I don’t mean to imply that this is some kind of competition, but Carl Olson’s premise in this post at Insight Scoop got me thinking. Here’s the quote:
One problem with this is that many Catholics do not have a Bible. One of the proposals at the synod was that bishops should try to get a Bible into the hands of every Catholic. Almost everyone has a rosary—why not also a Bible, which contains the Word of God which is a love letter addressed to each one?
Here are my thoughts:
- Is it really true there are more rosary-owning Catholics today than Bible-owning? Think about it. Consider regular churchgoers plus less regular plus C&E Catholics. Do you think Catholics in the First World are more likely to have a Bible than those in the Third? Does it vary from nation to nation?
What would be your assessment of Catholics on this, among people you know, in your parish, in your nation, in the church at large: more rosary owners than Bible owners? Which of course begs the next question: what about users?
4 July 2009 at 2:49 pm
How about Bibles in the pews for a start?
4 July 2009 at 6:28 pm
I have a bible because I was given one when I joined my RCIA class, and I have a rosary because a past spiritual director gave it to me. But I don’t use either – I do read the bible, but online always now. I’d think the bible would be much more important to a Christian than a rosary.
4 July 2009 at 8:46 pm
I’m all for Catholic Christians reading and studying scripture and make a big deal out of this in my forthcoming book about the Jewish roots of Christian worship.
My “issue” has to do with which translation is being foisted on Catholics. Could there be anything worse than the New American Bible translation? (Ok, the Douay-Rheims.) How many folks know there’s an NRSV Catholic Bible?
4 July 2009 at 11:21 pm
My own experience of the Church in the UK and Ireland is rather limited, but when visiting my sister back in the UK or my brother, who lives in Ireland, I have never felt that the Bible has a significant role in their faith practice.
Here in Japan, where I have lived and worked since 1976, even from way back then, there has always been a strong demand for Bible Study groups, and I was already running Bible sharing groups for young people back in the late 70’s; the methodology used then was either close to the famous Lumko method or the steps that form the classical structure of Lectio Divina – I can only guess where I learnt the latter, probably my late revered novice master. Depending on the groups mood or needs we would either spend time, and hour or so, on a Sunday evening studying or praying the Word of God. Now both the rosary and bible study and bible sharing have a significant role in the life of many of the parishes I am acquainted with here in Japan.
Looking further afield, promotion of the Biblical Apostolate is considered a distinquishing part of our work throughout the world. Our publishing house Editorial Verbo Divino, based in Spain is one of the largest publishers of Bibles and Bible study materials in the Hispanic world, and we also have significant centers for publishing and Bible Sharing, Praying the Bible in the Congo and the Philippines, and more recently in South Africa, where SVD’s now run the Lumko Pastoral Institute. Given the extent of our commitment in this field, my suspicions are there is a market for such materials in these countries.
Much of my teaching at Junior and Senior High School level here in Japan is Bible based, and along with imparting knowledge about the scriptures I encourage the students to pray and reflect on the Bible text. Sadly I don’t have to hand the exam papers from the exam I gave recently to one class, where I challenged them to rewrite the parable of the Good Samaritan, but set it in Nagoya, Japan, 2009. Many of them showed a keen awareness of the way the current financial crisis has effected the migrant worker population here.
Whether one is looking to study the Bible or pray the Bible there are numerous helps out there. One commentator obviously has some problems with the NAB, while it is not without its problems as a translation per se, it is servicable enough. A good commentary will normally call attention to alternative translations. And as to introductory material there are three excellent books in the “Come and See” series published by Rowman & Littefield under the Sheed and Ward imprint. In particular I would recommend Donald J Harrington’s “How Do Catholics Read the Bible?”. Also well worth looking at is Ronald Witherup’s “The Bible Companion” (Crossroad), which offers some judicious comments on Bible translation in Chapter 2, ‘Learning to Use the Bible’. Finally, I have been dipping into Margaret Nutting Ralph’s “A Walk Through the New Testament”, (Paulist Press), which came out earlier this year.
Looking back on my years of experience,my suggestion is, don’t make it an either/or, since different people have different needs at different times, rather help people to use the rosary creatively, but also give them opportunities to both study and pray the Bible. As long as people aren’t given guidance and help bringing the Word of God into one’s daily life is a challenge for many. Somebody once said that the mark of a good homily is that it sends you back to reread and pray over the Sunday Gospel in the week ahead. In this Year for Priests, I hope that my fellow priests will use this time as an opportunty reclaim their identities as Ministers of both Word and Sacrament.
9 July 2009 at 11:15 pm
The author of the piece was actually Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J., editor of Homiletic & Pastoral Review.