Does the Catholic Church teach from the Bible?

[1ke]

I understand that responsiblity somewhat falls on the parents

Not somewhat. Completely.

From the Catechism:

1. The fruitfulness of conjugal love extends to the fruits of the moral, spiritual, and supernatural life that parents hand on to their children by education. Parents are the principal and first educators of their children. In this sense the fundamental task of marriage and family is to be at the service of life.
2. In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary importance as centers of living, radiant faith. For this reason the Second Vatican Council, using an ancient expression, calls the family the Ecclesia domestica. It is in the bosom of the family that parents are “by word and example …the first heralds of the faith with regard to their children.”
3. The fecundity of conjugal love cannot be reduced solely to the procreation of children, but must extend to their moral education and their spiritual formation. “The role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute.” The right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable.
4. Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues.

Familiaris Consortio:

1. Hence, parents must be acknowledged as the first and foremost educators of their children. Their role as educators is so decisive that scarcely anything can compensate for their failure in it. The right and duty of parents to give education is essential …

Gravissimum Educationis:

1. Since parents have given children their life, they are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring and therefore must be recognized as the primary and principal educators. This role in education is so important that only with difficulty can it be supplied where it is lacking. Parents are the ones who must create a family atmosphere animated by love and respect for God and man, in which the well-rounded personal and social education of children is fostered.

but if so many people are not reading the Bible, isn’t that bad?

Yes.

The Sunday school could have assigned us to read certain stories and it’s not like it’s difficult for them to encourage us to read the Bible. If someone’s parents do not read it to them, why would they think that they are supposed to later on?

Yes, certainly you could make suggestions to your pastor for improvement in the program. But, again, the religious education program can only do so much. They may have determined that there were other aspects of the Church’s teaching that needed to be focused on.

 

[smiddle]

I am not trolling around your posts, nor anyone else’s, and I am not attacking your parents.

Ok, three. That is so many more than one. The point is that your experience is not indicative of all parishes or dioceses.

I hope you will learn not to take things on a public internet forum so personally. This is just discussion, debate, the exchange of ideas. It is not personal.

But you still misunderstand the role of the religious education program and the role of parents in the education of their children in the faith.

You inaccurately posited that the Church denied heliocentricity, which it did not. Galileo’s trouble began with his attempt to interpret scripture, not his astronomy. The Church’s astronomers discovered many of the astronomical phenomena including Copernicus. There are some good books and articles on the subject, but again the Church had no issue with heliocentricity (which of course is also an incorrect theory since the universe is not heliocentric, only our individual solar system). The Church’s issue centered around Galileo’s venture into theology, not science.

This, however, is a topic for another thread.

The Church did deny heliocentricity! Do not try and speak on a manner that you do not know about. Read this from his trial: law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/galileo/condemnation.html

 

[1ke]

The Church did deny heliocentricity! Do not try and speak on a manner that you do not know about. Read this from his trial: law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/galileo/condemnation.html

catholic.com/tracts/the-galileo-controversy

But again, unrelated to the thread topic regarding parents as the primary educators of their chidlren.

 

[St_Francis]

Different

I asked a deacon where our traditions came from and he told me that we pull a lot of it from different Bible verses, like our baptism of children to cleanse them of original sin, our statues, confession to a priest, etc.

If you look at it from an historical context, you will see that the teachings of the Church came before the writings which were much later collected and chosen as the canon of Scripture.

If I read that 2+2=4 in a book written in 1964, would I say that that “teaching” came from the book? Or would I think that it was included in the book because it was already known?

 

[Keith_W_OR_USA]

Before you jump at my throat, I know that this is where we get our dogmas, rules, etc. My question pertains more to Sunday school.

It was just pointed out to me, by a Baptist, that all we (Catholics) do is read the same Bible stories at church, so we never really learn anything new. Naturally I jumped to defend the Church, but after I thought about it, it’s kind of true.

In Sunday school, not once did we ever look at or read from the Bible. We were taught how church and the sacraments work and how to complete them, not why we even do them in the first place. In eighth grade, about 3 weeks before my confirmation, I was given a Bible. That was great, except for the fact that we never opened them, except to write our names on the inside cover.

This does not make any sense to me, especially since how powerful the Bible is. It has really opened my eyes and helped me better understand my faith. My friends that are Baptist, Protestant, etc. know the Bible very well, and they can recite verses as quickly as they can prayers.

I think the teachers should stress reading the Bible and actually understanding why we do things and where we got them from, instead of reviewing what to do at confirmation everyday.

The Bible as we know it wasn’t put together until the 3rd Century. The Church traces it’s roots back to Peter. Protestant bible was created by Martin Luther and not by a council.

 

[robwar]

Before you jump at my throat, I know that this is where we get our dogmas, rules, etc. My question pertains more to Sunday school.

It was just pointed out to me, by a Baptist, that all we (Catholics) do is read the same Bible stories at church, so we never really learn anything new. Naturally I jumped to defend the Church, but after I thought about it, it’s kind of true.

In Sunday school, not once did we ever look at or read from the Bible. We were taught how church and the sacraments work and how to complete them, not why we even do them in the first place. In eighth grade, about 3 weeks before my confirmation, I was given a Bible. That was great, except for the fact that we never opened them, except to write our names on the inside cover.

This does not make any sense to me, especially since how powerful the Bible is. It has really opened my eyes and helped me better understand my faith. My friends that are Baptist, Protestant, etc. know the Bible very well, and they can recite verses as quickly as they can prayers.

I think the teachers should stress reading the Bible and actually understanding why we do things and where we got them from, instead of reviewing what to do at confirmation everyday.

remember that when your Protestant friends are quoting the Bible, they are quoting verses to support their particular point and most likely are over looking many other verses that might not support their particular point. I know in Lutheran Churches, in their schools and religious classes their is a heavy emphasis on memorization which the Catholic Church does not do with its children. In Lutheran schools, the children have to get up to repeat the verse of the week in front of the class. But in emphasizing just memorization, do these children know what and why they believe? It may look impressive but do they have any further foundation than that? Our CCD classes have not had just straight Bible memorization but more on what the Church teaches and believes especially with heavy emphasis on sacraments.

 

[ProVobis]

remember that when your Protestant friends are quoting the Bible, they are quoting verses to support their particular point and most likely are over looking many other verses that might not support their particular point.

And more than likely they’re quoting from their favorite translations, although I have heard a couple of radio Protestant ministers using their knowledge of Greek and Latin to make some very interesting points.

 

[smiddle]

If you look at it from an historical context, you will see that the teachings of the Church came before the writings which were much later collected and chosen as the canon of Scripture.

If I read that 2+2=4 in a book written in 1964, would I say that that “teaching” came from the book? Or would I think that it was included in the book because it was already known?

I wasn’t challenging you, he was probably wrong then. That’s just what he told me while we were rushing to get ready for mass and when I looked up those things they actually were in the Bible.

 

[JReducation]

Before you jump at my throat, I know that this is where we get our dogmas, rules, etc. My question pertains more to Sunday school.

It was just pointed out to me, by a Baptist, that all we (Catholics) do is read the same Bible stories at church, so we never really learn anything new. Naturally I jumped to defend the Church, but after I thought about it, it’s kind of true.

In Sunday school, not once did we ever look at or read from the Bible. We were taught how church and the sacraments work and how to complete them, not why we even do them in the first place. In eighth grade, about 3 weeks before my confirmation, I was given a Bible. That was great, except for the fact that we never opened them, except to write our names on the inside cover.

This does not make any sense to me, especially since how powerful the Bible is. It has really opened my eyes and helped me better understand my faith. My friends that are Baptist, Protestant, etc. know the Bible very well, and they can recite verses as quickly as they can prayers.

I think the teachers should stress reading the Bible and actually understanding why we do things and where we got them from, instead of reviewing what to do at confirmation everyday.

In order to answer this question correctly, we have to know several facts. The facts actually answer the question.

Fact #1

The bible comes from the Church, not the Church from the bible. Anything that the Church does and believes will be found in the bile or will be based on Sacred Tradition which was handed down to us from the early Church, but was not included in the bible. In other words, Christianity is bigger than the bible.

Fact # 2

Because the bible was written and collated based on the faith of the early Church, everything in the bible is going to be found in our worship and our beliefs. If one understands our worship and our beliefs, one understands the bible. Even though we may not be able to quote random verses.

Fact #3

Fundamentalist Protestantism has nothing else to go on but the bible. It does not rely on the early Church or the Fathers. It denies the value of tradition and it has no teaching Magisterium. Its only source of faith are the books of the bible. For the most part, Fundamentalists don’t pay much attention to the OT, because they don’t understand that the entire OT is about Jesus Christ.

Fact #4

When you have nothing else except the books of the bible and you have a lifetime to study the faith, you can cover those books 100 times in an average lifetime. Of course you’re going to be able to cite them off the top of your head. However, the fact that you can cite, is no proof that you know the bible. I bet any amount of money that every poster on this forum knows the Pythagorean Theorem. I bet that only two of us can prove it. About 30% of us know how to use it. It’s not very useful if all you can do is prattle it off. The same happens with bible verses. Their pretty useless if one can’t put them in context and can’t see how they are the expression of our faith, not the source of our faith. The source of our faith is not the bible. The source of our faith is God’s self-disclosure. The bible in the story of how God discloses himself and his plan for humanity.

Fact #5

If you look at the average elementary school CCD program or Sunday School program, it’s 33 hours per year. The average student in the USA must take 200 hours of math per year. The school year has 200 days and the religious education year has 33 days. When teaching children as much as there is to cover about the faith in 33 hours, you’re condensing as much as you can into a small time frame. That’s why the old Q & A catechism were such a big hit when they came out. Everything that we believe was summarized so that it could be covered in a short amount of time.

Fact #6

There is some degree of bible education in every religious education program. The degree is going to depend on two important factors, the text and the teacher.

Fact #7

Exegesis and Biblical theology are not courses for children. They require a level of abstract thinking, cognitive organization skills and language skill that most children do not have until they’re about 12 or older. Exegesis and Biblical Theology are really areas of study for adolescents and adults who have the cognitive abilities to handle the subject matter. Little kids can be taught to memorize quotes from the bible. How helpful are those if they don’t know exegesis and theology?

Fact #8

There are many opportunities for young adults and older adults to study scripture. There are courses taught in parishes, through the dioceses, workshops, and Catholic colleges around the country. The number of adults who take advantage of them is rather small. But the Church does provide them. In fact, those courses are far more challenging and comprehensive than any bible course that you’ll get at a Fundamentalist bible study. At a fundamentalist bible study,the focus is to refute Catholicism. That’s not the purpose of the bible. The bible is not a political document that one uses to clobber an opponent. The bible is they story of salvation. The purpose of bible study is to understand what God has revealed about himself and his plan for our salvation, not to do combat. God has better things to do with him time than man does. Doing combat for the sake of wining an argument is not on God’s agenda. Therefore, it’s not on the Catholic Church’s agenda either.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV

 

[smiddle]

remember that when your Protestant friends are quoting the Bible, they are quoting verses to support their particular point and most likely are over looking many other verses that might not support their particular point. I know in Lutheran Churches, in their schools and religious classes their is a heavy emphasis on memorization which the Catholic Church does not do with its children. In Lutheran schools, the children have to get up to repeat the verse of the week in front of the class. But in emphasizing just memorization, do these children know what and why they believe? It may look impressive but do they have any further foundation than that? Our CCD classes have not had just straight Bible memorization but more on what the Church teaches and believes especially with heavy emphasis on sacraments.

That actually does make a lot of sense, but my friends that do quote the Bible seem to have a pretty good understanding of it because they could explain it pretty well. There probably a lot of other people out that there that only know how to recite, though.

In all of my CCD classes, the focus has just been on the sacrements. Not really what they mean, but how the ceremony works and what to do during it. This is important, but we learned how to do it by the second week of class, and at the end of the year all I could do was walk you through how to do the ceremony step by step.

Unrelated, and this is definitely just a one time thing and does not represent all nuns, but CCD actually kind of confused me. A priest would come to the class every few weeks and each of us would have to confess our sins. I understand that this is really important, but it did not make sense to me when a nun told a girl, that could not think of anything to say, to just make up a few sins. I didn’t get why we had to do it if people just made things up, so my mother had to explain to me that you’re not supposed to do that. (I was in like first grade)

 

[smiddle]

In order to answer this question correctly, we have to know several facts. The facts actually answer the question.

Fact #1

The bible comes from the Church, not the Church from the bible. Anything that the Church does and believes will be found in the bile or will be based on Sacred Tradition which was handed down to us from the early Church, but was not included in the bible. In other words, Christianity is bigger than the bible.

Fact # 2

Because the bible was written and collated based on the faith of the early Church, everything in the bible is going to be found in our worship and our beliefs. If one understands our worship and our beliefs, one understands the bible. Even though we may not be able to quote random verses.

Fact #3

Fundamentalist Protestantism has nothing else to go on but the bible. It does not rely on the early Church or the Fathers. It denies the value of tradition and it has no teaching Magisterium. Its only source of faith are the books of the bible. For the most part, Fundamentalists don’t pay much attention to the OT, because they don’t understand that the entire OT is about Jesus Christ.

Fact #4

When you have nothing else except the books of the bible and you have a lifetime to study the faith, you can cover those books 100 times in an average lifetime. Of course you’re going to be able to cite them off the top of your head. However, the fact that you can cite, is no proof that you know the bible. I bet any amount of money that every poster on this forum knows the Pythagorean Theorem. I bet that only two of us can prove it. About 30% of us know how to use it. It’s not very useful if all you can do is prattle it off. The same happens with bible verses. Their pretty useless if one can’t put them in context and can’t see how they are the expression of our faith, not the source of our faith. The source of our faith is not the bible. The source of our faith is God’s self-disclosure. The bible in the story of how God discloses himself and his plan for humanity.

Fact #5

If you look at the average elementary school CCD program or Sunday School program, it’s 33 hours per year. The average student in the USA must take 200 hours of math per year. The school year has 200 days and the religious education year has 33 days. When teaching children as much as there is to cover about the faith in 33 hours, you’re condensing as much as you can into a small time frame. That’s why the old Q & A catechism were such a big hit when they came out. Everything that we believe was summarized so that it could be covered in a short amount of time.

Fact #6

There is some degree of bible education in every religious education program. The degree is going to depend on two important factors, the text and the teacher.

Fact #7

Exegesis and Biblical theology are not courses for children. They require a level of abstract thinking, cognitive organization skills and language skill that most children do not have until they’re about 12 or older. Exegesis and Biblical Theology are really areas of study for adolescents and adults who have the cognitive abilities to handle the subject matter. Little kids can be taught to memorize quotes from the bible. How helpful are those if they don’t know exegesis and theology?

Fact #8

There are many opportunities for young adults and older adults to study scripture. There are courses taught in parishes, through the dioceses, workshops, and Catholic colleges around the country. The number of adults who take advantage of them is rather small. But the Church does provide them. In fact, those courses are far more challenging and comprehensive than any bible course that you’ll get at a Fundamentalist bible study. At a fundamentalist bible study,the focus is to refute Catholicism. That’s not the purpose of the bible. The bible is not a political document that one uses to clobber an opponent. The bible is they story of salvation. The purpose of bible study is to understand what God has revealed about himself and his plan for our salvation, not to do combat. God has better things to do with him time than man does. Doing combat for the sake of wining an argument is not on God’s agenda. Therefore, it’s not on the Catholic Church’s agenda either.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV

Thank you so much! This actually answers all of my questions, and you did it without being rude or trying to belittle my parents, or me.

when I said the Catholic Church, I did not mean it as a whole. I understand the limitations in the time that they have to teach, but you are right, a huge factor is the teacher. However, I do think that the teacher should be given a little bit more of guidance. I once had a high school student teaching my fourth grade class, and from the beginning she told us she was only doing this for the community service, but since the Church was short on volunteers, they had to accept her.

I was also told that most Protestants quote the King James Bible, which was translated to better fit the Protestant ideas. I stopped reading that version, and now I just use the New American Bible (when I’m reading from the physical Bible) and the New International Version (when I look verses up online). I’m not sure if this is true or not, but I’m assuming you would know?

Thank you again!

 

[TimothyH]

There are many opportunities for young adults and older adults to study scripture. There are courses taught in parishes, through the dioceses, workshops, and Catholic colleges around the country. The number of adults who take advantage of them is rather small. But the Church does provide them. In fact, those courses are far more challenging and comprehensive than any bible course that you’ll get at a Fundamentalist bible study.

I highly recommend the studies by The Great Adventure/Jeff Cavins.

We buy the study guides and the parish buys the DVDs for us.

-Tim-

 

[JReducation]

I highly recommend the studies by The Great Adventure/Jeff Cavins.

We buy the study guides and the parish buys the DVDs for us.

-Tim-

I have to gather some money to buy it. You’re the third person this month who has suggested this book.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV

 

[DebChris]

I recently attended a women’s conference sponsored by Couples for Christ. One of the talks brought out an interesting point. A video was played that gave a former Baptist’s reasons for converting to Catholicism. He had been among the many Baptist apologists who would attack the Catholic Church as unbiblical and was devastated when his mentor converted to the Catholic faith. He took another look at what he had been taught. One of the reasons for his conversion was the Catholic Church’s consistent line of authority, the magisterium. The Catholic has maintained consistency in teaching morals. When he attended Mass, he made a discovery. While the Baptist Church preached on the Bible, the Catholic Church proclaimed the Word of God.
Yes, many non-Catholics know their Bibles. They have been taught from youth to memorize chapter and verse. Services will focus on a few scripture passages and the preacher will expound on them. When we attend Mass, on the other hand, we do hear a short homily on the readings. The readings of the Sunday Mass include both an OT reading, and a NT reading along with a Gospel reading.
Lately more emphasis has been placed on this reality, on how much scripture is read during Mass, than in the past. Other posters pointed to time before literacy was widespread. St. John of the Cross lived during this time. “Priests read the Bible. The people read the priest.” Catholics learned what the Bible taught when it was proclaimed in the Epistle and Gospel of the Mass. They learned the stories from stained glass windows without necessarily being aware where the stories came from. St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of God.”

 

[DebChris]

This is the personal experience of the Catechism received by an older Catholic.
Family life included nightly recitation of the rosary. When the parish made an announcement about the upcoming First Communion, my mother wanted to know why her seven year old daughter was not in the First Communion class. Arrangements were made for this first grader to enter the local parochial school. Did I know my prayers? yes. Did I know the ten commandments? yes. In one week I prepared for my First Communion.
When we moved, I was one year ahead in Catechism than in regular school. Third grade catechism was taught from a brown book of Bible stories.
Each year, a different aspect of the Catholic Faith was taught. It is true that little mention was made of the Biblical roots of our Faith. One year might be about the Sacraments. Another year, we learned the parts of the Mass. We learned about the different garments that the priest wore and their significance. We learned the names of the vessels used for the Mass. Formal catechism ended with the eighth grade. I had already made my Confirmation when I was 11. The bishop was only available for the Sacrament once every two years. When I was ten, my parents had given me a Children’s Bible which I read from cover to cover. We did own several copies of the Douay-Rheims Bible, but it was not read in the home.
My high school honors English class included a unit on the Bible as literature. A pre-test was given since few knew what was in the Bible, Catholic and Protestant alike. I surprising scored the highest in the class . As the only Catholic, I read the Douay-Rheims while the rest of the class read the King James Version.
When I began college, I attended a Catholic college. The school required a theology class which I never took, although I did attend the orientation. A study Bible was the course textbook.

 

[SonCatcher]

I was also told that most Protestants quote the King James Bible, which was translated to better fit the Protestant ideas. I stopped reading that version, and now I just use the New American Bible (when I’m reading from the physical Bible) and the New International Version (when I look verses up online). I’m not sure if this is true or not, but I’m assuming you would know?

Thank you again!

FYI: The New International Version (NIV) is also a Protestant translation that was produced after hundreds of years of hardening against Catholic teaching while the King James (KJB) was produced primarily for Anglicans who, at that time, held very closely to Catholic teaching.

You can find the New American Bible (NAB) on the Bishops’ website.

The online Protestant resources tend to include better concordances, so I will often locate a verse from them but then go read it in the NAB online.

The Douay-Rheims (D-R) translation (a Catholic translation published 2 years before the KJV) is also located in many places online including here.

 

[smiddle]

St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of God.”

That’s actually on the back of my Bible, which was a big reason why I questioned the lack of emphasis that Sunday schools put on reading it.

The only mass that I’ve been to that wasn’t Catholic was Methodist a couple of years ago whole staying at a friend’s house. I noticed that their minister did not have a personal story relating to the story that he had read from the Bible. I thought this was odd because the priests or deacons always have stories to help you better understand the story from the Bible. The whole experience was pretty weird. I thought the electric guitars and drum set were disrespectful, and I learned to appreciate the singing of my priest, even if he is terribly off key. Communion was also weird, the grocery store loaf of italian bread combined with Welch’s grape juice made it seem like a snack.

 

[DebChris]

The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation states, “sacred tradition, sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God’s most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls.”

The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation also speaks to the importance of easy access to sacred Scripture for all Christian faithful. Editions should also be prepared, with suitable footnotes, for non-Christians. “Just as the life of the Church is strengthened through more frequent celebration of the Eucharistic mystery, similarly we may hope for a new stimulus for the life of the Spirit from a growing reverence for the word of God, which ‘lasts forever.’”

 

[wasserfall]

I have to gather some money to buy it. You’re the third person this month who has suggested this book.

Set up an Amazon wish list for your house (like some other persons do…)

 

[JReducation]

Set up an Amazon wish list for your house (like some other persons do…)

I didn’t know that you could do that. Thanks for the suggestion. You’re not just another pretty face.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV