As a Scripture Only Christian and former Catholic, I've met very few Catholics who don't put the musings of men above the Word of God.
My mother-in-law, a lifelong devoted Catholic who began reading the Bible for herself in the last years before her death, and came to a saving knowledge of Christ, was hurt and perplexed because she had been discouraged...told that Bible interpretation would be done for her...from reading the Bible for herself.
My experience has been that you can never pin a Catholic down on anything. It's always "Well, some Catholics may believe that or practice that, but not ALL Catholics do."
I say if you like the liturgy and the costumes, more power to you. As long as the truth isn't made to seem like a needle in a haystack of ritual and rote recitations, which it often has been.
For me, the unvarnished truth is enough.
As a former Protestant, I find your claim curious. I suppose it's easy to forget it was the "musings of men" that caused one congregation to become two, four, eight, etc. when members of one's own congregation are all members of the same faction.
My experience has been that you can never pin a Catholic down on anything. It's always "Well, some Catholics may believe that or practice that, but not ALL Catholics do."
Perhaps it would be wise to recall the adage about throwing stones from glass houses. Would you feel compelled to defend every vagary of doctrine practiced by every Protestant denomination?
As long as the truth isn't made to seem like a needle in a haystack of ritual and rote recitations, which it often has been.
Is the "truth" any less obscured by the myriad of competing hermeneutics found amongst the Protestants?
For me, the unvarnished truth is enough.
I hope you're right.
I am a lifelong Catholic and no one has ever discouraged me from Bible reading. We have three readings from the Bible every Sunday. The church ought to maintain the authority of interpretation because the alternative is sectarianism (which Jesus didn't seem too crazy about) and folks believing that their sin ain't really sin, i.e. homosexuals. The church was given the authority by Christ to state authoritavely what is canon and what is not.