BIBLE IN SCHOOLS

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1932, Page 11

BIBLE IN SCHOOLS

ROMAN CATHOLIC ATTITUDE. V ; ~~ -. PASTORAL LETTER. f The . attitude of the Roman Catholic Church in New Zealand toward the ;'■& Bible-in-schools question is sei out in Pastoral Letter by Archbishop Redwood/ \ > which was read in all churches' oin ' ’ Sunday... '.’V- : “For many reasons,” the letter states, “it is desirable that the Catholic clergy , and laity in "this archdiocese should ha vd correct ideas about the question-of the Bible in schools. Accordingly tins brief statement of the case is appropriate. * “In order to teach all men divine truth Jesus • Christ established His Church; a teaching organisation, -to yj. speak to the world in’ His name -’with! His ’’ authority. The teaching - church .J was in existence long before a single . line of the New Testament was written. . It was the teaching church which, gath- j ered together the books of the Bible and officially decided which books long to the’Bible'and which do'not l ' It was the church that through the centuries preserved the Scriptures. The Protestants of the 16thcentury took •;.£ their Bible from the church, arid also . their belief ;in its ‘divine inspiration. • - ~fi “Bible reading" in public schools ' ta : ? -tantamount to thei State’s recognition of the ‘Bible religion’ of Protestants. Aa we all know, ■ Protestantism makes • the - Bible the sole and supreme rule ,of faith and ' morality.. Bible Christianity rgx is a formal denial of the Church,’ of.her ■ divine authority and mission. It strives : to abrogate the> church . which Christ instituted,. and in its place seeks to su,b- .’sstituie a book. . . ' . ’ < “Protestant .Bibles, whether;it be'King''£■ £ James’ version or any other version, . omit seven books from the Old Testament and sections of two other £ namely, . Tobias, Judith, Ecclesiastdcus, | Wisdom, Baruch, 1" and *2 Maccabees, S and sections of Esther and Daniel They > relegate them to an appendix and'label \ them c as ‘apocrypha’ (spdrious. books),;.* diesignation which *'cannot but : Ipwer '\ them in the estimation' of the reader, ’-i/g These books apd "sections; which£Prqtestant versions omit, were in the Bible for 16 centuries. The ’Catholic Church £<£ canonised them and’’ defined their in-J.-J spiration, just as she did for the. other books of the Bible. The Church; still' holds this ancient belief to r thh...'once i-§| united Christian Church.’ Should State/?; and public school authority impose the reading of a Protestant version ' in the, - public schobls, they woiild -thereby.:'*d-’/«$ opt and endorse the Protestant canon ? of Scripture, and with' the', authority 4 ; :.U law and prestige of State -impose' tenet on Catholic taxpayers. The prob- i: lem, then, as to -What Bible -would be ,--’j used in the public - schools, whether ; it - be a Catholic; Protestant, or Jewish'version, offers almost insurmountable diffi- ggculties! " . . . “The plan to. read , only certain passages ' from the . Bible is equally; unsatisfac- •? tpry. By the’ fact that they ' are mere sections, they exclude the Bible-as;,* - whole, and in this way infringe - on th«>j£ religious convictions of Catholics. these selected readings have to be col-j < ourless, so as not to offend anyone. The great New Testament passages , on the Church, the primacy of St; Petery. the?// Real Presence in the Eucharist, would have to be a rion-dogmatic, dilutedrfqrni <4 of Christianity. The Jew, in would oppose everything distinctively ■;? Christian, and insist ufeori the reading* ;sf principally from the Old 1 ’- Testamerit. >, •, Furthermore, the reading of -passages , from the'Bible can hardly be more than . a literary exercise, unless it be accompanied by an interpretation. Now, of supreme importance that Catholic* ?a. should know that interpretation •of inspired books is not a matter - of judgment, and that the church cannot allow anybody to interpret the. Bible for Catholic children who is not t api-S pointed by her and under her control. - “These considerations show’the' prac-J? tlcal imposability of the Bible in school* in- this country, and therefore its -'. condemnation - at the bar of reason and justice. ; “This letter is to be read on Sunday ' at. Mass in all the churches of this ? archdiocese.” ... ■