[metmom]

If the Church had not needed the scripture, she would not have given it to the world. But, self-evidently, the Church would have done fine if for some reason the scripture were not around, just like she did in the beginning of her existence. The Church that Christ built is the foundation of the scripture, not the other way around.

Then why are Protestants castigated for wanting to return to it and use IT as the point of authority for spiritual matters?

[annalex]

Then why are Protestants castigated for wanting to return to it and use IT as the point of authority for spiritual matters?

You are not castigated for that -- I am doing the same thing in denouncing Protestantism as a counterscriptural invention. Your error is that you deviate from the scripture in matters central to the faith: you deny the guidance of the Church, the sacraments of the Church, and you invented the false theory of salvation being by faith alone. All that is contrary to the scripture. Further, while the scripture is indeed "a point of authority", your error is to consider it the sole point of authority, whereas, again, that is not in the scripture.