Why do Catholics frown upon taking a Bible to church?

Answer 1

Nobody ever frowned on me taking a Bible to church. I do it all the time.

Answer 2

Neither individual Catholics nor the Church as a whole frown upon any parishioner who brings their own Bible to Mass.

Having said that, it is not necessary to bring one's own Bible to Mass because the Church provides worshipers with Missals; books that contain the Bible readings for the day, amongst other prayers. It's just more practical this way.

Answer 3

When I use to attend a catholic church(s), "not once" were we ever encourage to read the Bible. Nor did I ever see anyone with a Bible--not even the nuns.

It's true there are some writings inside the hymnal books, but now that I have been reading the Word of God (AV1611), they have nothing to do with it.

Up Date:

Rage of Achilles, FYI:

I never once saw a Bible inside the church either.

carl, the JW Bible was base on the vatican's writtens. Of course, they don't know that.

To name just some of the catholic churchs I have attended by city and country:

Naples, IT
Madrid, Spain
Ben Hill, GA
Atlanta & N. Atlanta

Answer 4

Catholics aren't required to use the bible nor encouraged. They have prayer books in the pews that they are to use to follow the service and that is all that is needed. Bibles in SOME Chatholic churches are frowned upon. Only the priests are able to interpret and read.

Answer 5

The Bible passages that we need for the particular mass are already in the the book in the pew. (It's called a "missallette." I I'm not sure how to spell it. In each mass, there's a passage from the Old Testament, New Testament, and one of the Gospels. During the homily, the priest teaches about how these passages relate to our lives. Obviously, we should be paying attention to what's going on during the mass, including the prayers we say in response to those that the priest says, rather than reading something else. Nonetheless, we have no need to carry a bible back and forth since those passages that we need are already there for us.

However, you'd be surprised, well, maybe YOU wouldn't be but when I taught Catholic school, I was, how many homes don't have a bible. I couldn't assign homework wherein they had to look things up in the bible because many of them didn't have one at home. Growing up, we had two: A Catholic version and a King James version since my dad isn't Catholic. Every Catholic home should have a bible--believe it or not. The priest who married us gave us a beautiful family bible as a wedding gift.

Now, why would a priest be giving us a bible or why would I give homework for students to look up things in the bible, if we aren't "bible based?" I just don't understand how so many Protestants have such skewed ideas about Catholics. Do they really teach that sort of thing in your churches by the ministers?

Answer 6

In the early church, the Word of God was not read, but heard. In the Catholic Church, we hear a reading from the Old Testament, New Testament, and Gospel.

In some churches, there is a missalette in which the Mass readings are printed.

Protestants may take their bibles to services, but do they actually open them? Does the preacher give people time to find the scripture that is being taught?

Answer 7

We don't. The Catholic Liturgy has readings taken from Scripture. The first reading is usually from the Old Testament, the Second is from one of the Epistles, Acts, or Revelations, the third from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. The Psalms are also included in the liturgy. In addition most of the prayers in the liturgy are taken straight out of the Bible. The Catholic Missal has these readings and verse printed so that we can easily follow along in Mass without having to look them up as we go along.

Answer 8

First, you are wrong: no one in a Roman Catholic (RC) Church "frowns upon" anyone taking a bible to church. Indeed, people often do (if they are involved in bible study before or afterwards).

Second, although it is true that RCs usually do not take a bible to church, there is no need for it. Biblical passages are chosen in advance, and all biblical passages that are read as part of the regular service are present and available for reading. In other words, the bible passages that are going to be read are picked out ahead of time, and printed and made available to the members of the church at the time they are read. This probably stems from a tradition began when bibles were not readily affordable to most members of the church. Indeed, in many (poorer) countries bibles are still considered a rather expensive item. Using this method, the RCs assure that everyone that can read has a copy of scripture, and that everyone is using the same translation (unless they choose to bring their own bible).

It is interesting to note that, a former RC myself, there is one thing that the RCs do more than any other of the 20 or more sects that I have visited: read the bible during church service. I have never been present at a Sunday church service that reads more scripture during the service than the RC service.

Jim, http://www.jimpettis. com/wheel/

Answer 9

I'm Catholic. It's not necessarily that we frown upon carrying a Bible to church, but what would be the point? Every one of the Scripture readings are already printed out and are in the pew rack (in the missalette). Since the Scripture is already sitting there right in front of you, what would be the motivation for lugging a Bible along? It would be redundant. There are plenty of Scripture readings at every service, and they're read aloud as well as printed out. Everyone can read along with the Scripture during the Mass.

Answer 10

Who's frowning? I take my Bible to Catholic Church all the time. My Catholic parish gave me a Bible and my priest asked me to read it every day.
There are more Bible readings at Catholic Mass (Vat II) than at any Evangelical Protestant service I've ever been to and I have been to a lot of them

Answer 11

We don't. Some people bring their Bibles to church.

But we are people of the Living Word and not people of the Bible. There is a subtle difference.

Just as in Jesus' time, someone proclaims the Holy Scriptures and we listen. The Apostles and disciples listened to the words of Jesus. They did not need to read what Jesus was saying. But we can read along if we like in our own Bibles or in missals.

In every Sunday Mass there are at least four Bible readings
+ First Reading - usually from the Old Testament
+ A Psalm is prayed by all
+ Second Reading - usually from a New Testament Epistle
+ Gospel Reading
+ then the priest bring them all together and helps us apply them to our lives in the homily

Remember the Mass is not really a Bible study. We have Bible studies but not during Mass.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 131-133: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect1chpt2.htm#131

With love in Christ.