Monica! [Happy New Year, BTW]  You said, "An old professor once told me 'Never mistake ritual for reality.' The Church evolved into a community dependent on priests because of its attachment to rituals, some of them weekly."  ... So many questions.

Since sacraments involve doing something (ritual) with something(s), are you saying that sacraments are unnecessary?  Then, the Church, a sacrament itself, is unnecessary.   The gospels, certainly, are not reality.  What, then, is faith?