Scripture is not being read "in public".
The Gospel (i.e. a reading from one of the first four books of the New Testament) is being proclaimed as part of the Sacred Mysteries; what we call "the Mass" or 'the Holy Sacrifice" and the Orthodox call "the Divine Liturgy". This is celebrated by a priest who is ordained to offer the Sacred Mysteries.
Catholics are as free as anyone to read the Gospel "in public".
I appreciate your explanation...it’s better than “just because”!
Sounds a lot like the goings on at a Masonic Lodge meeting...The worshipfull master (yes, that's what he's called) sits in the east and is the head of everyone...He reads out of the book and the other officers respond with scripted responses...Likely a similar 'Mystery' takes place in the Knights of Columbus...
The Masons predate Catholicism by millenniums...I suspect that is where Catholicism picked up a lot of its ritual procedures...
There are no sacred mysteries in the Gospels...Only in the unbiblical rituals performed by the fringe groups who like to mimic the church of Jesus Christ...
We know what Jesus taught...He left us and preserved what he wanted us to know, for all time, in the scriptures...He told us that...There were no secrets or mysteries left to religious looking organizations who try to steal the mantle of bible Christians which are succinctly lain out in the scriptures...