I’ve gone through several phases in my relation to it, with a general conclusion that it’s one of the best, if not the best, single-volume study Bibles that includes both NT and OT for Catholics to use - it is “orthodox” in a small-o sense, unlike many “Catholic” Bibles - if one can ignore or have a laugh at the introductions, some of the articles, the incorrect inserts on topics like “ancestral sin”, and a few of the notes (on Peter, and several try and wedge the essence-energies distinction of Palamas in). There are some problems (prose Isaiah, over-literalness, some weird turns of phrase inherited from Brenton’s LXX) and some inferior books (like the rendering of Sirach, which is best read in the RSV-2CE), but, with the sorry state of Catholic Bibles at the moment - let alone any that include annotation - it comes highly recommended.
The OT, especially the Psalms, has some bad renderings from over-literalness to the Greek, and the NT is straight NKJV, so one has to mentally add “full of grace” and swap out “elder” and “overseer” for “priest”/“deacon” and “bishop”. Beyond that, the OT is faithful and is fully cognizant of the inspired and infallible exegesis of the NT authors, and the Bible is salvation- and Christ-centric. The only other comparable Bibles come in two or more volumes, such as the Haydock, the ICSB (excellent one-volume NT), and the Navarre.
It’s obviously more open to the West than Orthodoxy itself is, and is, in the text and annotation, except for the introduction and inserts, more “orthodox Catholic” than “Orthodox Orthodox” (that is, it is likely more useful for a Catholic than it is for an Orthodox), as it contains many quotations and opinions and influence of Augustine, who is generally held in low regard in the East, from my experience. Most of the direct quotations of the Fathers I have seen are from Jerome, who, I believe, is also held in less regard in the East than the West. It also has surprisingly few quotations, opinions, or influences of Chrysostom (regrettable), or the three Cappadocian Fathers, who have had the influence on the East that Augustine and Jerome have had on the West.
I wouldn’t use it as my sole Bible. However, I don’t think any Bible - not even the Haydock DRC, nor the Vulgate itself - is good enough to say, “this is the only Bible I need, the ony one that I shall use”. The same goes doubly-so for commentaries.
Never use a study Bible as your sole source for commentary, either: pick up something like Keil and Delitzsche for the OT, and any number of decent commentaries on the New. (I always recommend reading at least one from another confessional tradition, i.e. familiarity with a Protestant commentary and exegesis as a Catholic, just as one shouldn’t disregard Barth’s Church Dogmatics just because one reads Balthasar).
