Questions and Answers about Catholic Church Why isn't Bible reading and Bible study stressed more for Catholics? Regretfully, many Catholics like me were not raised with love and appreciation for reading the Bible. In my own home we didn't read the Bible, and in grade school I had only a cursory exposure to the sacred Book. When I went to Mass, the Scriptures were read in Latin, and I followed along with a book that had an English translation. In the 1940s Pope Pius XII opened the Bible to study by Catholic scholars in a new way. He asked them not always to interpret the Bible literally. He wanted them to ask some very basic questions as they read God's word: who wrote what, under what circumstances, when, where, and why? He thought that scientific inquiry into the cultural background of the Bible would help to plumb the depths of the Bible's true meaning. This opened a floodgate of interest among Catholics in the study of the Bible. Twenty years later, when the Catholic bishops from all over the world met in Rome for what is called the Second Vatican Council, they put a new stress on individual reading of the Bible and group study. With the Mass now in English, the readings for daily and Sunday Masses were organized so that over three year cycles, Catholics can hear most of the Bible read at Mass. Priests were called on to preach each Sunday on the Scriptures and to offer at daily Mass a homily based on the Scripture readings. When I was in the seminary, I studied the books of the Hebrew Bible and then read the New Testament many, many times. In my last years of seminary, I had four years of intense Bible study. Today a Catholic parish that doesn't have a Bible study group is more and more an exception. Return to Questions and Answers Call Toll Free: 1-888-496-7363