April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
ECUMENICAL EFFORT
Catholics and Protestants take on the Bible together
Catholics and Protestants take on the Bible together
"But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you," the leader read aloud from the Acts of the Apostles, "you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Or something to that extent: Members of the ecumenical study group carry different Bible translations.
As the group discussed the meaning of the passage, it was obvious that some members' Catholic faith influenced the conversation.
"At confirmation," said Jean Myers, a Catholic, "we learned that the Holy Spirit comes upon us and makes us stronger Christians. It's a blessing."
Various faith perspectives often merge and augment the learning experience at the Bible study, begun two decades ago by the pastor of Old Saratoga Reformed Church.
Catholics from nearby Notre Dame-Visitation parish in Schuylerville began attending five years ago, about the same time that a similar group at the parish ended. Today, there are around 10 members - more Catholics than Protestants - ranging in age from 60 to 91.
Scripture study is a relatively recent phenomenon for Cath-olics, who were once discouraged from even reading the Bible. Though Bible study groups are now popular at Catholic parishes, there's sometimes a lingering stereotype of Catholics as "scriptural illiterates."
That "was partly true until the year 1943," noted John Dwyer, a retired professor at St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry in Albany, the Albany Diocese's graduate school for theology.
The 16th-century Reformation emphasized Scripture as a path to salvation and created a culture of Biblical study among Protestants, he said. By the early years of the 20th century, critical contributions to Scripture interpretation by Catholics were viewed as suspicious.
Then Pope Pius XII's 1943 encyclical on the Bible, "Divino Afflante Spiritu" ("Inspired by the Divine Spirit"), changed the tone for the people in the pews and students of religious education.
"It opened up critical study of the biblical text to Catholics in a way that simply had not been true," Mr. Dwyer explained.
The 1960s' Second Vatican Council further affirmed the Catholic Church's reliance on and appreciation of Scripture.
Still, modern Catholics might need more time to catch up to these teachings. In a recent study of religious knowledge by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, fewer than half of Catholics could correctly name Genesis as the first biblical book, compared to 85 percent of their evangelical counterparts and 85 percent of Mormons. Only 33 percent of Catholics could name the four Gospels, compared to 57 percent of their Protestant counterparts.
But it's all relative to the Schuylerville group.
"There may be Catholics that don't read the Bible, but there are many Protestants that don't read it, either," said Rev. Joyce de Velder, pastor of the Reformed church. "There [are] a lot of things we don't know and we're here to learn together."
According to members of the group, studying with people of different faiths helps the cluster of Catholics better understand and live their own faith.
For example, Marion DeHeer, a Notre Dame-Visitation parishioner, added daily Bible reading to her routine of daily Rosary prayer after she joined the group. She uses a guide printed in The Evangelist (see page 12).
Betty Corsetti was inspired in the mid-1980s by the small faith-sharing groups of the Diocese's Renew program.
As the ecumenical Bible study forges on, differences sometimes arise in their theology, but they're never prohibitive.
"We pretty much have the same outlook on things," Mrs. Myers said. "But one person can say something that makes us go, 'Aha!'"[[In-content Ad]]
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