Despite the many, many ways the Church falls short (institutionally and among individual members themselves) I still believe the Catholic Church is the best and most legitimate representative of Christianity.

The Holy Bible that Protestants center their spiritual life around was written and compiled throughout the centuries and made "official" through the authority of the Church. Unlike Muslims who believe their book is the direct word of God, the Christian Bible is a collection of accounts, sayings, and different books written by different people. Most of the books in the modern day Bible changed a lot in the centuries following Christ, though always keeping the same general message. Over the centuries books were augmented or excluded, edited, lost, and sometimes altogether forgotten. The earliest surviving Jesus literature consists of parables and a few recognizable miracles.

Thus it seems that Christianity was created by the Church just as much as the Church was a product of Christianity. The Catholic Church really took the different ways people were trying to make sense of the Jesus event and created a lasting synthesis that even most Protestants recognize today.

People are naturally distrustful of hierarchies these days, especially when it comes in the form of an institution with rituals that involve symbolism. To that I'd say, ritual is a normal part of life and the human experience. The sun and moon, the seasons, the life cycle of plants and animals and human beings all act in a sort of ordered ritual throughout the generations. In every world religion you'll find fragments if not large chunks of the same integral teaching. Going off of just the Bible alone (which can be interpreted very differently by everyone) leads to a sort of relativism that probably served as the main cause of modern day moral relativism being so widespread. It's a slippery slope. A religious teaching needs to be married to an institution and supported with tradition, culture and philosophy.