MANILA, Philippines – Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) members, who recently attended the synod of bishops in Rome, say plans are underway to promote the Bible.
The Catholic Church is considering embarking on two possible projects, encouraging priests to discuss the content of the Holy Bible during Mass sermons and holding 24-hour vigils reading every verse, to encourage the faithful to read the scriptures.
Pampanga Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David was one of the Church officials who attended the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican from Oct. 5 to 26.
The other participants were Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, Imus Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle and Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes.
There were 250 bishops from different countries who attended the Synod.
David told Radio Veritas in an interview that they were particularly interested in adopting a practice that started in Croatia.
“In this central European country they have a Bible vigil, where they hold continuous reading of the Bible from the Genesis to the Apocalypse. I think they do it during the Lenten Season and they have about 200 people to read the Bible chapter by chapter until they finish it,” he said.
David said that in order to attract the public’s attention, they would be recruiting personalities such as artists and politicians to read the Word of God. “In fact, when they held the Bible vigil in Rome the Pope was there and they invited artists, politicians, children, factory workers, bishops, and nuns. That would be a wonderful experience if this would be aired on radio.”
The CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Biblical Apostolate (CBCP-ECBA) headed by Bishop Bastes has yet to decide when to implement the Biblical vigil, whether during Lent or Advent.
Just before the five bishops left for Rome last month to attend the Synod of Bishops, they launched the “May They Be One Bible Campaign — Help Put a Bible in Every Home.” They hope to sell and give away five million copies of the Bible in five years.
Copies of the book would be distributed to poor and very poor families or be sold at P50 each. It would be available in three languages — Tagalog, English and Cebuano.
But the problem, the Auxiliary Bishop from Pampanga said, does not end with putting a Bible in every home but convincing the faithful to open and read the holy book. “There had been several complaints that they could not understand the Bible.”
This is why they might encourage the priests to include discussing the contents of the Bible during the first portion of the Mass — the liturgy — and to ask them to improve the delivery and provide more substance in their homilies.
They might even tap lay organizations, such as the Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) and the Catholic charismatic groups, to help spread the word of God. This could be taken up during regular prayer meetings.
The Bishop added, “Nowadays, the synagogue of bishops recognize that even the lay people have access to the Bible, they can open the Word of God. We can do it in a spirit of prayer, we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in understanding the Word of God.”