Is it common for Catholics to memorize the Bible or the catechism?

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Just sheer curiosity. If I were a catholic I would probably just content myself with having a bible at home (which I do and I enjoy reading it very much) and a book containing the catechism. Do you guys often memorize them?
 
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No. But the many biblical references in the Mass become memorised by almost all regularly-attending Catholics.
 
There are certainly passages that I know by heart. I would say more than that, I have a vast recall of stories and parables that I am very familiar with. When I hear readings at Mass, I mentally say, "Oh, yes. This passage is . . . " I do have a Catholic Bible and the Catechism in my home and at work.
 
I memorize them to a degree, but I see no need in verbatim memorization of exact passages.

I can tell you “the Apostle says such and such,” but with the exception of a few verses I don’t memorize things exactly.

But I’m in good company - the Apostles rarely quoted the OT verbatim, almost every NT quote of the OT is somewhat of a paraphrase.

The way Protestants remember exact verbatim quotes by chapter and verse is not the Apostolical Practice.
 
I don’t think many specifically work towards memorizing either in the sense of “today, I’m going memorize CCC 1000 to 1010, tomorrow Mathew chapter 11.”

I do have large sections of both committed to memory in that I can probably quote 95% accurate what was said for the purpose of understanding. Interestingly, I’ll generally know about where to find it, but not number, chapter or verse.

Who doesn’t know “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”? But whether that’s one verse or 2 or 3, didn’t memorize.
 
No, but like the others say attending mass regularly gets some passages in my head. Also I have go to favourites for when I feel the need, like when I am sad, sick (I have chronic illness so a lot of those), ones for confession, for perking me up etc. Actually thinking on it it’s not so much passages that I recall verbatim, but more like Psalm numbers that I like…such as Oh I love 91, 23, 51, 119 etc. and John for this and Paul for that etc. even if you may not recall exactly which book it is. And then there’s the sayings you always say which actually come from the Bible even if you’ve slightly modernised them…like not letting the sun go down on an argument/anger - Paul. They are definitely part of my thoughts.
 
Catholic bibles rule, they include my favorite Old Testament book: Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus)
 
The entire Bible? No, though I am sure some Catholics do. I believe a saint whose feast day was not too long ago did such.
But not at all is that normal. It’s really long.

Likewise people probably don’t memorize that he Catechism. Perhaps most have an understanding of both in general, but exact memorization is a bit much.
 
Curious1131m
Just sheer curiosity. If I were a catholic I would probably just content myself with having a bible at home (which I do and I enjoy reading it very much) and a book containing the catechism. Do you guys often memorize them?

No…it’s not common…that’s why Catholics are so easy to recruit to Evangelical denominations…they don’t read or understand the Bible…or the teachings of the Catholic church…I used to be Pentecostal over two decades ago…ex Catholics make up a good part of Evangelical and Pentecostal Protestant churches because they are so easily duped into believing that the Catholic church is an idolatrous church that worships statues…has man made rules that are not biblical…just look at Latin America…Catholics are leaving the church by the thousands to join Protestant denominations partly because of those very reasons…another reason is those churches not only preach the Bible…the word of God…but also are taught to live by the very words they are taught from the Bible…as Catholics they probably didn’t realize that the Bible is the inspired word of God…why would any Catholic not want to read the word of God from cover to cover as Protestants do…but sadly they don’t.
 
But surely Catholics can be encouraged to study scripture without memorizing it? Heck even I have a decent notion of Jesus’s words in the gospels by reading and researching and I by no means have memorized it, nor do I belong to any Christian denomination. Also, if Catholics don’t only believe in the Bible but also sacred tradition, they cannot fully understand the creed uniquely by memorizing the Bible. Catholics, like any intelligent human, should research everything they’re told to decide if they find truth in those assertions, and I don’t see the need to memorize scripture for that, but rather read it when in doubt or seek the opinions of others and contrast
 
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I blame bad teaching combined with indifference.
If the Catholics knew and believed what the Church says…I think the world would be a much better place.
 
You don’t have to memorize although memorization will help you in your apologetics. But not everyone wants to be and apologist.
 
I don’t think Catholics memorize them very much besides a few bits here and there. In the old days, I think they made you memorize all the answers in the Baltimore Catechism, but not anymore. I’ve memorized some of the more important answers in the Baltimore Catechism. I’ve also memorized some of the Psalms from praying them almost every day, and a few verses here and there in the New Testament from referring to them so often. Catholics memorize prayers more than anything.
 
Curious11 said:
Just sheer curiosity. If I were a catholic I would probably just content myself with having a bible at home (which I do and I enjoy reading it very much) and a book containing the catechism. Do you guys often memorize them?
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I would say that most devout Catholics have at least one Bible at home (if not several) and at least one copy of the Catechism (though many might simple use the Catechism online now a days)

Catholics are not typically known for memorizing chapter and verse numbers of the Bible, but Catholics do typically know the Bible and what the is meant by the stories.

Meaning, while some Protetants focus on memorizing verses, Catholics typically learn full context of a chapter and/or parable.
 
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This is mainly due to bad catechesis of the 20th century.
Baby Boomers didn’t have a strong enough back ground in WHY the Church teaches what she teaches.

This caused a lot of dissidence after Vatican II, and poor catechesis of Generation X and most Millennials.

God Bless
 
As a non Catholic why would you think Catholics do?
Is memorising the Bible common in your own tradition?
 
I am aware that many evangelists and more fundamentalist denominations seem to do so but wasn’t aware it was encouraged by all Protestant Churches for all adult members?

That certainly isn’t the case for Catholics.
We are a people of the Word rather than the Book.
 
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