Today, I was speaking with my Catholic brethren, they are very faith filled people, regarding the Orthodox study bible and they told me that it's not Catholic and I shouldn't read it and kind they gave me a look that I'm heretic. I tried to explain to them that JPII consider the East and West Churches as the lung of Christ, still didn't work. I just have a great love for the Orthodox Church and I wish people are more educated in the rich traditions or the Orthodox Church, just my 2 cents.

The Orthodox Study Bible is my #1 scripural reference. It's easy to read and is right-on regarding our calendar and spirituality.

Fr Deacon Paul, Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic

Christ is Born!! Glorify Him!!

Couple of observations. First of all, why do you set yourself up for this sort of treatment. If you know these people are closed-minded, why would you bring up a source that would bring this sort of reaction? There are very few Latin Catholics who know anything at all about the Christian East. For many, Eastern Catholics aren't even Catholic. For many of the young generation, the infection of rigid "traditionalist" thinking has caught on for those who even give a second look at Christian faith and practice. (We had a young man join our men's Bible study group and left because we were using something other than a Rheims-Douay bible.)

What you use for your study should be between you and your spiritual father, pastor, or confessor--whoever you go to for direction and guidance. Going to groups of your peers will often find you in a situation that I call "trading ignorance" because few of us have the depth to speak to the rigidity you seem to have encountered.

BTW, "faith-filled people" are not rigid fanatics who condemn out-of-hand anything with which they are not familiar. I wonder how these friend so yours would react to the fact that my parish book club has studied the work of N. T. Wright, an Anglican biblical scholar, in the course of their scripture study under the guidance of our pastor.

Bob

Seems like your Eastern Catholic brothers and sister may have a different point of view. I read and refer to it regularly as well (but I stick to using our Apostol for chanting readings in church)!

Cantor Joe, Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic

I feel any day that goes by without some ignoramus calling me a heretic is a day wasted.