New American Bible Revised Edition, updated Roman Missal to ‘bring renewed focus’ to Catholics

Catholic publishers are anticipating a boon from the release of the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)—the officially approved translation of the Catholic church—and the update of the Roman Missal, the ritual text mandatorily used for mass by Catholics worldwide.

The revision waas approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which licenses the NABRE to several publishers, including Saint Mary’s Press, Catholic Book Publishing Corp., Saint Mary’s Press, Our Sunday Visitor and Oxford University Press. 

Saint Mary’s Press will be releasing three Bibles using the revised edition text beginning January 2012, including The Catholic Youth Bible, a basic text edition and The Catholic Family Connections Bible, according to President and CEO John Vitek. 

The best-selling Bible for Catholic youth, with more than 2 million copies in print worldwide, The Catholic Youth Bible in the NABRE will be a good seller, Vitek told Christian Retailing. “We expect sales of this title to be around 150,000 copies. The New American Bible revised edition will add substantial footnotes for the reader who has interest in going deeper into the context of the Scripture text itself. ” 

Liturgical Press is releasing this month a New American Bible revised version of the Little Rock Catholic Study Bible in both hardcover and paperback, as well as the first five volumes of the “New Collegeville Bible Commentary Old Testament” series—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

“We have been waiting for the revision to complete the ‘New Collegeville Bible Commentary,’ as the New Testament volumes were completed in 2006,” Sales and Marketing Manager Brian Woods told Christian Retailing. “So our customers have been waiting patiently for the Old Testament volumes, and we expect very good sales. … We have quite a few pre-orders for the Little Rock Catholic Study Bible, and expect a large audience for this Bible.”

 Liturgical Press is also releasing eight new materials related to the Roman Missal, which was last revised by the Vatican in 2002. Required to be implemented by U.S. Catholic churches this fall, the  missal calls for all hymn and service books as well as pamphlets, pew cards, family and catechist guides tied to the mass to be updated.  

“With the Roman Missal, NABRE and other new initiatives, we are looking for a 10% increase next year,” Woods said. 

Meanwhile, Catholic Book Publishing (CBP) is releasing nearly 80 SKUs tied to the NABRE, ranging from personal size to family Bibles, according to Senior Editor Maria Maggi. 

CBP’s Student Edition was its first NABRE released in March at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress.

“We were kept apprised of the approval process (of the NABRE),” Maggi said. “We expect that the St. Joseph editions, which have long been a hallmark of Catholic Book, will continue their strong sales with the New American Bible revised version.”

Along with Liturgical Press and five other publishers that are releasing ritual editions tied to the  missal update, CBP is publishing numerous materials. 

“Because use of the revised Roman Missal is mandatory, there is a ready-made market with the country’s roughly 18,000 parishes, hospitals and retreat houses,” Maggi said. “Some of the country’s nearly 39,000 priests also might wish to have personal copies.”

Oxford University Press has released compact versions and large-print editions in the NABRE, with study Bible versions coming out in August, according to Senior Marketing Manager Brian Hughes. 

“We have always had success with the New American Bible,” he said. “We think this translation will do very well. I think there will be renewed interest in the scriptures and an emphasis in biblical literacy.”

At Our Sunday Visitor (OSV), the company has released three NABRE editions, including The New Catholic Answer Bible, Prove It! The Catholic Teen Bible and My Daily Catholic Bible, said Marketing Director of Books Jill Adamson. OSV is also releasing new materials such as pamphlets, pew cards, books, family and catechist guides related to the Roman Missal update.

“The best news is these changes are already and will continue to bring a renewed focus to Scripture and mass,” Adamson told Christian Retailing. “This widespread renewal can only be a good thing as Catholics break out of their routines to look at Scripture and mass with new excitement, new interest and new optimism.”

• Prev
• Next