The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-06-21
THE BIBLE EXPLAINED AWAY,
Catholics Urged to Read Bible.


sermon explaining the Catholic atti-
tude towards the Bible, and reafirm-
ing her fidelity to the Holy Scriptures,
advised every communicate to pos
sess a copy of the Bible and to read
it "reverently, devotionally, piously,
interpreting the words not according
to the will, but according to Him who
directed their Interpretation in the
Church He has founded"
1.-THE Catholic attitude towards the
Holy Scriptures is very clear and
definite" he said.
1--WE believe that the Holy Scrip
lures are verify the Word of God;
that is to say, not every word OF the
sacred Scriptures was spoken by Al
mighty God, but those who wrote
them were divinely inspired to write.
Inspiration does not necessarily mean
revelation. Inspiration is the guild
ance of those who wrote the truth.
1t did not take away the free will OF
their writings They were free to ex-
ercise that free will to a considerable
extent, as is shown by their individual
style in writing.
1--WE believe that everybody who is
competent to read ought to read the
Holy Scriptures, and those not able
to read ought to obtain adequate in
struction in regard to Scripture his
tory and Scripture truth. Hence, in
all our Catholic schools we expect that
in the curriculum there shall be q
study of the sacred Scriptures.
But we don't teach that the Scrip
lures are the sole rule of faith; be
cause in the beginning and for more
than a hundred years of the Church's
life the same would be impossible
as the Scriptures to a certain extent
were unwritten-and those books Of
the New Testament were uncollected
I'm the apostolic age the greater
part of the New Testament was not
written. 1t would have been impossi
BILE in the first, second and third cen
turtles to make the Bible the rule OF
faith, because there was no Bible as
we understand it now.
"Christ's message was to be spoken
Go FORTH He says, teach
$50 that the rule of faith in the frs
ages was the teaching of Christ's mes
sengers or apostles those mainly wht
formed and governed the Christian
church.
"That which obtained in the frs
ages the Catholic holds to still, ant
he is the more convinced thereo
since Christ has said to that teach
ing church which He established
Behold, 1 am with you all days
1T was the early members of thu
Christian church who wrote under
divine inspiration the books of thu
New Testament. They were writer
for various purposes, and directed a
first to different communities. No
one of them, nor all of them, claimed
to contain the entire and complete
teachings of the Blessed Master.
I'm the third century these book
were collected together, the spurious
ones rejected, and those proven gen
uine set together, an a canon o
scripture established. This was don
by the church in council.
1u6u IhcSA O SAAOA0SsA
years-indeed, until the art of print
ing was established-the sole deposi
tory and guardian of the Holy Scrip
lures was the Catholic Church.
"She gave to these sacred book
unremitting care and constant study
The monks spent their lives in repro
ducing the manuscript copies, he
artists in Illuminating them. He
painters went to them for inspiration
Missal, breviary and psalter are a.
founded on them. She taught tn
people to pray and to sing the song
and the prayers that the Scripture
contained.
I'm spite of this, there are thos
who think we are very much oppose
to the Holy Scriptures. That we'r
afraid of them, or at least afraid t
let them be known by the commo
people
'"This must be largely founde
(where the charge is honesty on tn
fact that we do not believe in tn
right of an infallible private interpr'
tation of the Scriptures; in othe
words, we do not believe that eac
individual has right to go to tn
Holy Scriptures and make for himse
a religion of what he finds there.
The Archbishop also said that i
dividual Interpretation of the Scril
lures is widely variant. He con
pared this to civil law.
Sometimes we are said to be go
erned by the constitution of the Unite
States" he went on. We'll, we al
not. We are governed by the one
who interpret the constitution of tn
United States. You begin to rea
this constitution and you find, All me
are created free You try to int
pref that freedom according to you
own notion and you find that you ru
against the government The const
tuition may serve as written orde
but it must have an interpretatio
A book can never govern a people
The speaker said those who oppos
the teaching that the Pope is infal
BILE concerning Bible Interpretation
''try, on the other hand, to NAL
everybody infallible in their interpr
tation of what the truth il" He ad
ed: Everybody finds just what
written i'm his own mind. Some fiji
one sacrament in the Holy Scripture