With all due respect, I disagree with you. The Catholic Church has not only brought us pedophile priests, but Torqumada and the Inquisition, in which many thousands of Jews and others were tortured to death, indulgences, praying to mortals, the belief that only through the Catholic Church can your sins be forgiven, the belief that a Pope can excommunicate you from the church and condemn you to hell, on his word alone, and many other blasphemies and heresies.
I do belive in God and Jesus, but I also have my problems with religion, mostly with the "my way or the highway to hell" approach that the Catholic church, and also many protestant churches use. Churches are quick to condemn, and have very few, if any, of the qualities that Christ taught. Let me give you two examples, one from my own life, and another in which scripture is taken out of context.
1) I am half Jewish and half Irish Catholic (a deadly combination - LOL), whose father became Protestant soon after I was born, so I was brought up protestant. My wife was brought up Catholic. When we went to get married, her priest refused to perform the ceremony unless I became Catholic. When I didn't, he attempted to get my wife to leave me, telling her that I was bound for hell, and would take her with me. My baptist minister refused to perform the ceremony, telling me that she was Catholic and was going to hell. We got married in a Christian Reformed Church. Both the Baptist and the Catholic clerics said our marriage would not last, because God was not in it (Damn hypocrites). 38 years later, our marriage is still going strong. Screw them!
2) Many Catholics and Protestants claim that Jews are going to hell, because they had to live by the law, and only grace can get you into heaven. This is also blasphemy. Why didn't they bother to understand that the books of the law handed down to Moses were kept inside the Holy of Holies, underneath the judgment seat of God? "Above the law" is very evident here, and shows the grace of God towards the Jewish people. Most of those who would deny the Jewish people their fair share of "heaven" are the same people who claim that the Jews killed Christ, although it was the Romans who did it.
God is great, but man is ignorant as hell, and shows that ignorance in a big way, through many of the various churches. Churches don't have to be opulent large gatherings inside of ornate buildings. Jesus said a church exists where 2 or more are gathered in his name. In a true church, the Pope, a minister, a rabbi, or what have you, do not intercede to God on your behalf. God gives his grace to all. Many of these self-righteous leaders are just not needed, and are even a "stumbling block" to salvation.
My 2 cents, for what it's worth.