I suppose so. I graduated from high school in 1961. It was from that time that I never again was an actively involved Catholic although I bore the label for several more years. I will be 75 this coming December. Is that old? LOL
Of course it is not fair and I try not to make such comparisons, but sometimes other people make it hard and sometimes I make it hard to do better. Two wrongs do not make a right, do they?
"For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." II Cor 10:12
I don't believe I was arguing that it was, but the lack of understanding on the part of the people and of me as a child attending mass and catechism alone was still a reality, wasn't it? It was not important to my parents what I knew of the mass for they knew nothing about it, so the fact that I even attended was a good thing as I see it. God was with me during that time... but many years later it was also God who finally drew me back to Him after I was effectively away from Him for so long.
Yes, from what I know of Vatican II it did work to improve things, but what of the thousands who were there before it was in place? You don't need to answer that, as any criticism against ministers not working for God as they should applies not only to Catholics.
I am careful to avoid direct criticism of Catholicism in general because I recall only too well that is was while I was a Catholic that God first drew me to Him. In spite of the stories I hear from others on forums, I always remember the good in the priests and nuns and brothers of my acquaintance during my own Catholic years. If there was any evil there, I was ignorant of it. There was no disappointment until later on... but I don't blame that on individuals as much as I blame myself.
I never had anyone tell me that I could not read the Bible, only that I should not read it. I wanted to and it was one reason that drew me toward the Catholic priesthood as a teenager. I thought that once I became a priest I would be able to read the Bible without any opposition. But, what happened was my mother talked to the Monsignor and he agreed with her strong suggestion that discussions on me becoming a priest be delayed until I was older. Well further discussions never happened and I drifted away. By the time I knew what had happened I no longer cared.
Yes, I remember those Bible readings, but they were Not at time three in number and seldom more than one. They only occurred only in connection with the message [sermon?] the priest would give to the people. He was the only one to read from the scriptures during a mass. Sitting on a chair while he spoke I would always listen carefully. I know that in all of those years as a Catholic there were many parts of the scripture the priest never read from. I only became familiar with those when I finally began to read the Bible myself at the age of 32 years.
I have heard that this has been the case for many years now, but the whole Bible was never read in mass during all my time as an active Catholic from age 6 [1949] to my graduation from high school in 1961. I only attended one old mission church during those years so I had no idea what was happening, or not, in other places. I did trust my priest and the four Franciscan nuns who always taught us the catechism during religious release times once a week. Our elementary public school allowed an optional religious release one day a week. The nuns met us and led us to an old adobe building that belonged to the mission for our catechism studies, which probably lasted a little over half of an hour. The nuns never read to us from the Bible.
I did not mean for it to be misleading. I apologize. I was simply telling my story in my own words. By reading the Bible, I meant just that, reading. Of course we heard many things that were from the scripture even though they may or may not have been a literal rendering of what is written in the Bible. That they sometimes paraphrased them seems as likely for them as it is for the Protestants of my experience. As I said I trusted my Catholic teachers, and while they were my teachers I never had a reason that I can remember to doubt what they taught us. If they were in error, I am certain that they were not purposely so.
Why have you gone into an attack mode here? No, I was not deaf. As I have already said, I always listened very closely to what they said and worked hard to live according to what I was taught. I remember thinking to myself more than once that I wished the priest would read more of the Bible than he did.
As to the Catholic Church always reading more scripture before Vatican II than the Protestants, that may have been true generally, but I have no way of really knowing. My father was a Protestant, but he lived in Oklahoma while I was in California so my visits to him gave me little to go on... He and his mother were much closer to God than most of the Catholics I knew except for perhaps the nuns and priests in that mission church. They may have been on a par, but I would hesitate to make a judgment on that. My visits with my father were short until after I was no longer living in my mother's house and no longer an active Catholic.
