholics to shy away from the Bible.
◦In general, Catholics were seldom seriously encouraged by their priests and nuns to search the Scriptures.
Produced lazy Catholics
from Catholic.com
archive.is/UWfzV
.The Bible-reading habits of Catholics lag far behind those of Evangelical Protestants.
My guess is that
many Catholics simply don’t want to do the work. They are content to let Mother Church spoon-feed them. (They want to remain “babes in Christ” who drink “milk,” as Paul says.)
But the “solution” of many Catholics—to not read the Bible at all so as to not be “confused” or "led astray"
and Produced Biblically illiterate Catholics
From EWTN
“Q**: Is one of the goals of this program to promote “biblical literacy” among Catholics, who have often been characterized as being “illiterate” when it comes to Scripture?
Healy: Absolutely! Unfortunately, that description is not far off the mark”**
And the result is:
from the National Catholic Reporter
That** Catholics are leaving to join evangelical churches**
because of the
church teaching on the Bible is a disgrace.
Too few homilists explain the scriptures to their people.
Few Catholics read the Bible.
The church needs a massive Bible education program.
The church needs to acknowledge that understanding the Bible is more important than memorizing the catechism. If we could get Catholics to read the Sunday scripture readings each week before they come to Mass, it would be revolutionary.
If you do not read and pray the scriptures, you are not an adult Christian. Catholics who become evangelicals understand this.
ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/hidden-exodus-catholics-becoming-protestants
