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Catholic Bible School Spreading the Word
Geoff and Gina Poulter, who run the Catholic Bible School near Chichester, reflect on the importance of Scripture in their lives, and share their vision for the future of the School.
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“Catholic Bible School born out of spirit of Dei Verbum” The Catholic Bible School was born out of the spirit of Dei Verbum when it was established some twenty years ago by its visionary founders, Michael and Joan Le Morvan. Even now it still has a unique place in the life of the Church in this country. The aim of the Catholic Bible School is to help Christians make the Living Word of God a living experience in their lives. Becoming Directors of the Catholic Bible School over four years ago was another step on our personal journey of faith that was enkindled some thirty years ago when we went on a Marriage Encounter Weekend. On this retreat we discovered that we were loved by Jesus in a very real way and also heard the call of God to work as a couple in the Church. Some fifteen years later a Life In the Spirit Seminar introduced the power of the Holy Spirit into our lives and deepened our relationship with Jesus. “Almost left the Catholic Church” Subsequently, at a time of disillusionment, on the verge of leaving the Roman Catholic Church and about to become members of a ‘house church’, we clearly heard a call from God to stay put, and to help put “His heart back into His Church”. All through this time we had been falling in love with the ‘Word of God’, and we had a growing hunger and passion for Scripture. This prophetic word from God and a heart for Scripture were key factors in our decision to sell our home and invest the proceeds into the Catholic Bible School so that Michael and Joan could retire.Every so often you hear something that seems to really touch your spirit. We can’t remember when we first heard this saying from St Jerome that “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ”, but it stung us and stayed with us. St Jerome was right. Scripture is key to knowing Jesus and getting closer to him. Scripture, as the inspired word of God, is God speaking to us. It has to be more than just the readings we have at Mass. “We have different ways to relating to Scripture” We both have a deep love of Scripture but approach it from slightly different directions. Gina, who is a trained Spiritual Director and Christian Counsellor allows herself to find God’s word through contemplation and meditation. I, on the other hand, however, am more interested in the academic side and tend to look at scripture more to understand its message and practical implications for our society today. But for both of us Scripture is at the centre of our prayer journey and we are never far away from our bibles. Our mission at the Catholic Bible School is to share our passion for God’s Word with others and create opportunities for others to fall in love with Scripture. Recognising how different the two of us are in approaching Scripture, we quickly realised that our annual programme of courses and events had to be like an ‘a la carte’ menu. The challenge was to provide a range of courses, study days, retreats and other programmes that would appeal to different people. “Something for everyone” Our vision for the School is that it will be a centre where people experience hospitality and peace providing a range of opportunities for people to encounter and develop a love for the Scriptures as the ‘Living Word of God’ so that they will:
Recently our Charitable Trust was able to purchase and renovate an adjoining building which had been used as a Mass Centre for many years. This was possible because the Diocese sold it at a very favourable price, and supporters responded very generously to our ‘Building the Future’ appeal. This enables us to take larger groups and also provide meeting and conferences facilities to outside organisations. “Draw on riches of the different streams of Christianity” Gina and I are both Catholic and the School is Roman Catholic in foundation but those attending the School come from a wide range of different denominations as do our speakers and trainers. We draw on the rich veins of faith and understanding that run deep within the different streams of Christianity. Part of our vision is that no one should be turned away from the School because of lack of finance so all our study days are by donation. For those courses where we have to charge a fee we keep it to a minimum and often make allowances if we know there is a problem. On the other hand our costs, like those that all of us face, continue to rise. Finance is always a challenge but God has always provided. We rely heavily on a loyal band of supporters and benefactors who sow into the vision of the School by making regular donations. “Gideon’s army” In Judges 7:7 we read of God saying to Gideon “with these three hundred warriors I will give you victory” and he did just that! When Gideon had to face the Midianites God led him to do this with an army of only three hundred chosen warriors. Gideon was victorious over the vast forces of Midian. The lesson here is that with a small army who believe in the Lord, anything can be accomplished. This scripture was a source of inspiration to us and we have recently launched an appeal for new support for the School by seeking three hundred people to join ‘Gideon’s Army’. If the vision for the CBS touches your Spirit and you want to help by joining ‘Gideon’s Army’, then contact us via www.catholic-bible-school.org or: CBS, Nutbourne House, Farm Lane, Nutbourne, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8SD, Tel 01243 371766. Also contact us if you want more information about our courses and Distance Learning Programmes. Either way we would be encouraged if you would hold us and the work and the future of the School in your prayers. Together we can make sure that people are not ignorant of Christ because they are ignorant of Scripture.
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The
Gift of Scripture, produced by the catholic Bishops’ Conference
of England and Wales, was published forty years after the Second Vatican
Council promulgated one of its greatest documents – Dei Verbum
– the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. The purpose of
this Constitution was to make the Bible a ‘wind of life blowing
through the lives of all Catholics’ Forty years on how are we doing
as a Church? If it was a school report, we could probably expect to
read, ‘must try harder’ or ‘could do better’. We
still have a long way to go.