January 18, 2012. (Romereports.com) More than fifty percent of world's population can not read or write, leaving them with many disadvantages. It has proved especially difficult for the Catholic Church in their work of Evangelization. However, the group Faith Comes by Hearing is working to offer every person the chance to listen to the Bible recorded in their own language.
The group's founder Jerry Jackson presented the pope with an iPod with an audio bible. They currently offer audio versions of the Bible in over 600 languages.
Jerry Jackson
President, Faith Comes by Hearing
“And then we record this, we assemble it in the language of the people, word for word, pure scripture, no comments, nothing in addition but just pure Scripture.”
Their App Biblium.is can be downloaded through mobile devices for free listening of the bible. In one year the app has been downloaded over 7 million times. And to the group's surprise, after English, the most downloaded language was Arabic.
For more remote areas of the world that don't have access to the internet, Faith Comes by Hearing has developed what they call 'The Proclaimer'. A playback device, that can be powered by a solar panel or a hand-powered crank and can operate in temperatures of up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lori Koch
Manager, Faith Comes by Hearing
“It basically is the Bible in audio for the non-literate people of the world. And it's self-contained, the content can't be changed, just like the content of the Bible that you hold in your hand and read can not be changed.”
Father Peter Stravinskas of New Jersey became a fan of their work and got involved when one important version was missing, Latin: The language of the Church.
Fr. Peter Stravinskas
Faith Comes by Hearing
“Vatican II makes it very clear that every Catholic is supposed to be conversant with the sacred liturgy and the Scriptures in the universal language of the Church.”
Faith Comes by Hearing has delivered over 300,000 Proclaimers since 2004. They continue to reach out to new communities and new languages, hoping to expand into 100 new languages in 2012.
