CBS Recommends—Learning About the Psalms

St. Timothy Parish's Bible Series is a big hit! All are welcome to join us as the series continues:


Feb. 10, 2011    An Introduction to the Psalms
Fr. Aidan Donahue

Mar. 8, 2011     An Introduction to the Prophets
Sr. Barbara Bozak, CSJ

April 12, 2011   The Passion Narratives
Professor Wayne Rollins

Each evening will begin at 7 P.M. and take place at St. Timothy School, 1116 North Main St., West Hartford, Milligan Hall.

Advance reservations are appreciated.  For more information and registration please call Ms. Pat Piano, St. Timothy Pastoral Associate: 860-232-8594. Do not miss this golden opportunity to enrich your faith life.

Remembering Dean A. Ockerbloom, Class of 2006

The Hartford Catholic Biblical School community mourns the death on January 26th of Dean Ockerbloom, buried this morning from St. Ann Church in Avon.

As 2006 graduates of our Biblical School community, both Dean and his wife, Marianne, are dear to our hearts. But since I did not have the honor of knowing Dean well myself, I invited his friend and classmate, Caryl Muller, to write a few words in Dean's memory. Here's what she writes:

"What I remember most about Dean is his generosity, passion and commitment to his family and the things he held close to his heart. Dean told us (his CBS small group) that after recovering from a serious medical episode he began reflecting on the direction he wanted his life to take. He felt called to issues of social justice and became very involved both at St. Ann's in Avon and at the Catholic Worker House in Hartford. Dean was an energetic, upbeat person who displayed a positive attitude and was always ready and willing to help others."

Contributions in Dean's honor may be made to Hartford Catholic Worker, 26 Clark Street, Hartford, CT 06120. For condolences please visit www.carmonfuneralhome.com.

CBS Recommends—Catholic Faith and Family Bible

The Center for Ministry Development announced last week that their Catholic Faith and Family Bible is the #1 bestselling Bible on the Harper Catholic Bibles list of bestselling Bibles.

All of the features of the Catholic Faith and Family Bible, from the section and book introductions, as well as the over 1,000 study notes, were written with the unique challenges and needs of the Catholic family in mind.

This is not a study Bible, but it is ideal for generating family discussions and for religious educators who hope to involve the whole family in the catechetical process.

Click here for more information and to purchase directly from the Center for Ministry Development.

Beware of Bad Info Online!

When "Googling" information or participating in social networking about the Bible, it is important to be very careful about the sources of the information you are considering. There is probably more false information than accurate information out there.

Four samples of "online idiocy":

"Mark is the surname of John." (There is a "John Mark" in the New Testament, but Mark is not a surname in this case. And, to my knowledge, no serious scholar links John Mark with the Gospel of John.)

"Luke was probably written just as a matter of recording it for posterity." (The gospel writers write in the context of the Christian community of which they are a part for the purpose of inspiring faith, not as an exercise in modern history writing.)

"The old testament was originally written by disiples [sic] guided by God. Some personally saw God talking and telling them what to write and others by visions." (This in no way reflects the approach to authorship in the Bible as the Catholic Church--indeed, as scholars in most Christian and Jewish denominations--understand it.)

"Adam, Noah, Shem, and the others each wrote down an account of the events which occurred in his lifetime, and Moses, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, selected and compiled these, along with his own comments, into the book we now know as Genesis." (Writing was almost exclusively limited to legal and economic transactions until the time of King David, about 250 years after the time of Moses. And even then, very few individuals could read or write. The Catholic Church's position on human authorship in the Bible is that early biblical traditions originated as oral stories and were later collected by unnamed human authors. The entire development of the canon, both as oral and written material, is seen as guided by the Holy Spirit.)

The textbooks authorized for the Catholic Biblical School are authoritative, and Hartford CBS students, at least, are encouraged to engage these texts thoroughly before venturing into other resources. Beyond the authorized textbooks, we recommend the materials listed in the "Further Reading" section of each week's lesson.

In general, though, if you decide to venture into cyberspace for information about the Bible, we recommend three guidelines: First, consider whether the material you find online is consistent with the Catholic approach to the Bible taught in the Biblical School. Second, look carefully into the professional credentials of the online source. If credentials aren't provided, then you should question the validity of the material. Third, recognize that even a well-qualified scholar may draw interpretations from their exegesis that are not consistent with the Catholic tradition. In this case, draw from their exegetical knowledge and insight, but compare their conclusions with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.