Cardinal Seán Brady has praised the contribution of the Protestant tradition to Biblical scholarship and said that Catholic families could “profitably” learn from their Protestant counterparts, the custom of having a Bible in the home, and reading it often as a family. Addressing the Synod of Bishops in Rome on Monday, the Primate of All Ireland, said the emphasis in the Reformation on improving access to the Bible was a good which benefited all Christians.
“It may assist the healing of memory to affirm that the emphasis in the Reformation on improving access to the Scriptures was a good from which all Christians have benefited.”
Cardinal Brady affirmed that “preachers need adequate preparation and ongoing help for their task.” He hoped that “exegetes, theologians and liturgists will work together to help Ministers of the Word to say what the Holy Spirit wants the Church to say to the world at this time.”
Turning to modern communications technology, the Archbishop of Armagh said the media gave the Church “wonderful possibilities to communicate its message to the ends of earth.”
“It is to be hoped that the Synod will come up with practical proposals to enable the Church to take full advantage of this opportunity,” he added.
He concluded: “The Word of God is a reality imbued with the presence of God. Like the Eucharist the Word too is viaticum – food for the journey of life, food for the journey of married life. Given the particular challenges which face the family in our time one of the things we could profitably learn from the Protestant tradition is the custom of having a Bible in the home and reading it often as a family.
This year’s gathering of bishops in Rome is the Twelfth Ordinary Synod since the end of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. Reflections on its theme, The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church, are intended to foster an understanding and love for the Word of God.
Present at the synod are 253 synod fathers attending from all over the world and representatives from other Churches and ecclesial communities participating as fraternal Delegates. On Saturday next, October 18, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I will address the hall, and together with Benedict XVI will preside over Vespers as well as give a talk on the Word of God.
Among the special guests of the Pope is the chief Rabbi of Haifa, Shear Yashuv Cohen, who addressed the synod last week, the first time that a Rabbi, and not a Christian, addressed the synod fathers.
The work of the Synod continues for months and sometimes years after it finishes.
“At the end of each ordinary synod a special council, comprised of 15 members, 12 of them elected from the synod, meets twice each year to examine the proposals of the synod, prepare the work for the next synod, offer advice about the proposals and deal with whatever questions the Holy Father may assign to the council. All this work eventually results in a special synodal exhortation which comes from the Pope himself,” writes Archbishop John Vlazny in the Catholic Sentinel.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce
(Source: CIN)