Ooops... excuse me... I meant to address additional issues:
>> Protestants are raised to understand that the whole point of chr*stianity was to do away with law and with the concept of reward and punishment in favor of a once-for-all antinomian salvation. <<
Well, Protestants don’t believe in antinomianism, and Catholics don’t believe that the temporal effects of sin are a matter of reward and punishment... and that there are no eternal effects of sin for the redeemed.
>> To learn that Paul is merely opposing Torah observance by chr*stians seems disappointing and hypocritical. What was the point of a new religion? <<
Well, for one, Christianity started out as a reform movement OF Judaism, until they were expelled from the synagogues for accepting converts. What Christ did was: harrow hell, allowing for spiritual resurrection into Heaven; initiate the conversion of all nations, to prepare for the second coming; justify those who believe in him in spite of their sinfulness; sanctify those who believe in him. The notion that this somehow pales in comparison to the abolition of certain rituals and dietary restrictions seems well... odd.
But those rituals were written in the Torah and spoken by G-d's Own Mouth. If they are abolished (chas vechalilah!), why should there by any rituals or dietary restrictions (such as lenten fasts, eg)? What kind of messiah abolishes Torah laws but not post-Torah laws?
If human activity is of any meaning, then the chr*stian interpretation of the messiah is deeply flawed. And if it is not, logic would seem to dictate that rituals and ritual commandments, not just those of the Torah, would have been done away with.