What books are in Catholic pew racks?

[Bran_Stark]

As far as I recall I have been to three Catholic churches in my life. Not a large sample, I know.

All of them had paperback seasonal or yearly missalettes, with hymns included, in the pew racks, and one had also a hardbound hymnal. None had pew Bibles. Is this typical? What does the average Catholic pew have in it? How common are “real” hymnals? Are pew Bibles purely a Protestant innovation?

 

[Catholicben]

None had pew Bibles. Is this typical?

I’ve never seen Catholic pews with bibles.

What does the average Catholic pew have in it? How common are “real” hymnals?

Our pews have “real hymnals”. That’s about it. No envelopes, no pencils, no paper back thingeys.

Are pew Bibles purely a Protestant innovation?

If I had to guess, I’d say yes.

 

[Seatuck]

As far as I recall I have been to three Catholic churches in my life. Not a large sample, I know.

All of them had paperback seasonal or yearly missalettes, with hymns included, in the pew racks, and one had also a hardbound hymnal. None had pew Bibles. Is this typical? What does the average Catholic pew have in it? How common are “real” hymnals? Are pew Bibles purely a Protestant innovation?

Yes, that is pretty typical. The Church tends to be for Worship not for explicit bible study. The Mass itself as well as the church itself are so chock full of scripture that we don’t really need a bible during Mass.So the bibles are home or in classrooms. We aren’t discouraged from bringing bibles and I have had priests who encouraged it but when there are so many translations out there it just makes sense to use the readings for the day in the missal so we are on the same page so to speak.

 

[dachsiemom2]

As far as I recall I have been to three Catholic churches in my life. Not a large sample, I know.

All of them had paperback seasonal or yearly missalettes, with hymns included, in the pew racks, and one had also a hardbound hymnal. None had pew Bibles. Is this typical? What does the average Catholic pew have in it? How common are “real” hymnals? Are pew Bibles purely a Protestant innovation?

Same at my parish.

 

[Phemie]

As far as I recall I have been to three Catholic churches in my life. Not a large sample, I know.

All of them had paperback seasonal or yearly missalettes, with hymns included, in the pew racks, and one had also a hardbound hymnal. None had pew Bibles. Is this typical? What does the average Catholic pew have in it? How common are “real” hymnals? Are pew Bibles purely a Protestant innovation?

In our parish we have the Catholic Book of Worship II & Catholic Book of Worship III. They are different editions of Canada’s official hymnal. These hardcover books both contain the rituals for the sacraments; Morning and Evening Prayer; the Order of Mass; Psalms for Sundays; different Mass settings; Psalms and Canticles; Hymns.

I have never seen a pew Bible in a Catholic Church. We are not encouraged to read along when the Word of God is being proclaimed, we are encouraged to listen. Those who need to follow along, for whatever reason, simply buy their own annual Missal or monthly missalettes, or those are supplied in some parishes. The Canadian Lectionary uses a translation of Scriptures that exists only in the Lectionary. There is no published (Revised)NRSV Bible.

 

[1ke]

Actually, I wouldn’t even say it’s a Protestant innovation. I’ve never been to a Protestant church with bibles in the pews.

The Episcopal church I grew up in, and every other EC I’ve been in: Book of Common Prayer and Hymnal

The Baptist churches I went to with friends in college: Hymnals

The various non-Catholic churches I attended weddings in: Hymnals

In my experience, bibles are strictly BYOB in the protestant churches I’ve attended. In fact, the bible carrier competition seems pretty serious in the Baptist churches I have attended. Women seem to make a fashion statement out of them.

 

[jlhargus]

As far as I recall I have been to three Catholic churches in my life. Not a large sample, I know.

All of them had paperback seasonal or yearly missalettes, with hymns included, in the pew racks, and one had also a hardbound hymnal. None had pew Bibles. Is this typical? What does the average Catholic pew have in it? How common are “real” hymnals? Are pew Bibles purely a Protestant innovation?

JL: As a former Protestant I have never herd nor seen any pew bibles in any denomination, not the one I belonged to or those visited and I have visited many different Protestant denominations. Maybe you can tell us what Protestant denominations provide bibles in their pews. The missalette does contain the scripture readings for the month or year depending on which the particular parish wants. I have visited The Church of Christ they had no pew bibles. Does your United Church of Christ have pew bibles? If so how many bibles are in a pew? By the way how many Protestant Demoninations have you visited with pew bibles?

 

[Lead_Me_Home]

At my parish we have missals that are paperbacks put into a hard binder, they change annually. Everyone also has a pocket hymanl that they can bring. We have a Bible in about every other pew, since we have the missals we don’t need a Bible during Mass because the scriptures are in the missal (easier to find). We have bible study before Mass though. We also have a hard back hymnal that we use as well as printed songs on the program. Our hymanl is the Lead Me Guide Me African American Catholic Hymnal.

 

[Lead_Me_Home]

I have never seen a pew Bible in a Catholic Church. We are not encouraged to read along when the Word of God is being proclaimed, we are encouraged to listen.(Revised)NRSV Bible.

I always read along in the missal. I am not hard of hearing I think you remember the readings and understand them more deeply when you read and listen at the same time. This may depend on the person. A lot of people jsut listen at my parish, but no one is discouraged from reading along.

 

[Bran_Stark]

JL: As a former Protestant I have never herd nor seen any pew bibles in any denomination, not the one I belonged to or those visited and I have visited many different Protestant denominations. Maybe you can tell us what Protestant denominations provide bibles in their pews. The missalette does contain the scripture readings for the month or year depending on which the particular parish wants. I have visited The Church of Christ they had no pew bibles. Does your United Church of Christ have pew bibles? If so how many bibles are in a pew? By the way how many Protestant Demoninations have you visited with pew bibles?

My own congregation has hymnals (The nondenominational The Worshiping Church, not the official horrid New Century Hymnal) and Bibles (NRSVs plus a few older RSVs), with about six hymnals and thee Bibles per pew. A Methodist church I visited last week had RSV Bibles in the pews. Unfortunately I don’t recall much about those I’ve seen previously. But I would guess most non-Episcopal churches in the U.S. have them.

 

[graceandglory]

As far as I recall I have been to three Catholic churches in my life. Not a large sample, I know.

All of them had paperback seasonal or yearly missalettes, with hymns included, in the pew racks, and one had also a hardbound hymnal. None had pew Bibles. Is this typical? What does the average Catholic pew have in it? How common are “real” hymnals? Are pew Bibles purely a Protestant innovation?

We go through the Bible on a 3 yr cycle. Missalettes are a copy of the scriptures that will be read and taught on during those months.

Yes, pew bibles are a protestant innovation, because no one knows what the pastor will preach from on a given Sunday. The Catholic Church is a universal Church. I can be assured that no matter where I go on Sunday in my town or in China, or at the Vatican or in Africa, on any continent, they will all be reading and teaching from the same scriptures. We don’t need to provide the whole Bible, because we are all “on the same page.” The universal Catholic Church will get through the whole Bible in 3 years. In a Mass, every day of the week, there is an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading (usually from one of the 4 Gospels), and a Psalm. The OT passage is always a foreshadowing of the fulfilled New Testament passage. Thus the NT passage is the fulfillment of the OT passage.

No need for carrying our Bibles, when what we need is right there. Those who want to read something devotional during the prayer times, can read from the other Psalms or Bible readings in the missalette, or can bring their own devotional, like a Magnificat, or the LIturgy of the Hours, or their own Bible to Church. But there isn’t really time for personal bible study built into the Mass. That would be for personal devotional time, apart from Mass.

 

[jlhargus]

My own congregation has hymnals (The nondenominational The Worshiping Church, not the official horrid New Century Hymnal) and Bibles (NRSVs plus a few older RSVs), with about six hymnals and thee Bibles per pew. A Methodist church I visited last week had RSV Bibles in the pews. Unfortunately I don’t recall much about those I’ve seen previously. But I would guess most non-Episcopal churches in the U.S. have them.

JL: I would say MOST churches of whatever denomination do NOT have pew bibles. Many Protestants carry their own bible to church. It’s possible some may leave thier bible at church if they always sit in the same place, which most people do. I have visited Protestant Churches from holy rollers, Pentacostal to high Anglican and have not once seen pew bibles.

 

[MarkThompson]

We go through the Bible on a 3 yr cycle. Missalettes are a copy of the scriptures that will be read and taught on during those months.

Yes, pew bibles are a protestant innovation, because no one knows what the pastor will preach from on a given Sunday. The Catholic Church is a universal Church. I can be assured that no matter where I go on Sunday in my town or in China, or at the Vatican or in Africa, on any continent, they will all be reading and teaching from the same scriptures. We don’t need to provide the whole Bible, because we are all “on the same page.” The universal Catholic Church will get through the whole Bible in 3 years. In a Mass, every day of the week, there is an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading (usually from one of the 4 Gospels), and a Psalm. The OT passage is always a foreshadowing of the fulfilled New Testament passage. Thus the NT passage is the fulfillment of the OT passage.

No need for carrying our Bibles, when what we need is right there. Those who want to read something devotional during the prayer times, can read from the other Psalms or Bible readings in the missalette, or can bring their own devotional, like a Magnificat, or the LIturgy of the Hours, or their own Bible to Church. But there isn’t really time for personal bible study built into the Mass. That would be for personal devotional time, apart from Mass.

We actually don’t go through the whole Bible even in three years. The lectionary is broken down in great detail here; it’s actually quite interesting and you’ll see that 1 Chronicles, Judith, and Obadiah are not read at all. That said, our modern lectionary has been very successful and has been adopted by more than a few Protestant denominations.

And I’ve never heard of “pew Bibles” period – the smallish number (6 or so) of Protestant churches I’ve been in didn’t have any such. I wonder if it’s a recent trend or a regional thing.

 

[corsair]

Our local OF parish has been “blessed” with the OCP missalettes and Hymnals

The only thing that OCP has going for it is their very $ appealing rates for these paperbacks. I mean, they got a deal you can’t refuse.

 

[Bbigam]

We have the standard OCP missalette/hymnals in our pews, paperback slipped into a hard binding. All or nearly all parishes in the area have those. We also have two things I’ve haven’t seen at any other parishes in the area: rosaries in each missal rack, and a Bible at each end of each pew. The rosaries get a lot of use, especially before Masses; mostly I see people move the Bibles out of the way when pews are crowded. But as someone else noted, we have plenty of Scripture readings within the Mass, and people can follow along in the missalettes if they like.

Now, in the parish hall and classrooms, we have stacks of Bibles that get used for RCIA, Bible studies, and other classes. The catechisms aren’t too far away from the Bibles…

 

[Phemie]

And I’ve never heard of “pew Bibles” period – the smallish number (6 or so) of Protestant churches I’ve been in didn’t have any such. I wonder if it’s a recent trend or a regional thing.

I know the local Anglican Church has a Bible in each pew. I just assumed it was there in case a parishioner had forgotten to bring his/hers and wanted to follow along.

In the local Protestant Churches they always announce “Book, Chapter, Verse” but in Catholic Churches we only announce the Book so even with a Bible it would be difficult to follow along.

 

[Bbigam]

I know the local Anglican Church has a Bible in each pew. I just assumed it was there in case a parishioner had forgotten to bring his/hers and wanted to follow along.

In the local Protestant Churches they always announce “Book, Chapter, Verse” but in Catholic Churches we only announce the Book so even with a Bible it would be difficult to follow along.

Most Protestant congregations I’ve been to have pew Bibles, except “mega-church” type places.

 

[baltobetsy]

In my home parish, we have hard bound hymnals and softcover hymn supplements published by the parish. During Holy Week, missalettes are put out.

In our Cathedral, there are two different hardbound hymnals in the main body of the church, and missalettes in the chapel where daily Mass is held. Scattered throughout the church are hardcover Bibles - the Confraternity edition, I think. There’s not one in every pew - probably only 50 or so in the whole church.

In the Episcopal parish where I sing, there are hardbound hymnals, softcover supplemental hymnals, a few large print hymnals, the Book of Common Prayer and Bibles. The Bibles were a gift from a wealthy parishioner a couple of years ago. There’s another set of hymnals on shelves in the parish hall. They are used very infrequently.

Betsy

 

[Sarabande]

In my parish, we have the hard cover Worship hymnals and also a Missalette. The parish where I work has a WLP hymnal and a missalette. I have to say, I’ve never visited a church of the more mainstream Protestant denominations which had pew Bibles. Most of the Protestant churches I’ve gone to was because I was hired to be a musician at their weddings/regular Sunday services or to attend music recitals/concerts, and I tend to look at whatever is in the pews.

I would assume that most would probably bring their own Bibles with them? I have a few family members who are born-again non-denominational Christians, and I believe they bring their own Bibles with them to their services.

 

[graceandglory]

We actually don’t go through the whole Bible even in three years. The lectionary is broken down in great detail here; it’s actually quite interesting and you’ll see that 1 Chronicles, Judith, and Obadiah are not read at all. That said, our modern lectionary has been very successful and has been adopted by more than a few Protestant denominations.

And I’ve never heard of “pew Bibles” period – the smallish number (6 or so) of Protestant churches I’ve been in didn’t have any such. I wonder if it’s a recent trend or a regional thing.

I actually did know that, I hope I wasn’t untruthful in my post. The point is, we go through the whole bible in three years. That a few bits are left out, to me, doesn’t negate that we "go through the whole bible in three years. I guess it just depends on what we mean by “whole.”

I’ve been in Assembly of God churches and Calvary Chapel churches that did have pew bibles. I suppose it had to do with how much they get in the offerings. I think most people prefer to carry bibles with them, cause I remember it got me brownie points. I like that we are all reading out of the same version though.