Does the Catholic Church encourage the reading of the Bible

[DaveBj]

We have a huge Catholic “coffee table” Bible from the 1950s (Douay-Challoner Old Testament, Confraternity New Testament), long before Vatican II and Dei Verbum, and even longer before the CCC, from back in the days when people believed that the Catholic Church discouraged or even forbade the reading of the Bible, and when some Catholic authorities themselves were discouraging the reading of the Bible.

The introductory article “Facts about the Catholic Bible” contains the statement “Catholics are urged to read the Bible…” The texts of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Providentissimus Deus, Benedict XV’s encyclical Spiritus Paraclitus, and Pius XII’s encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, all of which encourage individual reading of the Sacred Scriptures, are included.

Whoever says that the Catholic Church does not encourage or has not encouraged the reading of Scripture is misinformed. When Catholic authority figures have discouraged the reading of Scripture, they were misguided and should have been confronted and corrected.

DaveBj

 

[Magnus1981]

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.

I don’t think it’s a case of one being “more important” than the other. Don’t forget that sacred scripture is always read from during the Mass and that the liturgical calendar (Year A, B, C, etc.) is designed so that at the readings, the faithful are exposed to a wide variety (if not all) of passages from scripture.

The Bible still has its use outside of the Mass (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and like we’ve been discussing Catholics are encouraged to read their Bibles (unfortunately not a lot do and this is sad), but could you imagine a Mass where they didn’t ever refer to scripture and read from the Bible? For a lot of Catholics, the Mass is the only exposure they get to the Bible! This is a sad reality as every Catholic should be fully equipped to defend their faith if it is ever brought into question:

“But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, being ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you.” - 1 Peter 3:15

Sacred Scripture and the Mass work hand-in-hand in bringing the Good News of Christ to the faithful, i.e. the combination of Sacred Scipture and Sacred Tradition, so it’s not exactly suitable to say that one is “more important” than the other.

When the pharisees asked Jesus, “Which of the commandments is most important?” (Matthew 22:36), how did Jesus respond? A “Bible Christian” may ask question similar in design to a Catholic: “What’s more important: The Church or the Bible?” It’s a loaded question so it would be wise to answer it in a manner similar to how Christ answered the pharisees. A learned Catholic should answer that question this way:

Well neither one is more important than the other, but we do know this:

1.) The Bible (Sacred Scripture) is useful/profitable in making the man of God complete and thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-17); and
2.) The Church is the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim. 3:15).

Both are important to me; both feed and nourish me spiritually; one is my home and community and gives me a family to share in public prayer and sacrament; the other I keep in my house and use in my private prayer and ongoing spiritual development.

The Church and the Sacred Scriptures live together in a unique symbiosis, and it is in this symbiosis that we grow as a people of God, living in Christ.