Because of Ecumenism, Catholics may now read any Bible translation?

In the following posts, I will be attempting to share some sort of a Q & A series taken from Karl Keating's book "What Catholics Really Believe" which I thought was pretty appropriate for this blog's originally intended purpose, and that is to educate and inform Lukewarm Christians, in particular Catholics, about common misconceptions of our Catholic faith and teachings and thereby find ourselves living the faith merely in mediocrity or none at all. Sometimes I may add or edit a few to make some more points or added emphasis.

#10 Because of Ecumenism (ie., the aim of promoting unity among Protestants and Catholics), Catholics may now read any Bible translation?

    Yes and No. No one will rap you on the wrist if you pick up a Protestant translation, but unless you're well-versed in biblical studies, you'll do yourself a disservice if you rely on any translation not approved by the Church.

    First of all, you'll probably be missing the seven deutero-canonical books, which means the Old Testament you'll be reading will have only thirty-nine books, not the full forty-six. (Or in the case of fundamentalists, you might have heard them say that "we added books to the Bible," but this is another topic for another time).

    Second, you'll be reading accompanying notes (or commentaries) not necessarily in harmony with Catholic teaching. If you know our teaching well, you can profit by seeing what Protestants believers think, but if your understanding of the Catholic faith isn't rock-solid, you might find yourself picking up, perhaps unconsciously, notions which aren't compatible with Catholic doctrines (because Non-Catholic commentaries and exegesis have their agenda and influence in mind to justify Protestant doctrines and traditions).

    If you're going to read only one Bible, make sure it's a Catholic translation with Catholic notes. Even that doesn't mean you won't have to keep your eyes open, of course. There is no ideal translation, and no Catholic Bible now on the market has notes which can't be criticized by someone--after all, translators and note-writers, being human, sometimes express themselves poorly.

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