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
I am not lying. That may be the case in the parish which you are a member of, but the Catholic church has historically discouraged Bible reading and still does in many places.
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.
Because they don't live where you do.
The truth, as I have experienced it, is a complicating factor to some charges made against the Catholic Church
As you have experienced it is not how all Catholics have experienced it.
It’s a huge edifice.
Have you really never heard of congregations or parish’s where reading The Bible on one’s own was discouraged?
I have—first hand.