Pat Arensberg: Is it true that Catholics don't read the Bible?

“Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”  -St. Jerome

Today we are beginning the end of the first course of the Bishops’ Curriculum Framework.  Each course ends with a series of objections to the Church teaching and an answer.  So, for the next week or so we will be answering these challenges.

The first challenged raised goes something like this, “Is it true that Catholics do not use or read the Bible?”  One of the first things that I have to say is that we must remember that there is a distinction between the Church’s official teaching and the way many of us live.  Polls indicate, for example, some large number of people disagree with the Church’s teaching on contraception and act on that.  Would it be accurate to say that the Church teaches contraception is ok?  Of course not.  We would say that many people do not follow the teaching.  The same logic applies here, at least to some degree.  I think that we Catholics do not read the Bible enough and are woefully ignorant of our Book.  But this does not mean that the Church endorses that.

The principle act of worship in the Catholic Church is the celebration of the Eucharist, and that celebration is teaming with Scripture.  I am not just talking about two readings, a reading from the book of Psalms, plus a Gospel; I am talking about the Gloria, the Sanctus, the Our Father, much of the Eucharistic Prayer, the Lamb of God, etc…  The Mass is chock-full of Scripture.  We should stop and listen to it and open our hearts to it.

Additionally, all other prayer forms in the Church focus on and use Scripture extensively.  Most notably is the “Divine Office”.  This is a beautiful form of prayer that clergy are obligated to pray multiple times a day.  The Office is almost exclusively a meditation on the Psalms.  This Office is also called the “Prayer of the Church.”

Catholics are also becoming much more active about organizing Bible studies, but we sure could do a better job of incorporating Scripture into our lives.

About Pat Arensberg Patrick Arensberg is the Director of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Mobile. Previously, he taught for 17 years at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, where he served as Chairman of the Theology Department. He attended the Gregorian University in Rome and holds an M.A. in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. He is married to Connie and they live in Mobile with their 5 children.