Gideon's Bible

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**Scenario: **Your child attends a Catholic school and is given a Gideon’s Bible complete with the ‘sinners prayer’ on the last page.

Question: How do you respond? Is this appropriate? Should a Catholic school be distributing Protestant material?

Note: Google sinners prayer if you’re curious to know what it is. The school provided the bible to the student (in case you were wondering).

For my Protestant brothers and sisters we’ll tweak the question!

**Scenario: **Your child attends a Protestant school and comes home with a Catholic Bible (choose your version 😃 ) with the Act of Contrition printed on the last page.

Question: How would you respond?

Note: Google Act of Contrition to see what that prayer says.

🙂 Thank you for your (name removed by moderator)ut!
 
I do not understand why a Catholic school would be giving out Protestant Bibles, unless the teachers were trying to show the children how the the Protestant Bible differs from the Catholic Bible. Otherwise I’d say it’s a little inappropriate, not because Protestants are bad people, but because their Bible is a little on the “light” side (in that it is missing a few books, some of which are among my favorites in the OT).

Also, and I could be wrong on this, I am pretty sure the Gideons consider Catholics just as non-Christian as JWs and Mormons. I remember reading this somewhere that I recall being reputable, but since I can’t recall exactly where I read it I am open to the possibility that this isn’t the case. But if they do teach that Catholics are not Christians then there would obviously be further reasons why it would be inappropriate to give such a Bible from such a group of people to a Catholic child.

With all that said, I suppose the most prudent course of action would be to make an appointment to talk to the teacher or staff member at the school who gave your child this Bible and find out what their reasoning was and if this was something they did on their own or were instructed to do by the school. I would also try to find a polite, but clear way to explain to your child why we Catholics use a different Bible. Not in a way that is uncharitable to our Protestant brothers and sisters, but in a way that reinforces the child’s understanding of their faith and how it is distinct from other faiths.

I should note however, that I am not a parent and so my advice is only worth so much. 🤷
 
who gave him the bible and why? your first response is to get an answer to that
 
puzzleannie said:
who gave him the bible and why? your first response is to get an answer to that
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It’s not my situation. 🙂 Let’s say the school administration sent it. (Yes, I’m basing this question on a real situation but not a situation I am personally dealing with, just something a friend is dealing with)
 
nickybr38 said:
**Scenario: **Your child attends a Catholic school and is given a Gideon’s Bible complete with the ‘sinners prayer’ on the last page.

Question: How do you respond? Is this appropriate? Should a Catholic school be distributing Protestant material?

Note: Google sinners prayer if you’re curious to know what it is. The school provided the bible to the student (in case you were wondering).
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No, a Catholic school should definitely not be distributing Protestant Bibles to students at Catholic schools. I would ask my child who gave him/her the Bible.

If it was from another child, then would explain it is not a Catholic Bible, and you want him to bring it to the teacher to return it to the child. I would write a note to the teacher, explaining my request.

If it was from any adult in the school, I would call the school principal and ask him (or her) if he is aware that the teacher or other individual is giving out Protestant Bibles. If he says yes, ask him why he thinks it is okay.

No matter if the principal knows about it or not, I would tell him it is not okay by me, and that I want my child to study from the Catholic Bible. I would tell him I will be returning the Protestant Bible, and I would ask when Catholic Bibles will be distributed. If the principal balks, then this is a matter that I would immediately contact the school president and/or pastor about.

This IS an urgent matter.
 
As an Anglican Teacher who has distributed ‘Gideons Bibles’ to Kids in an Anglican school, I can see this may seem a bit bizzar but relatively harmless. TO start with certainly here in the Uk the so called Giddeons Bibles that are distributed in schools are infact copies of the New Testament and Pslams not complete Bibles. They are the NIV version which is different from a catholic Bible but here in the UK most catholic schools Im aware of Use the Good News version which is more of a paraphrase than a translation but can be easily understood by Children. IMO the sinners prayer can mark a specific point in anyones faith journey as an acknowledgement of ones own sinfulness and the Grace of God, it does not have to be seen as a replacement of the sacraments. How would I feel if my Child were to be given a catholic Bible in an Anglican school? I would see it as Bizzar…Having the act of contrition which is intended for use in a very specific context would seem odd but the sentiments would not be entirely alien or useless as a Guide for penitential prayer and might provoke thought.
 
From archive.org/stream/MembershipApplication/GideonMembership_djvu.txt
The following is Article 3 quoted from the Constitution of the Association: “The membership shall consist of business and professional men*, except clergymen, who believe in the Bible as the inspired Word of God, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God, have received Him as their personal Saviour, endeavor to follow Him in their daily life, and who are members in good standing of an evangelical or Protestant church, congregation or assembly.”
So, it is not appropriate for a Catholic school to be handing out Gideon Bibles.
 
Erich said:
From archive.org/stream/MembershipApplication/GideonMembership_djvu.txt
The following is Article 3 quoted from the Constitution of the Association: “The membership shall consist of business and professional men*, except clergymen, who believe in the Bible as the inspired Word of God, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God, have received Him as their personal Saviour, endeavor to follow Him in their daily life, and who are members in good standing of an evangelical or Protestant church, congregation or assembly.”
So, it is not appropriate for a Catholic school to be handing out Gideon Bibles.
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How does the fact that this is a protestant group make any difference to the text of the New Testament and psalms?

I say it is rather Bizzar but pretty harmless
 
Ordinarily, it wouldn’t make any difference. But as long as the Gideons (a) do not accept Catholics as members and (b) continue to distribute New Testaments that include proselytizing statements, then I believe it is entirely inappropriate for Catholic schools to be distributing Gideon Bibles.

Wasn’t it Stalin who said, “When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use”? Well, call me old-fashioned, but I don’t believe we need to even be loaning them the money they will use to buy the rope in the first place.
 
I attended a catholic high school (convent school) and in our first year there, the Gideon’s came to one of our assemblies and distributed the bibles to us all?
 
I would contact the school administration to ask why/how this happened and to express to them the inappropriateness of the action. If that fell on deaf ears, I would consider contacting the diocesan office of education.
 
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