Does the Catholic Church encourage the reading of the Bible

[wmscott]

First off, I do not intend this thread to be inflammatory in any way. It is just an opinion and an observation.

I have read on this forum and have heard from many of our Protestants brothers and sisters that the Catholic Church and our Priests do not encourage reading of the Bible. I find this intriguing, converting to Catholicism in 1983; I have never heard one word discouraging the reading of Sacred Scripture. Quite the opposite, all through RCIA and within all of the different parishes I have belonged to for the last 26 years, I have always been encouraged to read Sacred Scripture.

I find it rather odd that there are folks who say that they used to be a Catholic for “X” amount of years and have never been encouraged to read Sacred Scripture. So the question here is, were they were spiritually weak, did they not know their faith very well or did they never really practice their faith very well. They say that when they went to some Protestant denomination, it was that particular denomination that really pushed them to read the Bible. I say good for that denomination for encouraging this practice, however this leads me to another question at this point; where was the individual’s personal responsibility in taking up the Bible and reading it for themselves.

Are they not individuals who can think for themselves and exercise some personal initiative or are they just sheep that needs to be lead by the hand for every detail regarding what they are to believe. With this kind of attitude, will they not be subject to every new concept that blows their way.

I know in my initial reading of the “DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON DIVINE REVELATION, DEI VERBUM” it is clear that Scared Scripture is highly encouraged to be read by the faithful, if not implied, that it is a responsibility that we all share.

My next question is, are there any Catholics here that feel that they have not been encouraged to read Sacred Scripture or have been discouraged in any from doing so?

 

[DOShea]

I too have always been encouraged to read more of the Scriptures as well as writings of the early Church Fathers, letters from our Bishops, and more. I can only recall one time in many years that anything you could remotely consider a “don’t” came across. At the time (late 90s) I lived in a city in Central Florida. One Sunday one of our priests was trying to get a specific point across, but it didn’t quite come out the way he perhaps intended.

It came on the heels of several weeks of being blasted by tracts like those Chik things, where someone would sweep through the parking lot during Mass and put them under wiper blades of cars. What was happening is people would go home and read them and their view of what a particular verse said, go check the verse, and without any other verification or context, call the Church office in a panic. So the point Father was trying to make is to stress the same stuff we find in the Catechism, about reading in context and meshing interpretation with the rest of Scripture, Teaching, etc. He said something like don’t read the Bible as a sentence just to veryify what someone else tells you it means. But what many people got was “Don’t read the Bible, listen to the Teaching,” which is NOT what he said. You know how that goes… sometimes people hear what they want to hear.

Well after Mass, had this been 50BC, Father would surely have been stoned right there on the walkway between the doors and the parking lot. As you might suspect, the Pastor got a lot of phone calls about it and eventually put the fire out, but you also know how people who once feel scorned just won’t let go of it and want to carry it like a banner. So for weeks and months there was a terrible sort of rift about reading Scripture that just took time to heal.

Other than that one time, a mistake really, I can’t ever recall being anything but encouraged to read Scripture.

 

[carinapir]

My next question is, are there any Catholics here that feel that they have not been encouraged to read Sacred Scripture or have been discouraged in any from doing so?

I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school my whole life and I wasn’t specifically encouraged to read the Bible. But I wasn’t discouraged either. I heard readings from the Bible everyday so it didn’t occur to me read it much on my own, though my Grandparents and mother sometimes did. However this is from a young person’s (at the time) perspective. I wasn’t at the point where I felt responsible for my own education in the faith. Perhaps there was a gap that should have been filled there, but being young I could have missed or ignored the encouragement to read and study the Bible on my own. As I’ve gotten older and am re-exploring the Catholic Church, I find that the transition between childhood and adulthood in the faith is a tricky business and might account, in part, for this misunderstanding.

Also, I think that in comparison to all of the intensive Bible Study that Protestants attend because they rely so heavily on the text of the Bible, Catholics may seem not to encourage it. But that is only in comparison.

 

[Robbinson]

The Catholic Catechism encourages study of the scriptures and states that “ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ”. So it appears that the official doctrine of the Church is to encourage study of the scriptures.

I can’t speak to what actually happens in the local parishes, as I am not Catholic. I will say that having participated in many Masses and fallen into the habit of reading the Catholic liturgy each day, I was amazed by the amount of scripture covered each day (Old and New Testament) as part of the liturgy. Sundays will include Old Testament scripture, Epistle, Gospel and Psalms, and multiple prayers deriving directly from scripture as well. A short homily is included on Sunday’s applying the gospel verse to our lives in the local community.

I suspect ultimately that Catholic’s who faithfully attend Church once or more per week probably hear considerably more scripture read in Church than most Protestants.

All of that being said, Protestants are miles ahead of the Catholic Church in terms of bible versions, high quality study bibles, bible software and commentaries.

Blessings,

Brian

 

[puzzleannie]

all the Catholic adults I know in my parents’ and in-laws generation (now in their 80s-90s) were taught formal bible study for several years in Catholic schools, read the bible all their lives, were introduced to prayer with scripture and bible reading by their own parents and grandparents, received bibles as gifts for major milestones. Certainly the same is true of the Catholics I know from my generation (boomers).

Perhaps this is an urban legend, perhaps it was true in isolated times and places, but a blanket prohibition on bible reading is not part of the upbringing at least of Catholics I know, through two entirely Catholic families.

 

[Mark77]

The Catholic Catechism encourages study of the scriptures and states that “ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ”. So it appears that the official doctrine of the Church is to encourage study of the scriptures.

I can’t speak to what actually happens in the local parishes, as I am not Catholic. I will say that having participated in many Masses and fallen into the habit of reading the Catholic liturgy each day, I was amazed by the amount of scripture covered each day (Old and New Testament) as part of the liturgy. Sundays will include Old Testament scripture, Epistle, Gospel and Psalms, and multiple prayers deriving directly from scripture as well. A short homily is included on Sunday’s applying the gospel verse to our lives in the local community.

I suspect ultimately that Catholic’s who faithfully attend Church once or more per week probably hear considerably more scripture read in Church than most Protestants.

All of that being said, Protestants are miles ahead of the Catholic Church in terms of bible versions, high quality study bibles, bible software and commentaries.

Blessings,

Brian

Brian,

**i commend you on your search for God’s Truth.

While our Protestant brothers have many traits we can all emulate, commentaries that are conflicting and just plain wrong, as many of the Protestant commentaries are, do not unite the Body of Christ, His Church, they confuse and divide it.
**
**We Catholics have 2000 years of Bible versions and commentaries, by the likes of the Popes, St. Jerome, St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, just to name a few, that have withstood the test of time.
**
They are not confusing and conflicting, there is no OSAS or “health and wealth” or “rapture”, just the Truth of Jesus Christ, as He reveals it through His Catholic Church.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

mark

 

[Robbinson]

Brian,

**i commend you on your search for God’s Truth.

While our Protestant brothers have many traits we can all emulate, commentaries that are conflicting and just plain wrong, as many of the Protestant commentaries are, do not unite the Body of Christ, His Church, they confuse and divide it.
**
**We Catholics have 2000 years of Bible versions and commentaries, by the likes of the Popes, St. Jerome, St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, just to name a few, that have withstood the test of time.
**
They are not confusing and conflicting, there is no OSAS or “health and wealth” or “rapture”, just the Truth of Jesus Christ, as He reveals it through His Catholic Church.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

mark

Point taken

 

[little_one]

i went to catholic school and was encouraged to read it, we read it in class everyday too. but i know many catholics don’t read the bible. one day i had some jehovah’s witnesses come to my door and say they used to be catholic until they read the bible. i felt so sad for them

 

[Crumpy]

My next question is, are there any Catholics here that feel that they have not been encouraged to read Sacred Scripture or have been discouraged in any from doing so?

Quite frankly, yes.

I, too, never felt that I was discouraged from reading the Bible. I was astonished at the beauty and wonder of the scripture I read, when I pulled our fancy leather family Bible off the shelf and started browsing in it – when I was about 11 years old, or so.

Reading the Bible was not a family activity, unfortunately. But, 50 years ago, we were reading the Bible in elementary school and I still have a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine edition that I picked up back then.

In high school, we were supposed to read scripture, but the nuns that were teaching us didn’t know how to read it, themselves.

For example, if our religion textbook directed us to read 1 Co 3:5-4:7, our elderly sister would read verse 3:5 and 4:7. And she just about bit my head off when I pointed out that the hyphen meant we were supposed to read all the verses inbetween, inclusively.

I had limited success, about 15% success, in starting up parish-level bible reading and discussion groups. In 2000, for example, I approached the priest in the local parish that I was joining about starting up a group and he said “nobody wants that.” Now, that’s not to say he discouraged reading the Bible, but he strictly didn’t want any group forming in the parish to do it together.

Now, this same pastor-priest was soliciting CSA funds for the diocese, part of which were earmarked for developing adult formation in the parishes, including Bible study. So, it’s not far-fetched for me to allege that he was soliciting funds under false pretenses, because he was stone-walling the very thing he was collecting money for.

So, I can see it both ways. I’m 60 and I’d say I was starved for a long time from really getting into Bible reading and study.

In his six-part EWTN series on Verbum Dei, Fr. John Corapi really came down on the read-and-discuss what-do-you-think kind of parish Bible study groups. He does encourage Bible reading, but he says, just read it.

 

[Crumpy]

All of that being said, Protestants are miles ahead of the Catholic Church in terms of bible versions, high quality study bibles, bible software and commentaries.

Lord willing, His Holiness Benedict XVI will be putting together a program for encouraging the reading and study of scripture, as a normal outcome of the Special Synod in Rome, in the Fall of 2008, on the use of scripture in the everyday life of the church.

I don’t know what will actually happen, but I expect him to blow us away with his leadership in the matter.

He is very energetic and productive, and I think he knows what God wants him to do in the immediate future. Technically, I think what might be coming is a motu proprio, which I guess is a policy statement, probably very broad and inclusive.

 

[carinapir]

After reading some of the responses, I would be interested in having you define what you mean by “reading” the Bible. Hearing it at Mass or school? Attending Bible study of some kind? Reading it on your own for personal reflection? Or all of the above?

In reading your question, I had assumed that you meant encouragement to read or actively seek discussion of the Sacred Scripture outside of the normal ways that a Catholic would naturally hear it (Mass and school in particular).

 

[wmscott]

After reading some of the responses, I would be interested in having you define what you mean by “reading” the Bible. Hearing it at Mass or school? Attending Bible study of some kind? Reading it on your own for personal reflection? Or all of the above?

In reading your question, I had assumed that you meant encouragement to read or actively seek discussion of the Sacred Scripture outside of the normal ways that a Catholic would naturally hear it (Mass and school in particular).

In my original post, I was alluding to being encouraged to read Sacred Scripture apart from the Mass or in school. There have been many occasions here on this forum and elsewhere, claims that Catholics are not encouraged to read Sacred Scripture. I just find this to be incredibly naïve or just plain confrontational. As an individual, as a family, and as a Church community, I and we do read and are encouraged to read Sacred Scripture by our Priests and the CC. Therefore, I guess the answer to your question in one aspect is all of the above; however, I am not sure as to what you mean by “outside of the normal ways that a Catholic would naturally hear it (Mass and school in particular)”. Wouldn’t reading Sacred Scripture for one’s self, as a family, as a Church at Mass, in school, and at Bible studies all be normal ways of getting to know Sacred Scripture? I hope I have answered your questions

 

[carinapir]

Therefore, I guess the answer to your question in one aspect is all of the above; however, I am not sure as to what you mean by “outside of the normal ways that a Catholic would naturally hear it (Mass and school in particular)”. Wouldn’t reading Sacred Scripture for one’s self, as a family, as a Church at Mass, in school, and at Bible studies all be normal ways of getting to know Sacred Scripture?

I guess I was trying to look at it analytically. In my mind, reading / hearing Scripture read at Mass or in a class at school does not equal being encouraged to read Scripture and therefore “doesn’t count” towards your question. A Catholic would hear Scripture at Mass or in a Catholic school simply by showing up. So being the devil’s advocate, a Protestant might disregard those times. Does that make sense? For me in would be very important for people to separate those times from reading Scripture outside of Mass or Church or they are not really answering the question, IMHO.

Not that responders didn’t separate the two, I don’t know what they were thinking when they responded, but I wanted to define what we are talking about.

So the question here is, were they were spiritually weak, did they not know their faith very well or did they never really practice their faith very well.

To this point, I think that the reasons behind some Catholics not reading the Bible on their own as much as others or feeling that they were not encouraged to do so are based on various factors. Saying that it has to do with spiritual weakness seems condescending, though I sure you didn’t mean it that way. Factors such as family, environment, personality, intellectuality need to be taken into account.

One person might find the Bible more personally inspiring and read a passage everyday to guide their day, while another might find it more intellectually fascinating and spend periods simply thinking about the concepts of the Bible, reading the actual text more rarely. Is there a correct amount of time to study the Bible?

Of course, your point is probably that discouraging people from reading the Bible is clearly not part of Catholic Church teaching and so if someone feels that way it must be due to a misunderstanding of some kind.

 

[arcee]

I was encouraged to read the Bible. Yes, the Catholic Church encourages everybody to read the Bible. Our Catholic of Faith is based on Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Traditions. Both go hand in hand, one can not be encouraged or emphasized over the other.
I believe that each and every one of us has the responsibility to discern deeply the words of God in the Sacred Scriptures. We can only do this by reading the Sacred Scriptures.
God bless. Live Jesus in our hearts

 

[rivera01]

I remember from my apologetics class this point being brought up, and I actually had a co-worker confront me on this issue as well.

Protestants get this idea from catholic priests and bishops having a bible bar-b-que and having bibles chained up to the pulpits in the middle ages. Is this true? Yes, but the bibles that were being burnt because they contained translation errors and heresy. As far as bibles being chained up, before Gutenburg, bibles were copied by hand by monks. And the reason for them being chained up is because they were considered like a family heirloom and did not want to lose it.

In my years in the Church, I have never heard of us being discouraged from reading Scrpture, on the contrary. What I do remember is being warned about coming up with our own interpretation of Scripture, something that Protestants do.

 

[CHRISTINE77]

Most other Christian churches are Bible only, so they really concentrate on it, and it alone.

. Catholics have so many things to read in addition to the Bible, like the writings of the Church fathers, writings from the Popes, prayers, catechism. Our religion is really rich and layered and full of different ways of learning about Christ and God and Mary and the saints. Since our masses were originally said in Latin we can also learn Latin, which I don’t think any other Christian churches emphasize at all.

I love the Bible, especially the New Testament, but thank heavens there’s more to our religion than just the Bible. I don’t think Catholics today are discouraged from reading the Bible, but perhaps in the past they were.

We get Bible readings in church too, which always reminds me of that part of the Bible, and prompts me to re-read certain chapters.

One thing Catholics don’t do, is bring their Bibles to church, unlike a lot of other Christians since lectionaries are provided.

 

[Eileen_T]

I remember from my apologetics class this point being brought up, and I actually had a co-worker confront me on this issue as well.

Protestants get this idea from catholic priests and bishops having a bible bar-b-que and having bibles chained up to the pulpits in the middle ages. Is this true? Yes, but the bibles that were being burnt because they contained translation errors and heresy. As far as bibles being chained up, before Gutenburg, bibles were copied by hand by monks. And the reason for them being chained up is because they were considered like a family heirloom and did not want to lose it.

In my years in the Church, I have never heard of us being discouraged from reading Scrpture, on the contrary. What I do remember is being warned about coming up with our own interpretation of Scripture, something that Protestants do.

I think there may have been those among the laity, in older times, who were nervous about reading the Bible because of their fear of interpreting it incorrectly. If I am correct, this is why there is a plenary indulgence attached to reading the Bible under certain conditions… in order to encourage more devout Catholics to read it on a daily basis.

 

[Magnus1981]

Short answer
Yes, the Catholic Church does encourage the reading of the Bible.

Long answer
Paragraphs 131, 132, and 133 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church state:

131 "And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigor, and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life."Hence "access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful

."

132 “Therefore, the study of the sacred page should be the very soul of sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too - pastoral preaching, catechetics and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place - is healthily nourished and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture.”

133 The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ. *

Nuff said?

 

[Pug]

Maybe it has to do with what the parents of the person did. For example, as a child I can’t say I was encouraged to pray grace in most settings, since it was only said on specific occasions, and only in large groups, so I tended to associate it with that, and I felt disappointed if it was missing. But I could have freely said grace to myself at any time before eating, though it would have felt “weird” since I looked at grace as a group activity, not a private one. I bet most folks who didn’t feel encouraged to read the bible also didn’t have parents who read the bible (outside of mass, etc.). Maybe their parents’ favorite way to pray was the rosary instead.

I have not felt discouraged from reading scripture. I have never been anything but encouraged (as a Catholic). It is difficult to read the Catechism or the Church Fathers or an encyclical and not read it, since they quote it all the time, so if you are like me, you then feel the need to look it up if you don’t recall the full verse context.

 

[Cashue]

The bible is not as important as the church; even though its good to read the bible, the bible would be useless without the church to explain it.