[metmom]

And one reason that I think that would be nice would be that I could have SOME sense that I might go two or three months without someone else saying that the Catholic Church discourages the reading of the Bible.

Except for the complicating factor that it does.

Or if it is encouraged, it is within a Catholic setting and under the supervision of a priest.

Those of us who have been raised Catholic Do know better. We know what the Catholic church teaches and don't have any problem telling the truth about it.

[Mad Dawg]

How do YOU explain the giving of indulgences for reading the Bible? That's a discouragement?

My priest(s)have NEVER told me that they needed to supervise my reading of the Bible. If they are smart, pious, faithful, scholarly guys, I will sometimes consult with them. Last year when I began a month long siege on Ephesians, I kind of checked with a visiting Dominican. But this summer I'm blitzing John and haven't asked anybody, though I may contact a couple of learned guys as I go along.

In my former parish I started and taught a weekly "Bible class" Our pastor never checked on me or anything.

So, my experience is entirely different from yours.
- I have been encouraged to read the Bible.
- I have been encouraged to read the Bible on my own.

If somebody were to tell me that the Catholic Church discourages reading the Bible or only encouraged it within a catholic Setting (whatever that might be) or under the supervision of a priest, the only "complicating factor" that I would find would be that the person was not speaking the truth.

I would then wonder why someone would give an account of the Church that was so different from my experience of the past 16 years as a Catholic.

The truth, as I have experienced it, is a complicating factor to some charges made against the Catholic Church