I used to be Roman Catholic. I am currently eploring other christian branches still feel more Catholic that anything else though.
Have you tried the Episcopal church? Many of our parishes follow most of the Roman Catholic traditions, and the service will probably "feel" very familiar to you: incense, bells, genuflecting, etc. Theologically, here is how we are different:
We respect the Pope, but do not believe he is authoritative. Our polity looks to bishops who have administrative authority, but we believe that only God has authority when it comes to matters of faith and salvation.
The Episcopal church allows its priests to marry. This is actually the same as most non-Roman rites, and in fact the way the Romans were until relatively recently. The limit on priests marrying initially had nothing to do with celibacy or sexual purity. The reason the RCC didn't allow its priests to marry was over property rights. Priests' sons were demanding the rights to property of their fathers from the Church. To avoid this problem, the Church told its priests to stop marrying. That way, while the priests may continue to have sons, they would not be legitimate sons, and therefore would have no claim on property. The church, initially, did not intend for priests to remain celibate, just without legitimate heirs. Since property rights in most countries is no longer an inheritance issue (the Church owns the property, not the priest, so the son would have no rights to it anyway), this provision has long since outlasted its purpose.
Many Episcopal churches allow women to be ordained. There are many Scripture passages that support this, and many Scripture passages that denounce it. It is an argument that has gone back and forth in other areas on this forum, and a separate thread can be started if anyone wants to debate the issue. I am bringing it up simply as a statement of fact, that many (thought not all) Episcopal churches accept the ordination of women. They are rather unique among the Catholics because of this. I think most people on this board would prefer not to continue an argument on women's ordination in this thread. In the Catholic boards, I would say it's a given that women are NOT to be ordained, and leave it at that.
With regards to communion, the Episcopal Church teaches that Christ's body and blood are truly present in the earthly elements of bread and wine. Most Episcopal Churches will serve alcoholic wine and wafers, just as you would get in a Catholic Church (not grape juice and bread pellets that you would get at a lot of Protestant churches). The EC stays away from naming any particular doctrine, either "transubstantiation" (as the Catholics teach) or "consubstantiation" (as the Lutherans and some other Protestants teach). We call it a "holy mystery of real presence" and let it be that. We're all about the Via Media (middle way).
We also tend to practice open communion, which is different from many other Catholic churches, and some Protestant churches who say you have to be a member of that church or that denomination in order to receive. We believe that the altar belongs to Christ, not to our church, or our denomination. We allow anyone whom Jesus has invited to the table to dine with us. I find that, although in doctrine the RCC teaches against this, in practice most RCC priests will actually serve individuals, even if they know they aren't Roman Catholic, but they are receiving the sacrament in earnest and with a contrite heart. The priest understands that Jesus has invited that person to the table, and his place is not to deny whom Jesus has invited.
If you have any other questions about the Episcopal church, or about any of the mainline Protestant churches as compared to the Roman Catholic Church, feel free to ask. I have studied these extensively. I'm not so knowledgeable about the other Catholic rites, or about the many thousands of other Protestant denominations (outside of the mainline ones), but I can direct you to authoritative websites for some of them at least.
Enjoy your explorations. I think you will find that God is present in many Churches. No one denomination is perfect, they all have flaws, because we're still on this side of Paradise. But I think most of them (though not all) are working in the right direction. There are little differences here and there, but ultimately these differences don't really matter to God. They matter only to the people worshiping, and it comes down to where you feel most comfortable worshiping. As long as it's God whose being praised, I really don't think it matters where or how. Know what I mean?
