A Few Q's and A's on The Church and the Bible

From Radio Replies Vol 1, by Frs. Rumble & Carty, pg 119-120
(The questions in the 3 volume set, Radio Replies, were mailed in by listeners then answered over the airwaves by these "radio priests" before being published in written form.) 

548 Why is the Catholic Church antagonistic to the Bible? She is not. She protects and defends it. But she does teach that the private reading of the Bible with reliance solely upon one's own powers of comprehension is no sure way to arrive at the truth taught by Christ. And experience bears out her teaching.

549 Was not the Bible unknown to the people before the Reformation? No. Beautifully illuminated copies of the Scriptures, wrought by the monks, were in the charge of the Clergy and the Churches, and from these the Word of God was carefully preached to the people. Before the invention of the printing press, a wider diffusion was impossible.

550 Did not the Catholic Church burn all Bibles, and punish those who had copies? No. The Catholic church would have been very foolish to have copies multiplied only to destroy them. When the printing press was invented by the German Catholic Gutenberg in 1445, the first book printed was a Bible, before Protestantism had come into existence. 

Did the Catholic Church Suppress the Bible: A Reply.

Hi M.M.,

Thank you for your comments on Kyle's post.  This is turning into an interesting discussion. Serious charges have been leveled. I offer some responses composed mainly of quotations and/or citations from works of scholarship. I hope these responses will help clear up some misconceptions about the Catholic Church's attitude towards Scripture. I finish with some questions.

The Faith of Our Fathers

James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, wrote a very useful little work in the late 1800's titled, "The Faith of Our Fathers." The inquiring reader will find much to chew on in this "Plain Exposition and Vindication of the Church Founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ." You can access it here. I will also add it to the "Check this out" section of our blog in the right hand column.

In light of the subject which is in recent view on the blog, I recommend the chapter on "The Church and the Bible," found on page 97.

The Right To Private Interpretation?

In principle, what could those who adhere to the protestant belief of the right to the private interpretation of Scripture have against a person coming to understand Scripture in the way the Catholic Church understands it? In other words, why would the Catholic interpretation be excluded from the valid exercise of this principle any more than another protestant view?

For that matter, why would any interpretation be excluded from the exercise of this principle? If this belief is true, how would it be determined (and who would do the determining) that any given interpretation (Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, even JW, etc.) was in error? Wouldn't it just be every man's interpretation for himself?

Were the Common People of the "Dark Ages" Kept Ignorant of the Scriptures?

It is fairly common for people opposed to the Catholic Church to make the assumption that the Catholic Church intentionally kept the Scriptures from the people (at least) during the Middle Ages (I personally remember having this view). Partly for this reason, this period in history has been coined by some as the "Dark Ages". Various motives have been assigned to the Church for why she would do such a thing. One of these motives is to keep the people "in the dark" so they won't know they are really being duped into believing falsehoods that are dressed up as truth. In this way, it is said, the people end up just following in blind faith, and this is what the Church hierarchy really wants so they can maintain control. If the people could read the Bible for themselves, and understand it on their own terms, they would come to see just how tyrannical and false the Catholic Church is. Furthermore, it is claimed, the Church hierarchy knows this, fears it, and on this basis keeps the people "in the dark".

We must ask, however, is this all true?

Is Christianity Subject to Private Opinion?

Christianity is not a matter of private individual's opinion. It pre-existed every person and group of persons who cling to or deny its claims. We are all therefore in a position of having to receive the testimony of those to whom its message was entrusted (apostles) or those to whom it has been handed all the way down to us in the 21^st century. This is what tradition is all about and hopefully with a measure of thought, its significance can readily be seen.

We cannot decide what Christianity is: we simply are not in a position to do so. Its rightful guardians and messengers put before us the positive claims of what it is and we are then in a position to either accept or reject their witness and its content. So, along with the authenticity of the message is the authority of the messenger that is proposed to us for belief. This is the message of the Catholic Church.

Its identity is that of the rightful guardian and messenger of the life and teachings of Jesus.  The truth of its (Christianity's) claims is not dependent upon whether or not they make sense to the individual. Just as the first century listener could not reject the message of the apostles and still rightfully claim to be Christian, so also the 21^st century audience cannot reject the teaching of the apostle’s successors and still rightfully claim to know the fullness of Christianity.

When is one's scriptural interpretation more than just private opinion?

Protestants and Bible-only Christians who hold to the principle of "sola scriptura" want to claim by virtue of this principle that the Bible is the final authority for what they view to be orthodox doctrine. When they affirm and assert a particular theological viewpoint as true, they believe they have the support of the Bible to back up their claims. They may cite a passage or more from the Bible that they believe gives them warrant to believe and propose their views as true. To them, the Bible seems to clearly support their views on any number of given doctrines. For someone to suggest otherwise, to them, seems as if that person is directly contradicting the teaching of God's Word, the Bible.

But is this necessarily so?

If I were looking for the Church Jesus established...

 “If I were not a Catholic, and were looking for the true Church in the world today, I would look for the one Church which did not get along well with the world; in other words, I would look for the Church which the world hates. My reason for doing this would be, that if Christ is in any one of the churches of the world today, He must still be hated as He was when He was on earth in the flesh. If you would find Christ today, then find the Church that does not get along with the world. Look for the Church that is hated by the world, as Christ was hated by the world. Look for the Church which is accused of being behind the times, as Our Lord was accused of being ignorant and never having learned. Look for the Church which men sneer at as socially inferior, as they sneered at Our Lord because He came from Nazareth. Look for the Church which is accused of having a devil, as Our Lord was accused of being possessed by Beelzebub, the Prince of Devils. Look for the Church which the world rejects because it claims it is infallible, as Pilate rejected Christ because he called Himself the Truth. Look for the Church which amid the confusion of conflicting opinions, its members love as they love Christ, and respect its voice as the very voice of its Founder, and the suspicion will grow, that if the Church is unpopular with the spirit of the world, then it is unworldly, and if it is unworldly, it is other-worldly. Since it is other-worldly, it is infinitely loved and infinitely hated as was Christ Himself. … “

Archbishop Fulton Sheen

What is meant by "Word of God"?

Question: "I have a basic question to start off with for your blog: What is the definition of the Word of God? Could you also define any terms you use in the definition." --Mike McDowell


Word of God is distinguished between (a) the Eternal Word, (b) the Incarnate Word and (c) the Revealed Word.