The Profession of Faith - What We Believe  

“WHY CATHOLIC?”  PREVIEW OF SESSION TWO

God's Revelation : Scripture and Tradition

Fr. John Robert Skeldon of the Diocese of Fort Worth tells students of his “Introduction to Scripture” class that the Bible can be helpfully compared to a newspaper.  A newspaper contains different kinds of material – news articles, editorials, cartoons, advertisement, etc. Likewise, the Bible is made up of different kinds of literature – history accounts, gospel proclamations, letters, songs, etc.  As we look at a cartoon with a different mindset than we read a news story, we should not approach all the books of the Bible in the same way.  For example, we read the Psalms for spiritual uplifting in prayer, but we do not find in them a model for Christian life as much as in the letters of Paul. Nevertheless, we will discover in every book of Scripture – Old Testament as well as New – testimony of God’s love for us. 

Because the Church accepts the Bible with its human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit as God’s word, the Second Vatican Council could state, "… the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."  This means that we should not seek scientific explanations of events narrated in the Bible like the creation of the universe.  Nor should we expect that every fact presented in Scripture corresponds to other historical records.  However, we can assume that the spiritual lessons of Scripture will guide us to our ultimate goal of eternal life. 

The second session of “Why Catholic?” conveys other lessons about God’s revelation as well.  Particularly important are the unity between Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition and the critical role the pope and bishops have in assuring that both Scripture and Tradition are faithfully understood.