If the Church spent more time distributing bibles instead of building grand cathedrals (which many now sit empty), you wouldn't need to raise this question, would you?
1. you should be more sad to hear that folks pray less (thus the empty temples) now than that early Christians weren’t the most literate bunch.
2. Do you have any idea the cost involved in producing a single copy of Holy Scripture at the time? There’s a reason no one even pondered the idea before Guttenburg’s printing press; it was nonsensically expensive and time consuming. That said monks labored for years (in poverty) copying Holy Scripture just to ensure that most PARISHES would have one.
I can see how the glitter of the RCC can turn people off, myself included. Many will say the EOC is much more "humble." However, that is primarily because of the fact that the EOC was clubbered from left and right over the centuries.
At one time, Hagia Sophia stood in full glitter in Constantinople and such such bright exceptions as +John Chrysostom pressed hard for both laity and clergy to tone down their love of glitter.
But I don't see Protestant tele evangelists living a life of chastity and poverty either. Those who enjoy benefits in the RC Church do not own any of its wealth. The Prots, on the other hand, became personally wealthy by selling God.
As for your comment, I ask you: what good would be handing out bibles to a bunch of illiterate peasants? By your logic, we don't need teachers because we can all learn on our own.
There is nothing more arrogant and conceited than the Protestant notion that we personally can know better than the collective wisdom and knowledge of all the members of the church to this very day.