Is there a Bible in the house?

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I am what I consider a Catholic-friendly Protestant. A friend of mine is not so friendly and to prove one of his point of argument tells me there aren’t any Bibles in the Catholic Church (other than that used in Mass by the Priest). Not knowing if this is true or not I thought to ask you folks. Are there Bibles in the pews? Does the priest emphasize Biblical reading?
 
There are not Bibles in the pews, but there are Bibles everywhere in the Church for religious education.

My response to the tired Church-discourages-lay-bible-reading canard is pointing out the fact that indulgences are available for reading Scripture. Of course he may have immediate heart failure at the mention of indulgences, but leaving that argument aside, if the Church really discouraged laypeople reading the bible, why would they attach an indulgence to it?

Point#2: I was Lutheran before Catholic, and I have been in many Lutheran churches and a few Episcopal churches. They didn’t have bibles in the pews either. Yes, the inventors of Sola Scriptura don’t have bibles in their pews. I don’t think it proves in the least that bible-reading is discouraged in Lutheranism.

Scott
 
Our parish has a Bible near the altar for anyone to read. There are no Bibles in the pews, but we do have Missalettes in each pew; in the Missalette are the readings for the day. Here’s a nice link where you can see the readings for Mass each day: usccb.org/nab/index.shtml
 
Ingram said:
I am what I consider a Catholic-friendly Protestant. A friend of mine is not so friendly and to prove one of his point of argument tells me there aren’t any Bibles in the Catholic Church (other than that used in Mass by the Priest). Not knowing if this is true or not I thought to ask you folks. Are there Bibles in the pews?
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No. Bible study classes are held in the classrooms, downstairs - when we’re sitting in the pews, we’re usually worshipping; not reading.

But there are plenty of Bibles in the classrooms, and you can even take one home to borrow, if you want to. 🙂
Does the priest emphasize Biblical reading?
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Along with praying, doing good works, and participating in the Sacraments, reading the Bible is something important that every Christian needs to do on a regular basis.

Our Pope recommends that we read from the Bible for about 20-30 minutes each day as part of our daily routine. We should also take time to pray, both in the morning and in the evening as well as before and after meals, we should offer to God our heart and mind in the morning (this is called a Morning Offering), and we should make an examination of conscience in the evening, to see if we did anything during the day that we need to be sorry for, and we should do our best to be kind and good, and to do our daily duties as if for God.
 
I’m curious. Do people bring their own bibles to Mass? I don’t recall ever seeing this when I attended. I always took my own but I was the strange Mass attending Protestant.
 
Yeah, I suppose we could have bibles in the pews; however, during Mass, it’s much more convenient to use a missalette to read along with the scriptures that are proclaimed during the Mass, since you don’t have to do as much page finding that way. Call us lazy, but really, it’s just smart.

Yeah, having predetermined bible passages for each day of the year makes this possible, unlike the spontaneous way it’s done in many Evangelical or Non-Denominational churches.
 
Ingram said:
I am what I consider a Catholic-friendly Protestant. A friend of mine is not so friendly and to prove one of his point of argument tells me there aren’t any Bibles in the Catholic Church (other than that used in Mass by the Priest). Not knowing if this is true or not I thought to ask you folks. Are there Bibles in the pews? Does the priest emphasize Biblical reading?
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Are there Bibles in the pews? No. Are there Missalettes that contain the appropriate Biblical readings for the church year? Yes. Catholic priests give homilies, not sermons. There is a difference. A sermon by a Protestant preacher can address any subject he so desires. A homily must specifically address the readings specified for that particular day. The Catholic Church reads through the entire Bible on a three-year cycle. On Sundays, this usually includes an Old Testament reading, a Psalm, a New Testament reading, and a Gospel reading. (Usually the more important sections) There will be similar readings during the daily masses. Thus, if you went to church every day, you would hear read aloud the entire text of the Bible. (All throughout the Middle Ages, this was the ONLY way you could learn about the Bible, as almost no one could read, let alone afford one themselves.)

So yes, we do emphasise Biblical reading. However, unlike Protestants, we (and the Orthodox Church, I might add) take a consensus view toward interpreting the Bible, one which is taught from the pulpit. We are encouraged to read the Bible and learn more. There is far less room for individual interpretation, however.
 
There’s no real reason to bring a bible to Mass, unless you need it for a bible study after Mass or something like that. The readings are provided in the missalette sitting in the pew, at least at every parish in the US i’ve been to.

I actually carry a New Testament in my pocket, but that’s just cuz i carry it everywhere.
 
The Mass is largely derived from the Bible. The Mass is the Bible. It is a living Bible. If you go through the prayers, the readings, the songs, the psalm, the Eucharistic prayers–it is almost all word from word Biblical. There is no need to open the Book; assisting in the Mass is listening, proclaiming and ultimately consuming The Word of God.

biblia.com/mass/biblical.htm
 
Syele said:
I’m curious. Do people bring their own bibles to Mass? I don’t recall ever seeing this when I attended. I always took my own but I was the strange Mass attending Protestant.
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We listen to the Scriptures being proclaimed at Mass, but this is not a time for “reading along” - the Mass is not a Bible study class; rather, it is a time of prayer and worship. (Of course, it would certainly be permitted to bring a Bible if you want to, and some people like to do devotional reading of the Bible in front of the Tabernacle, either before or after Mass.)

We do have Bible study classes as well, and typically they take place on weekday evenings.

People do bring their Bibles to Bible study class - in addition, there are Bibles in the classrooms that people can borrow. There are several different kinds of Bible studies - topic-based, Lectionary-based, or just reading through a particular book or set of books in the Bible, taking them verse by verse or section by section.
 
We don’t have Bibles in the pews of the Church itself. But there are Bibles in the Adoration Chapel
 
no, you probably won’t find pew bibles inside most Catholic Churches (although some have them) because the Mass is not the time to pick up the book and read it, it is the time to listen to the Word of God proclaimed, and the preaching based on that Word from the priest.

you will find plenty of Bibles in Catholic schools, colleges, and meeting places where classes for children, youth and adults are taught, because that will be the place for formal Bible study, and for study of the doctrines which explain and elaborate on what is contained in the Bible.

You will also find plenty of Bibles in Catholic homes, chapels and all places where Catholics pray, because that private prayer time is the proper time and place to read the Bible contemplatively and prayerfully. You will also find plenty of Bible knowledge which saturates Catholics who pray with Scripture, using the Liturgy of the Hours–which with the Mass is the official public worship of the Church–and the Rosary, which is meditative reflection on the mysteries recorded in the Bible.
 
Ask your friend where the Bible came from… after studying history they will have to admit that the bible came from the Catholic Church. Not my opinion…just factual history.
 
Bibles in Church? Not usually - as a previous poster has pointed out the readings are pre-set for each day and are conveniently reproduced in the Missal, so there’s really no need.

As an aside, I was looking at Bibles and prayer-books offered on ebay last night, and I saw a listing which was referred to as a ‘Bible’. Lo and behold the title page was pictured and clearly revealed it to be a missal. Shows how Biblical our Mass really is that the two could be confused 👍

In my own home I have Protestant (KJV) and Catholic (NAB) Bibles as well as the Douay-Rheims (Catholic) downloaded from the Internet on my computer. I also have two pocket-sized New Testaments with Psalms and Proverbs, which I take on holidays to avoid the bulk of carrying a full-sized Bible. Every other Catholic home whose book collection I have been privy to would have a Bible, so I would not be completely out of the ordinary.

My church’s bookshop even sells keyrings that have highly miniaturised (but nonetheless complete!) Bibles attached. As wonderful as they are, I unfortunately can’t justify the needless expense of buying one (and the magnifying glass I would need to buy separately to be able to actually read the thing).
 
I know of a Catholic family who has atleast one bible in their house.

In our house (Lutheran), we have several, including a probably 100-150 year old German Bible (written in Old German print in German).

I have:

RSV (Lutheran bible from the early 1980s)
Life Application Bible
And a ‘bible’ with just the Psalms and Gospels (First Holy Communion gift). Granted, that one butchers some translations when you cross-reference it with the other Bibles. (i.e., instead of using the term ‘living beings’, it’ll use ‘beasts’ - just one of the changes I’ve seen.)
 
Rolltide said:
Are there Bibles in the pews? No. Are there Missalettes that contain the appropriate Biblical readings for the church year? Yes. Catholic priests give homilies, not sermons. There is a difference. A sermon by a Protestant preacher can address any subject he so desires. A homily must specifically address the readings specified for that particular day. The Catholic Church reads through the entire Bible on a three-year cycle. On Sundays, this usually includes an Old Testament reading, a Psalm, a New Testament reading, and a Gospel reading. (Usually the more important sections) There will be similar readings during the daily masses. Thus, if you went to church every day, you would hear read aloud the entire text of the Bible. (All throughout the Middle Ages, this was the ONLY way you could learn about the Bible, as almost no one could read, let alone afford one themselves.)

So yes, we do emphasise Biblical reading. However, unlike Protestants, we (and the Orthodox Church, I might add) take a consensus view toward interpreting the Bible, one which is taught from the pulpit. We are encouraged to read the Bible and learn more. There is far less room for individual interpretation, however.
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That’s true. Though about the Middle Ages, hearing the readings is not the only way that people learned about the Bible. In those days, only upper-class people could read and write. Common People also learned Scripture by the paintings and sculptures in Churches and by the Mystery and Passion plays common in those days.
At least, Thanks for the distinction between a Sermon and a Homily. In our family, we use the term interchangeably.🙂
 
Tell your friend that if he goes to a Catholic Mass he will hear A LOT MORE of the Bible than he ever hears at a Protestant service. And no, this isn’t something new, it has always been this way. Most of the words of the Mass come from the Bible.

Every practising Catholic I know has at least one Bible in their house. There are 2 practising Catholics in my house and we have between us five Bibles, two New Testaments and three Missals (composed almost entirely of words from the Bible).
 
We don’t have Bibles in the pews, but we do have Missalettes, with all the readings in them. Of course, if you prefer to read along from your Bible, there’s nothing wrong with that (use bookmarks so you don’t have to do a lot of noisy page-flipping). We do know ahead of time what the readings will be (books/chapters/verses for any given Sunday are published in the previous Sunday’s bulletin).

When we have parish missions and tent revivals, we are encouraged to bring our Bibles.

In our Adoration chapel, there are Bibles at every seat, in addition to Christian Prayer (one-volume Liturgy of the Hours), the Divine Mercy prayer booklet, and several devotional books.

By the way, there are six Bibles in my house, plus one pocket-size New Testament. Three different translations, total. 🙂
 
Come to think of it, I don’t recall ever seeing a Bible in any of the 40 or 50 different protestant churches of various denominations which I’ve visited over the years, except for the one on the minister’s lectern.
 
Ingram said:
I am what I consider a Catholic-friendly Protestant. A friend of mine is not so friendly and to prove one of his point of argument tells me there aren’t any Bibles in the Catholic Church (other than that used in Mass by the Priest). Not knowing if this is true or not I thought to ask you folks. Are there Bibles in the pews? Does the priest emphasize Biblical reading?
Click to expand...
As far as having Bibles in our homes, I have somewhere around twelve. 🙂
 
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