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An affirmation of the Word
Publication date:
October 17, 2008
Section:
C. Editorials 
-- CNS/Michael AlexanderFor Catholics who grew up with Protestant friends who seemed to know the Bible backward and forward, the idea of a big Vatican meeting to promote greater biblical literacy in the church makes sense. The Synod of Bishops in Rome this month (Oct. 5-26) will address a longstanding disconnect between many Catholics and the scriptural sources of their faith.
Pope Benedict XVI announced the synod’s theme two years ago, not long after taking office. As his papacy focused on the renewal of Catholic identity and on more effective evangelization, it must have been clear to Benedict that evangelization would have to take place first within the church itself. The Synod on the Bible is a clear step in that direction.
The church had a hand in why many Catholics do not know their Bible. Since the Protestant Reformation, caused in part by availability of the scriptures to the laity through the printing press, the Roman Catholic response was to emphasize the Mass and the sacraments over Bible reading. Protestants turned to the Bible as the only source (sola scriptura) and also fostered a tradition of pulpit preaching and Bible study programs Catholics might wish for.
The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) sought to restore the balance between Word and Eucharist in the renewed liturgy by opening up the scriptures in the three-cycle Lectionary and with a strong emphasis on better preaching and more lay Bible study. It is an agenda still in its early stages some 40 years later.
Unleashing the Word is not without risks for the official church, as the Reformation proved. Some have said that Vatican II was a belated reformation that at last recognized lay participation and opened a closed church to itself and to the world. The Word is a dynamic force. Christian base communities in Latin America began as simple Bible study groups that led to liberation theology. Women who study the scriptures have found clear cause for greater equality. An option for the poor and advocacy for peace and justice are not just recommended but mandated in the Bible. If everyone knows the scriptures better, some of this is bound to get out.
The pope is doing his job. In what might be seen as a strange but instructive parallel to the turmoil in the global financial system, the church, too, is examining its bottom line and testing its own foundations in a shaky, uncertain world. As bad news at every turn forces many to ask just what the church is for, and what it might offer to those in need of wisdom and meaning, the answer is clear -- the affirmation that God is alive and active in human history, in the events unfolding all around us.
And that God’s Word is always good news.
National Catholic Reporter October 17, 2008
As a Protestant convert to
As a Protestant convert to Catholicism (1986) it continually surprises me that so many Catholics have an extremely limited knowledge of the Bible especially the Old Testament. Several years ago an older nun assisted me, in a advisory capacity, while I was engaged in a university sponsored ministry program. Sr. Mary (not her real name) admitted that she had never ever really seriously read the Old Testament. As an active catechist in our parish for more than twenty years I found that same deficiency in many of the Catholic sponsors and other faithful parishioners.. Many of these individuals avoided reading the OT because they had somehow sensed (directly or indirectly) the image of a vengeful deity and a violent people. An image that was apparently never properly understood, challenged or explored during their formal Catholic formation period. In what may have been a contributing factor is the manner in which some members of the Catholic clergy may have been trained in some seminaries. More than ten years ago, an order priest (in his early sixty’s) informed our study group how fortunate priest were today in what they could study from the Bible. This same priest went on to say that during his days in seminary they were told precisely what they could and could not study from the Bible.
The recent Synod of Bishops in Rome apparently wants to improve this situation, especially with regard to the laity. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, recording secretary for the Synod eloquently stated “As children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus, Christians must learn how to listen to what God is saying to them today in the Scriptures.” Unfortunately this invitation was followed by a stern warning from Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and one of the synod delegate presidents, that “The magisterium, the church’s teaching authority, is essential as the authentic interpreter of this same word of God at the service of the whole Christian people and for the salvation of the whole world,”. How are Catholics to interpret this mixed message? Since they have not been offered a 1-800 number to the CDF how are Catholics to interpret their reading of the Bible?
Perhaps the real intent of the Synod’s is to discourage Catholics from any independent Bible reading and keep a tighter control over how it may be interpreted..
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