There are many good people whose path to holiness is shaped by religious individualism and private interpretation of what God has revealed. They are, however, called Protestants.
I wouldn’t be upset if the Church decided that bible study courses be shut down in the parishes. Back in the “good ole days” we weren’t exactly encouraged to study the Bible. Instead, we were encouraged to learn what the Church scholars had interpreted instead of our personal interpretation.
I understand that there is a danger in parish Bible studies where individuals study Scripture without recourse to the magisterium of the Church. However, if one impetus of Vatican Council II was that, on a practical level, more Catholics began to actually open up the Bible and read it themselves, then I think that was a praiseworthy fruit of the Council. The point is not to study the Bible so as to build up one’s own theology based on private interpretation. We are also urged to study the Bible in order to know Jesus Christ and deepen our prayer. As the familiar quote of St. Jerome goes: “ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Yes, we know the Scriptures through the liturgy… but reading of Scripture was the most ancient of private devotions. Yes, we should study our catechism and the documents of the magisterium… but this should not require that we also must throw down the Bible in fear of misreading it (I know that is not what you are implying,…). When I read the Gospels, for example, I do not do so in order to “figure out” what I should believe as a Christian… I read so as to be in the presence of the person of Jesus Christ. Reading in front of the Blessed Sacrament gives you a double-whammy presence effect.
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