Bruce S Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Perhaps it is just the two Catholic Church church's I've gone to Mass in recently, but I was wondering WHY, the Catholic Church doesn't provide "Pew Bibles" like every Protestant denomination does? There are racks in the pews, stuffed with this and that, so there is literature galore, but no Bibles? Does your parish church have them, or is this the norm all around, not to provide them at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livin_the_MASS Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 We do have them, It's in the missalet, I thought you went to church everday? They have daily readings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laudate_Dominum Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Its not normal to provide Bibles in the pews and never has been as far as I know. I have been to parishes that provide Bibles in the pews but I don't see the need for this. The Mass is not a Bible study, and the homily is primarily a discourse for edification, to prepare the heart for what is to come in the Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist. There is a catechetical element to the homily but it is not necessary to have a Bible in front of you and shouldn't be. And you should be listening to the readings (you can follow along in the missal or missalette) and then listening to the homily. The Mass is just a totally different thing from a protestant service. And protestantism is Bible-only so its the central aspect of their worship even, whereas Catholic worship centers on the Mystery of the Eucharist. Why should Church's provide pew Bibles? I can't think of when you would use them. Maybe before or after Mass when you're praying, but not during Mass. We are called to community participation in the Mass, not private Bible reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livin_the_MASS Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 [quote]missalet[/quote],[quote]missalette[/quote] sorry I made a typo! lol [quote]Its not normal to provide Bibles in the pews and never has been as far as I know. I have been to parishes that provide Bibles in the pews but I don't see the need for this. The Mass is not a Bible study, and the homily is primarily a discourse for edification, to prepare the heart for what is to come in the Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist. There is a catechetical element to the homily but it is not necessary to have a Bible in front of you and shouldn't be. And you should be listening to the readings (you can follow along in the missal or missalette) and then listening to the homily. The Mass is just a totally different thing from a protestant service. And protestantism is Bible-only so its the central aspect of their worship even, whereas Catholic worship centers on the Mystery of the Eucharist. Why should Church's provide pew Bibles? I can't think of when you would use them. Maybe before or after Mass when you're praying, but not during Mass. We are called to community participation in the Mass, not private Bible reading.[/quote] Very well put L_D God Bless You Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce S Posted April 4, 2004 Author Share Posted April 4, 2004 [quote]We do have them, It's in the missalet, I thought you went to church everday? [/quote] The READERS DIGEST version, Missilettes, is like Chick's comics that most here find insulting, for the illiterate. I'm talking REAL Bibles, not snippets of the day ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livin_the_MASS Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 [quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='Apr 4 2004, 12:35 PM']Its not normal to provide Bibles in the pews and never has been as far as I know. I have been to parishes that provide Bibles in the pews but I don't see the need for this. The Mass is not a Bible study, and the homily is primarily a discourse for edification, to prepare the heart for what is to come in the Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist. There is a catechetical element to the homily but it is not necessary to have a Bible in front of you and shouldn't be. And you should be listening to the readings (you can follow along in the missal or missalette) and then listening to the homily. The Mass is just a totally different thing from a protestant service. And protestantism is Bible-only so its the central aspect of their worship even, whereas Catholic worship centers on the Mystery of the Eucharist. Why should Church's provide pew Bibles? I can't think of when you would use them. Maybe before or after Mass when you're praying, but not during Mass. We are called to community participation in the Mass, not private Bible reading.[/quote] L_D answered the question well here is your answer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce S Posted April 4, 2004 Author Share Posted April 4, 2004 [quote]The Mass is just a totally different thing from a protestant service. And protestantism is Bible-only so its the central aspect of their worship even, [/quote] Err? No. Preaching the word is the central theme, not reading the book, the book is there to follow along with, and elaborate UPON, not replace the Sermon, the Protestant term for Homily. And in most Protestant church services, the Sermon is over 30 minutes to allow for development of the topic, and a fair degree of education on that topic to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livin_the_MASS Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 The Holy Mass is Centered on the Holy Eucharist. The Word of God that is read is to help prepare our hearts and minds for the miracle that is about to take place in front of us! When The One True God comes down on the altar under a veil of a Sacrament. He becomes our food, that we may become one with Him. Thank You Jesus! Your service has nothing like this at all. God Bless Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce S Posted April 4, 2004 Author Share Posted April 4, 2004 Today was "Communion Day" at two church's I attended. I had to go to another one, Presbyterian one with a friend then on to my AofG church. Both do communion once a month. Guess what. The WORDS surrounding the communion were just about identical in both, and almost perfectly identical to the Catholic Church communion part of Mass. The ONLY thing really 'different' was the Priest. The passages, invocations, and such are so similar, that you could swear they are all the same. So, it is the PRIEST, the MAN up front, that is the differentiating factor, not what is done. So, you really believe more in the PRIEST than activity, the consecration is the issue, not the communion. Of course, you would have to take the blinders off to notice the similarities, and have less denominational bias. Not really all that likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livin_the_MASS Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 [quote]The ONLY thing really 'different' was the Priest.[/quote] That what counts!!! No ordained Priest then the Mass is not valied! It has to be a Catholic Priest, ordained by a bishop of the Catholic Church to bring the True Presence of Our God on the altar!!! God Bless Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce S Posted April 4, 2004 Author Share Posted April 4, 2004 (edited) [quote]It has to be a Catholic Priest, ordained by a [b]bishop of the Catholic Church [/b]to bring the True Presence of Our God on the altar!!! [/quote] Maybe someone should tell the Greek Orthodox and Coptic then that they are wrong, then after telling them, correct the Pope too... Get your Catholic theology right dude, it isn't right when the heretic is placed in the awkward position of correcting Catholic Church mistakes. Love ya. Edited April 4, 2004 by Bruce S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laudate_Dominum Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 [quote name='Bruce S' date='Apr 4 2004, 12:47 PM'] Err? No. Preaching the word is the central theme, not reading the book, the book is there to follow along with, and elaborate UPON, not replace the Sermon, the Protestant term for Homily. And in most Protestant church services, the Sermon is over 30 minutes to allow for development of the topic, and a fair degree of education on that topic to happen. [/quote] Err, yes. Preaching the Word is central to protestant services (generally speaking) as you said. This does not contradict what I said but affirms it because the Bible is the Word. I wasn't saying that reading the Bible is the central aspect, I meant it in the sense of the Word, aka the Bible, is the central aspect, this includes the preaching of course. The heart of the Catholic Mass is the Eucharist. The Liturgy of the Word is there to prepare our hearts to enter into the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Also bear in mind that the Catholic form of worship goes back two thousand years, long before the printing press and mass personal Bible reading. It makes sense that this form of worship would not be dependent upon personal Bibles. And again, there are parishes that have the Bibles in the pews so its not that this is incompatible with the Mass, but its not necessary. The missalette, the readings themselves, and the homily suffice. And the homiletic style of reading the Bible is different than a Bible-study way of reading the Bible. You don't necessarily need to full context and all of that because the purpose of the homily is not to do exigesis and deduce doctrine from the Scriptures, it is primarily to expound upon the readings in a way that edifies and to instruct, but in a practical way. I hope this helps. God bless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livin_the_MASS Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 [quote]Get your Catholic theology right dude, it isn't right when the heretic is placed in the awkward position of correcting Catholic Church mistakes.[/quote] I am correct, what are you talking about, a bishop ordaines the priest? Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laudate_Dominum Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 [quote name='Jason' date='Apr 4 2004, 01:10 PM'] That what counts!!! No ordained Priest then the Mass is not valied! It has to be a Catholic Priest, ordained by a bishop of the Catholic Church to bring the True Presence of Our God on the altar!!! God Bless Jason [/quote] A Bishop with valid apostolic succession can ordain priests. He does not have to be in formal union with the Pope of Rome, so the Orthodox Churches have valid priests because their hierarchy has apostolic succession. Ideally all the Churches would be in union with the Pope of Rome, this is how Christ structured His Church (I know non-Catholics would object to this, but this is what we Papists believe ), so we Christians have a lot of work to do before Christ's Church is back in one piece. All the Churches in communion with one another through the ministry of Peter. And the Eastern Churches have the Real Presence in the Eucharist because they have valid priests Jason. Just thought I'd clarify that for you bro. God bless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livin_the_MASS Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 I was trying to say that, beause the East is the other lung, the Holy Father said of the Catholic Church. I'm sorry, I need to be more clear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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