My Oratory has Protestant Devotionals!

[eliasaph99]

Hi,

I’m a graduate student at a major state university. We have an Oratory on campus where daily and Sunday Mass is said. On the pamphlet rack as you enter the Oratory is a small daily devotional booklet called “Our Daily Bread.” The booklet is published by a Protestant ministry and quotes from the NKJV Bible. There is nothing particularly objectionable in the daily writings, but the booklet directs the reader to the website of the Protestant ministry which has several articles directly aimed at undermining key doctrines of the Catholic faith as well as numerous other articles teaching a theology generally at odds with Catholic teaching.

I have pointed this out to the Pastor and the head of the Campus Ministry and yet the booklet remains. I have also cited several sections of the canon law to them to point out that the distribution of this material in an Oratory is at odds with Church teaching. The response I have received is that they need something for the students to read. It has been suggested that if I could find an inexpensive Catholic equivalent, they would remove the booklets and put out the Catholic ones.

My question is this:

Where can I find inexpensive Catholic daily devotional booklets so that I can have these Protestant publications removed from the Oratory?

I am truly afraid that students will be misled at this vulnerable period in their lives. For most of them, their faith is not yet crystallized and exposure to false teaching is dangerous. Please advise!

Thanks,

eliasaph99

 

[puzzleannie]

you might want to contact presentationministries.com and ask for a free shipment of One Bread One Body to be sent to the campus minister, same idea, daily lectionary readings citation, meditation, prayer and action item each day, and utterly reliably Catholic. a great evangelization tool.

 

[THutch04]

Living Faith is also pretty good as well.

 

[eliasaph99]

Thanks for your suggestions.

I have gone to websites for both publications and requested samples.

eliasaph99

 

[jmm08]

State Universities in the United States typically must be more open to ideas. For example, there may be rules not to ban ideas or literature because the university receives public funds. And it is likely that the oratory also receives public funds. Although “Our Daily Bread” is a protestant publication, it is not especially denominational at all. Within its pages, I suppose one would be very unlikely to find any anti-Catholic (or anti-Jewish) thought or commentary.

Your idea to send off for and include a Catholic devotional is a good idea. It is very likely to be allowed to be on display (as long as it is paid for somehow).

I’d be surpised if you were able to remove any materials. It is actually censorship which is greatly frowned upon in Universities. And I greatly suppose your oratory is used by other faiths in addition to Catholic.

If it is any consolation, the small interfaith chapel at Dulles Airport (in Northern VA) also has occasional Masses. And it has a literature rack that has many Christian denominations represented. I think it is a charitable thing for the airport to provide, given that travelers may face circumstances they didn’t expect, or be traveling at an unexpected time (such as to attend a funeral). Why not be charitable to people to allow them to try to meet their spiritual needs?

In a State University setting, I think it is typical for chapels to be used by multiple faiths – and not to be solely used by any one faith.