Do Some Priests Prohibit Bible Reading?

[Church_Militant]

Though very early on, bible reading was encouraged in the Church, yet, even the Church itself admits, “New dangers came in during the Middle Ages…To meet those evils, the Council of Toulouse (1229) and Terragona (1234) forbade the laity to read the vernacular translations of the Bible. Pius IV required bishops to refuse lay persons leave to read even Catholic versions of Scripture unless their confessors or parish priests judged that such reading was likely to prove beneficial.” (Catholic Dictionary, p. 82).

Gosh…didn’t you read the part about the Albigensian heretics and their corrupted Bible translations? No? Well I recommend the purchase of a copy of Karl Keating’s book as well as Fr. Stravinska’s.

*Catholicism and Fundamentalism *
by Karl Keating

1. Bible forbidden to laymen, placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Council of Toulouse in A.D. 1229 a) [The] Index was established in 1543, so a council held in 1229 hardly could have listed a book on it…The council held in Toulouse dealt with the Albigensian heresy, a variety of Manichaeanism, which maintained that marriage is evil because the flesh is evil…In order to promulgate their views, the Albigensians used vernacular versions of the Bible to “substantiate” their theories…[and they] were twisting the Bible to support an immoral moral system. So the bishops at Toulouse restricted the use of the Bible until the heresy was ended. (C&F p.45)

The Bible was one of the very first books to be translated into English. Books that were translated later than the Bible include works such as Homer’s Iliad, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the Odes of Horace, the Koran, and the Tragedies of Euripedes (see Paul Stenhouse, Catholic Answers to “Bible” Christians, pp. 40-41).

• The Catholic Church and the Bible* by Fr. Peter M.J. Stravinskas

All the rest of your alleged citations appear to be unverifiable, so unless you can produce links to said documents, I think we’d have to question their authenticity.

At this point though, I’m wondering why it is that you are posting misinformation that is only found on an anti-Catholic website belonging to Steve Wohlberg is a member of the nearby Newport Washington Seventh-day Adventist Church.

I am not familiar with that translation, but the argument seems to stand from the other sources, regardless.

Actually, no it doesn’t.

 

[MarcoPolo]

the Fundamentalists in the class exchange knowing glances as if the Catholic students’ comments confirm their worst beliefs about Catholics. The whole business makes me uncomfortable.

The Spirit is, assuredly, also given to individual Christians, so that their hearts can “burn within them” (Lk. 24:32) as they pray and prayerfully study the Scripture within the context of their own personal lives. This is why the Second Vatican Council insisted that access to Scripture be facilitated in every possible way (Dei Verbum, 22; 25). This kind of reading, it should be noted, is never completely private, for the believer always reads and interprets Scripture within the faith of the church and then brings back to the community the fruit of that reading for the enrichment of the common faith.

(Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, Pontifical Biblical Commission, 1994)

 

[kkollwitz]

I’m 54, and even as a child was encouraged by priests and nuns to read my kiddie Bible. I never heard anything from a pulpit or lectern that discouraged Bible-reading. I do think the idea that Bible-reading is discouraged is useful for indifferent Catholics who don’t want to make the effort.

 

[Church_Militant]

I’m 54, and even as a child was encouraged by priests and nuns to read my kiddie Bible. I never heard anything from a pulpit or lectern that discouraged Bible-reading. I do think the idea that Bible-reading is discouraged is useful for indifferent Catholics who don’t want to make the effort.

 

[hawkeye125646]

The beauty of reading sacred scripture, is that, even if you read it a hundred times, on the 101st time you will ALWYAS be learning something new… To see the beauty of prophecy come through in history is marvelous to read… May we all continue to read sacred scripture in light of the church’s magisterial teachings and traditions!

 

[kkollwitz]

“on the 101st time you will ALWYAS be learning something new…”

Yes. The Bible is shockingly dense in its information, probably more than anyone can fully assess in a lifetime.