I certainly know what it's like to question -- and even lament -- the habits and norms of American evangelical Protestantism. I even understand that deep jarring feeling when looking closely at church history, like where's the connection to where I am?
But having immersed myself in "Catholic stuff", in particular attending UD and participating in the Rome semester, and having many of my closest friends from there, I'll say that the Catholic church gives but also takes away.
So while the Catholic church gives "tradition" -- in the full sense of the word -- that same tradition also puts a large barrier between you and scripture. There's simply not the same freedom to come to scripture with that expectation of discovery, that evaporation of the many years between then and now. The text must bear the weight of a millennia of tradition and official exposition.
God, in his providence, did not leave the Catholic Church to set up a new temple in Protestantism. But likewise He also does not reside with the Catholic Church exclusively, waiting for the Protestant denominations to return to Him. He is no respecter of nation, nor of denomination, nor of self-declared catholicity. "Wherever two or more are gathered" is the starting point, the hierarchy of one visible church in the present day is NOT the eternal bride of Christ, stretching through time and space, knit together by the blood of Christ.
May we all pray for reconciliation between all of God's people, even on this earth, as we have confidence that we will all be united at the wedding feast of the Lamb.
