A: They can and do!  As a matter of fact, in most Catholic churches, they have a bible already in the pews or seats or in the back of the church. So the congregation doesn’t even have to bring their own bibles but they certainly can. 

Rather than look at what Catholics call a Missal (the small handout or booklet) they read out of as a negative thing, look at it in a positive way.  Try to see Catholic ways of doing things in a different light.  Don’t criticize the “rituals” or whatever you may want to consider them unless you know how and why they came about. 

You must remember the Catholic Church has been around since Jesus established it with Peter.  After 2000+ years, by trial and error, they’ve learned (and keep learning) a few things.

The first thing is, even after Jesus left at the time of the apostles, there was confusion, discourse, wrong teaching etc. This would countinue and grow after hundreds of years.  The old telephone line game is true..you teach something on one end but it can come out radically different at the other.  So to keep everyone on the same page (around the world I might add) the Catholic church puts out this missal so everyone is taught the same thing at the same time of the year.  Pretty cool huh?

Not only that, but people have a hard time keeping up with looking up scripture.  Haven’t you ever listened to someone preach and they rattle off books, chapters and verses and by the time you get there, they are on the next book, chapter and verse etc.  What the Catholic church has kindly done is put all the readings, psalms, gospels, prayers etc. in a booklet and each week is in there so you can follow along and get the full teaching without skipping a beat.

The last thing is that one can see what the readings and scripture will be for the following week and one can study and prepare for the upcoming teaching.  What a wonderful thing!

This is what comes from “organized religion”.  I personally would not want to be a part of “disorganized religion” It’s kaos, people teach different things that are way off scripture.  Besides, whether you like or dislike the term “organized religion” please don’t get sucked into what I call “word games” that only play into the enemy’s hands.  Every non-denominational, Baptist, Lutherin, Pentecostal etc. church I’ve ever been to seems pretty organized to me.  They have a little pamphlet which tells you what the readings are going to be, have a spot perhaps to write down questions and notes, they tell you the times of services, what goes on throughout the week, what bible studys and classes are available, what child care or age group teachings are going on in classrooms etc.  Seems pretty organized to me!