For example nobody claims that banks want to prevent people from using pens since they often put chains on them to prevent people from taking them. They chain pens up so that people can use them. In the ages before the printing press when Bibles were hand written often by Catholic monks they were quite valuable so it is no surprise that steps were taken to keep people from taking a copy that might have taken a year or more to produce. In fact it was those same Catholic monks who made copies of Bibles over the years and created those beautifully illuminated manuscripts that we even have complete copies of the Bible to this day.
While it might be currently true that Protestant churches have much more emphasis on scripture study than the average Catholic parish has; Catholics certainly are encouraged to read scripture.  In fact the Church offers an indulgences (a topic for another day) to encourage such practices.  Catholics have long been studying and commenting on sacred scripture a millennium before Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation came on the scene and their are now plenty of new Bible Study apostolates growing in the Church.

One of the problems most people see with the Catholic Church and the Bible is that they don’t realize they have things backwards. The Church existed before one word of the New Testament was written down. Sola Scriptura would have been a really hard doctrine to follow in the year 33 A.D! Early Christians didn’t just go to their local Christian book store and buy themselves a Bible. The truth is that in the first four centuries of Christianity there was much discussion on what writings actually belonged to the New Testament. The Holy Spirit did not inspire anyone to write a table of contents for us to go by. Sometimes Catholics can take awhile before getting around to defining something and it was the Church that decided on the 27 books of the New Testament that we are all familiar with today during the Councils of Hippo (393 AD) and Carthage (397 AD) and later dogmatically defined during the Council of Trent. Books such as the book of 1 Clement were held as inspired by many while some did not accept the Book of Revelation. It was the Church that decided the matter for the canon that all accept today when it comes to the New Testament. The Holy Spirit guided the Church in her discernment. St. Augustine who was quite active in this period of history where the canon was defined once said “I would not believe the Gospels if it were not for the Church.”

The Church has always taken her stewardship of the scriptures seriously, which is why Catholics have approved versions of the Bible. Catholics may read any version of the scriptures that they want to, but the Church in her prudence approves certain translations for liturgical and other use to protect us from error. This is done not to keep the Bible from Catholics, but to make sure that they have a translation free from outright error. Most Protestants certainly would have a problem with the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation which is a very poor translation with an agenda.

But you ask “Hey if Catholics like the Bible so much how come they don’t carry them with them to their Mass?” Well some Catholics do exactly that, but the reality is the Catholic Mass is chock full of scripture from beginning to end. The first half of the Mass is the Liturgy of the Word where on Sundays we get three readings from the Old and New Testament and specifically one from the Gospels. The narratives used during the Eucharist are also straight from scripture and pretty much everything from the beginning of Mass to the end of it you are being immersed in scripture. If you just go to Mass on Sundays you will experience almost all of scripture during the three year cycle of readings that are used in the lectionary and those who go to daily Mass will experience all of scripture within a two year cycle of readings.

The Liturgy of the Hours which is required reading for all priests and religious each day and is strongly recommended for also the laity is also chock full of scripture. Each day as we go through the Office of Readings, Morning and Evening Prayer, and other readings we encounter Holy Scripture throughout – especially the Psalms.  Many of the prayers the Church uses are straight from scripture and the first half of the Hail Mary prayer comes from Luke 1:28.  Pretty much everywhere you turn in the documents of the Church whether it is the Catechism, encyclicals, or other Church letters you will come into contact with scripture constantly.

So if Catholics don’t like scripture than they have done a real lousy job by totally saturating everything with it.  In fact by preserving scripture Catholics have made it available for everyone and so if you are a Protestant next time you go to a Wednesday night Bible Study, thank a Catholic.