Dear Cassiel:

I am sorry to hear that you apparently have had some bad experiences with Catholic priest. Do not judge the entire Church because of a priest or two who were rude.  I am sure I can probably find a cousin or two within your family who are rude. It would be improper for me to judge your entire family because of a couple of rude cousins. Thus, do not judge the Catholic Church because you happen to come across a couple of rude priests. Frankly, rude priests are rarity. If anything most Catholic priests are too nice.

I'm not sure what you mean that Catholics make it hard to receive the Sacraments. Nothing could be further from the truth. Receiving the Sacraments is extremely simple. It requires only four things:

1. one must be validly baptized
2. one must be confirmed in the Catholic Church
3. one was believe all that the Catholic Church requires one to believe
4. one must be in a state of grace.

That's it. Simple and easy.

Since God and the Church knows that we are sinners God has, in his love, provided us with the Sacrament of Confession. With this Sacrament we can be forgiven of grave sins and restored to a state of grace and thus able again to receive the Blessed Sacrament of the Euicharist. Very, very simple.

I noticed here that you are giving me a laundry list of things that you believe and thus want to find the church that conforms your beliefs. That's not how it works. We need to conform our opinions and preferences to the doctrines established by God through his Church. The only church on the planet that was founded personally by Jesus Christ, and thus has the deposit of the genuine faith approved by God, is the Catholic Church. All others are pretenders to the Church that Jesus established.

St. Paul condemns denominationalism. We read in First Corinthians 1:10-13 ~

I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.  For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brethren. What I mean is that each one of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

No matter what name we use for the Church the undeniable fact is that the church that Jesus established was founded upon Peter as its first Pope. (by the way, the first use of the word "Catholic" was in around A.D. 107 by St. Ignatius of Antioch).

When Christ came to establish the New Covenant, the chair of Moses was replaced by the chair of Peter.The Mosaic covenant came to an end and the new covenant of Jesus Christ begahn. With each covenant there is a chair of authority. Thus, what was the chair of authority to be in this New Covenant? It was the Chair of Peter because Jesus made Peter the first Pope of the New Covenant, just as he made Moses the first Pope of the Mosaic Covennt. The fact the Peter was made the first pope is proven by the Bible and the Bible alone. Jesus said:

(Matthew 16:16-19)  Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter ("Kepha" in Aramaic), and on this rock ("kepha" in Aramiac) I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Jesus quoting from Isaiah 22)

We know for a fact that this established Peter as the first Pope because Jesus was quoting from Isaiah chapter 22 when he said that Peter would have the keys to the kingdom. In Isaiah 22 we read the story of the succession of office of Prime Minister. That is what a Pope is — the Prime Minister of the king. The Prime Minister has the keys to the kingdom. The Prime Minister is also the father of the church. That is the Pope (the word Pope simply means father). Isaiah 22:21-22 ~

...and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your girdle on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 

The only church in existence in the first century was the Church under the leadership of Pope Peter and his successors. For 1000 years there was only the Catholic Church. Then in the 11th century many of the Eastern churches split from the Pope and sinfully started their own denominations. Then 500 years later Martin Luther started a tsunami of dissension and rebellion which split apart the church into what is now 41,000 Christian groups. The Catholic Church is the only Christian group on the planet in the fullness of the faith that can trace its sources back to Christ himself. Although groups like the Orthodox can also trace their origins back to Jesus Christ, they are not the Church that was personally founded by Christ, which was under the Pope, as they split from Peter, changed some of original doctrine, and started their own church in their own image and opinion.

The bottom line is that it would be sinful of me to refer you to any church other than the Church that Jesus Christ established. Why would anybody want to join the church established by a man? The Lutheran Church was started by a sinful man. The Presbyterian Church was started by a sinful men. The Baptist Church first was started by sinful men. It is only the Catholic Church that was started by a perfect God-Man named Jesus Christ.

To join the Catholic Church you may have to change some of your ideas. But unless pride is going to be your guide, you must conform yourself to the doctrines established by Christ. And those doctrines were given to the Catholic Church to affirm, define, teach, and protect. Without a Supreme Court, which is what the Pope and Magisterium is in the Catholic Church, there is no way for us to know for sure what the faith of our Church fathers really was. Absent of a magisterium, which God has always had even in Old Testament times, the faith is up for grabs to the whims of personal opinion.

During the Mosaic covenant God established his chair of Moses, which was the magisterium of that covenant. Moses was the first Pope of the covenant. Each of his successors was a Pope. This magisterium established on the chair of Moses was to be obeyed even if those who sat in that chair were corrupt. We know this for a fact because the Scripture tells us so. Jesus mentions this in Mathew 23:1-3 ~

Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples,  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat;  so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice. 

This passage proves that God had his magisterium before the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. This passage proves that this magisterium was to be obeyed even if those sitting in the chair of Moses were corrupt. The same goes for the chair of Peter.

I can spend a lot of time going further with the biblical evidence that proves the Catholic Church. The bottom line is I invite you to join the only church on this planet, in the fullness of the faith, that was established by Jesus Christ personally — the Catholic Church.

I will pray that you come to Jesus' Church, the orignal Church he personally established.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

P.S. this post can be the anchor. You may have other specific questions that I will be happy to answer.