As we continue to celebrate our 50th Anniversary, Fr. Jerome Kodell,OSB, reflects on how LRSS originated as an expression of the ideals of Vatican II.
Little Rock Scripture Study began like a mustard seed in the home of Fred and Tammy Woell in Little Rock, Arkansas. Those of us who gathered there to develop the first session of what would become “Little Rock Scripture Study” had modest ambitions. We were thinking of a local program for the fall of 1974.
Our first surprise was the immediate response of the people. We had not realized just how hungry Catholics were for the word of God. Their appetite had been whetted by the documents of Vatican II a decade earlier, but so far, very few programs for lay Bible study had been developed. That first night, people just kept coming in. The first major act of Little Rock Scripture Study was a scramble for chairs in an upstairs meeting room in St. John’s Center!
We did not realize at the time how much Little Rock Scripture Study was a
response to the initiatives of the Second Vatican Council—in its mandate to open the Bible more widely, but especially in terms of the empowerment of the laity in the mission of the Church. Little Rock Scripture Study was and continues to be a completely lay initiative. Fred and Tammy and others initiated and ultimately sustained the work and mission of Little Rock Scripture Study. They passed their enthusiasm on to priests and religious, and that’s how I got involved.
Another influence of Vatican II was the encouragement of ecumenical relations and cooperation with other Christian denominations. Much of the basic study, discussion, and prayer structure of LRSS was originally adapted from Bible Study Fellowship, a successful non-denominational Bible study program. The difference for LRSS materials was the guidance of Catholic doctrine and the principles of Catholic biblical interpretation.
In its teaching on “Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church,” Vatican II encouraged not just study of biblical texts but personal communion with God in the pursuit of holiness: “In the sacred books the Father who is in heaven meets his children with great love and speaks with them; and the force and power in the word of God is so great that it stands as the support and energy of the Church, the strength of faith for her children, the food of the soul, the pure and everlasting source of spiritual life” (Dei Verbum, Constitution on Divine Revelation, 21).
Because of this guidance, from the beginning LRSS emphasized prayer as an essential component of Scripture study and understood that authentic biblical interpretation leads to communion with God. This is what people were and are hungering for—not only information, but real communion with God through greater familiarity with the sacred word. LRSS was designed to respond to this hunger.
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