Those changes weren't the problem. If anything, they kept me in longer than I otherwise would have stayed. Again, I did not come here to discuss which book or treatise is better than others, I just expressed my belief that many Catholics are going to have to steel themselves to endure the rounds of church closings that have been going on.
Nor I. What caught my attention in your original post was this comment:
In my case, after drifting around through a variety of other Christian denominations and non-Christian faith traditions, I just decided about a dozen years ago that it was all completely unreliable. I see the various religious traditions of the world fractionalizing more and more as time goes on, and have concluded that it's all because of the need to run religion as a business, or some sort of power trip. Every denomination of a similar religious tradition has built up it's own fiefdom, and consolidation with reconciliation would knock some from their privileged positions within the hierarchy.
It reminded me of Cardinal Ratzinger's homily at the pre-conclave Mass in April 2005. He said:
How many winds of doctrine have we known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking. The small boat of the thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - flung from one extreme to another: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism and so forth. Every day new sects spring up, and what St Paul says about human deception and the trickery that strives to entice people into error (cf. Eph 4: 14) comes true.
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Growing up, I don't recall seeing so many different christian denominations - just the mainline protestant churches. It's only in recent years that so many new branches have sprung from the Lutheran, Anglican and Baptist Churches. Like you, it confused me. I kept wondering why this was occuring. In tracing them back to their origins, I discovered the answer.
Thank you for the feedback. Your journey exemplifies what Cardinal Ratzinger wrote. To that he added:
Truth and love coincide in Christ. To the extent that we draw close to Christ, in our own lives too, truth and love are blended. Love without truth would be blind; truth without love would be like "a clanging cymbal" (I Cor 13: 1).
May you find your way to the source of Truth and Love.
Pax et Bonum