This is an interesting conversation. I'm Catholic. Love it. Never in a million years would have thought I'd be Catholic but here I am. I, too, don't understand why ex-JWs throw the baby out with the bathwater. When I first left the JWs, I was very anti- all religion for a few years but then that changed as I was exposed to people of many different backgrounds and belief systems. I finally became a Christian but joined the Episcopal Church, as it was the most liberal and least controlling. I eased my way into Catholicism.
I kinda see it like this: I was where I needed to be at the time. I couldn't have been Catholic 20 years ago because I needed to mature and change in my values and priorities, i.e., take the hard knocks, to know who I really was before I could find out what was the right lifestyle for me. Some of you may never join a religion. Some of you who are in a denomination may change denominations or drop out entirely over time. Each one of us is born and takes our own personal journey through life. We don't have to understand eachother's journey; we just need to fully explore our own. My journey led me to the Catholic faith and I'm the most contented I've ever been in my life. Not that the RCC is perfect. But it's right for me. It doesn't have to be right for you to be right for me. That's the joy of freedom.