"There's no need to condescend."
Who is being condescending? Do you or don't you need someone to tell you what the Bible says?
What we have is someone who is the sole protector of Holy Writ, faith and morals within the Church. That way we don't have a thousand little popes and popettes running around telling us what THEY think the Bible says.
It isn't someone specifically. It's the tradition of the Church that is supposed to guide the bishops and priests. I mean, you don't need someone to tell you what the Bible says concerning many things, but with certain ambigious or easy to misinterpret verses, I sure do my trust in the teaching authority, either through the clergy, or through researching the sources the Church relies on. The whole "Holy Spirit guides the individual Christian to interpret Scripture" viewpoint is just relativism, given a nice face.