Pope Creates Ordinariates for Anglican Dioceses

It will be interesting to read the Apostolic Constitution once it is signed and released by the Pope. If you would like to read the Joint Statement made by the Catholic Bishop of Westminster and the Archbishop of Canterbury, go here.

For some commentary on this historic announcement, check out these sites:

John Allen

Canon Lawyer Ed Peters

Rocco

Review of NRSV Notetakers Bible

J. Mark Bertrand has a very fine post up about the recently released Oxford NRSV Notetaker's Bible. Mr. Bertrand is the Internet expert on all things concerning quality Bible covers and bindings. It is worth the time and effort to read through some of his past posts, which always come with fine descriptive pictures and commentary.

New Douay-Rheims Edition

Published in cooperation with Tan Books, St. Benedict's Press has released a new edition of the venerable Douay-Rheims Bible. I was able to examine a copy at a local Catholic book store a few days back and was impressed with the overall presentation of the Bible. While I don't use the Douay-Rheims regularly, I have always hoped that there would be more stylish/modern editions of the Douay-Rheims available. This Bible is a definite step in the right direction. While some of the more recent Douay-Rheims releases have been fairly thick, this edition comes in the standard, medium size Bible range. The paper is the classic Bible paper you would find in most Bibles. The page layout is similar to that found in previous Tan Book Douay-Rheims releases, including cross-references and the classic verse notes. The edition I reviewed was the very flexible imitation leather/Durahyde cover.

Here is a bit more about it, from the Tan website:

Our Douay Rheims Bible is the only edition available with the words of Christ in red! Includes updated full color New Testament maps, beautiful pictures depicting the life of Christ. Complete with Family record and Presentation pages. This beautiful Bible is available in a durable black leather-soft cover, with gold edges and a ribbon marker and is packaged in an eye catching presentation box.

All in all, this is a very fine edition, particularly those who are interested in getting a stylistically newer edition of the Douay-Rheims. I only wonder why they didn't include any Old Testament maps, but overall it is an attractive edition which comes in multiple cover options.

It also seems that St. Benedict Press will be producing similar Bible editions with the NAB and RSV. More to come as details are revealed!

Update: Theophrastus the Great alerted me to an even better review of this new edition on another blog site. He even has pictures of the paperback edition.

Your Favorite Bible Edition

While it seems that I am always looking for the "next best thing" in regards to Catholic Bibles, there is one thing that has remained constant over the past few years: My favorite Bible edition is still the Cambridge NRSV Reference Bible with the Apocrypha--French morocco leather. While there have been times when I have been "tempted" to switch Bible translations, I always seem to fall back to this edition. Although it is true that I am sympathetic to the NRSV translation, the overall quality of this Cambridge edition, including not only the Moroccan leather, but the plentiful cross-references, thick paper, 18 maps, and truly helpful glossary, make this edition a true gem for Catholic Bible readers. There is no other Bible that meets my needs like this edition of the NRSV.

But how about you? What Bible edition do just absolutely love and use? This question has less to do with a particular Bible's translation, but rather the whole package. Feel free to give a glowing report of your favorite Bible, including any links to websites that provide further details about it.

The Catholic Bible Concordance RSV-CE

Just wanted to give you all a heads up that The Catholic Bible Concordance RSV-CE, with foreword by Scott Hahn, has been released and is available for purchase. This edition is published by Emmaus Road Publishing.

Below is a brief description:

The first and only concordance for the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSV-CE) of the Bible. This exhaustive reference tool contains over 15,000 words and 300,000 entries, and has listings for both the first and second editions of the RSV-CE. As easy to use as a dictionary, keywords and passages makes Scripture accessible to people of all walks of life. Durable bound hardcover.

The Emmaus Road site also has a nice interview posted with the concordance compiler Christopher Lyons, which you can read here.

The Catholic Faith and Family Bible and Online Resources

As mentioned back in August, The Center for Ministry Development, with Our Sunday Visitor and HarperCollins, will be releasing a new Bible using the NRSV-CE. It is called The Catholic Faith and Family Bible. Thankfully, they have set-up a website for this project, which includes not only sample pages, but also resources for Catholic educators. Also, at some point soon, they will be providing resources which can be utilized by parents and families.

I bring all this up in order to commend The Center for Ministry Development for providing a website that includes resources that serve as a companion piece to their upcoming Bible release. Other translations, like the NLT or ESV, have been released with even more resources for Bible readers to utilize. I would certainly like to see this continued in future Catholic Bible releases, particularly with the upcoming revision of the NAB.

The Catholic Faith and Family Bible is due to be published in January 2010.

10 Random Beliefs Meme

I was tagged by Kevin, so here are my 10 Random Beliefs:

1) I believe in all that is contained in the Apostles and Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creeds.

2) I believe that predicting when the Second Advent will occur is futile and against the teachings of Scripture.

3) I believe that we will have an African Pope in my lifetime.

4) I believe that Pope Benedict XVI is a more intelligible and engaging writer than John Paul II, even though I credit John Paul II with my whole returning to Christ and current ministry work.

5) I believe that U2 is the greatest Rock n' Roll band ever.

6) I believe that the Detroit Lions will never win the SuperBowl.

7) I believe that within the next five years I will be driving a fuel-efficient/hybrid automobile. (That all depends on the price of the car!)

8) I believe that the History Channel doesn't actually show history programs anymore, unless you really are in to the occult lifestyle of Hitler, Nostradamus, Aliens, Logging, and Bigfoot.

9) I believe that my recent purchase of an I-Phone will be a great help to me, however I need to make sure it doesn't turn into an idol.

10) I believe that married life is a wonderful thing!

I tag: Jeff, Missy Francis, Rakhi, Erin