The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has stopped paying the Catholic Biblical Association of America its traditional 25 percent share of royalties for the New American Bible and other publications that use that translation. The bishops’ decision, in effect for the past two years, has deprived the association of hundreds of thousands of dollars - funds it has used in previous years to support a wide range of biblical scholarship and research in the United States and abroad, NCR Online reports.
NCR has learned that the association has filed an in-church legal action — a conciliation process apparently under Canon 1733.1 of the Code of Canon Law — to seek to reverse the bishops’ decision and restore the royalties without going to court over the issue.
For the future, the bishops’ conference is seeking to reduce the association’s share of New American Bible income from 25 percent of royalties to a lower amount and to put a time limit on them.
In the meantime, since 2008 it has halted all royalty distributions to the biblical association entirely.
The association is contesting both decisions in the conciliation process.
SIC: CTHAS