Two additions to our Web site this week may be of interest to readers of The Good Word. First, the editorial in our July 7-14 issue looks at the upcoming synod on the Bible and the working document, or instrumentem laboris, for the conference that was released earlier this month. The editors write:

A significant shortcoming of the postconciliar reforms, according to the document, is the failure to communicate the sacramental nature of the celebration of the word in the liturgy. This is partly a result of poor preaching, it suggests, in particular the failure of homilists to open up "the treasures" of the Scriptures for the congregation....But it is worth pointing out that other pastoral priorities have frequently overtaken the appropriation of the Gospel as the center of Catholic pastoral practice and everyday culture. Signals that other things, like the catechism and pro-life activities, are of greater pastoral importance did not help. Setting up litmus tests for Catholic identity may also have shifted the content of some Catholic preaching in other directions.

Second, this week’s In These Pages feature highlights Fr. John R. Donahue’s article from 1993 on the history of Catholic Biblical Scholarship. Read it here. Tim Reidy