Wuerl in Rome for Bible synod

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By Julia Duin

As the world's economy teeters on a precipice, 253 Catholic bishops are in Rome discussing one thing they consider rock solid in uncertain times: the Bible.

"The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church," a three-week synod convened Oct. 5 by Pope Benedict XVI, includes four U.S. bishops, among them Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, a specialist in teaching the faith.

The synod began with a marathon Bible reading kicked off by the pontiff himself as he read from the opening passages of Genesis on Italian television. Russian Orthodox Bishop Hilarion of Austria read the next passage. He was followed by Italian actor Roberto Benigni and a Bach solo from tenor Andrea Bocelli.

The subsequent 138 hours of Bible reading were taken up by 1,200 people from 50 countries, including a range of Christians, and some Jews and Muslims.

The synod broke ground in other ways by inviting a Jewish scholar, Chief Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen of Haifa, Israel, to speak on the role the Scriptures play in Jewish life.

The first Jew to address such a synod, the rabbi asked Catholic leaders to do more against anti-Semitism in Europe and obliquely criticized plans to beatify Pope Pius XII. The World War II-era pope has been criticized for not speaking out strongly enough against the Holocaust, charges that the church and Catholic scholars vigorously dispute.

Twenty-five women taking part - six as scholars and 19 as observers - constitute the largest bloc of female involvement ever at a synod. The other three U.S. delegates are Cardinal Francis George of Chicago; Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz.; and Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston.

According to the Catholic News Service, a minority of Catholics read the Bible regularly and the pope views a lack of Bible teaching as part of a "wider crisis of catechesis" or teaching in the church. Benedict also has found fault with certain modern-day methods of biblical interpretation on the grounds they erode Christians' confidence in the Scriptures.

In the midst of it all is Archbishop Wuerl, who in 2005 was the only American bishop appointed to a council of a dozen bishops from around the world to draft an 86-page working document for the synod. Couched in seven languages - Latin, English, Italian, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Polish - it eventually will become, after multiple revisions, a guide for the Catholic faithful.

"We want to help our people access Scripture more directly," he said in an interview shortly before he left for Rome. "By saying, 'I should not just come to the word of God through liturgy, I should be reading the Bible, I should be praying over the pages of the Bible on my own, I should be going to study groups in my parish that are looking at the Bible,' so it becomes a greater portion of our experience of the church."

The archbishop, who is posting occasional columns on the event at www.americancatholic .org, said the synod runs six days a week from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. with a three-hour midday break. Benedict has limited all speeches to five minutes to allow more dialogue among the prelates.

When asked whether the synod was a reaction to the huge Catholic losses in Latin America, where Catholics are joining more Bible-oriented Protestant groups, Archbishop Wuerl said, "I don't know if it is so much a reaction, but a recognition that if you evangelize, you evangelize with the Word of God."

While he denied that Catholics are weak on the Bible, he acknowledged that the synod and guide hope to build on existing efforts to expand the faithful's biblical knowledge.

"I'd say Catholics are finding more opportunities to access the Bible through prayer and study groups in their parish," he said. "The need to widen access to the Word of God, that is the focus. We want Catholics to realize the Word of God is available to all believers."

Still, he emphasized, Scripture must be interpreted in accord with the Catholic Church's teachings and traditions.

"The oral tradition [of Jesus' life] came before the Word," he said. "The written word came out of the oral tradition. And that brings us to the teaching church."

The Catholic Church "has always said you'll find the sense of the church's teaching in the Scriptures," he said. "But the Scripture and tradition are both together."