Many who have left the RCC, especially women, left in despair, because they know that the RCC SHOULD be the leader of the christian world. It alone has the numbers. So the RCC matters to those who care about women, about seeing an end someday to the harm done women every day, harm done simply because they were made female, in God's image. In the US and Europe, the harm done to women may not equal the harm done to those who are not white, harm that comes to them because of their skin tone. But the harm exists. The RCC sets the example for all christianity - and the example it sets is that treating women as second-class is OK.  I too left the RCC, and now attend an Episcopal church, one with a female priest, as well as a male priest. There I see true complementarity in the church, in the liturgy, in the homilies, the living example of what God tells us is God's nature - God made them male AND female in GOD'S image. The RCC denies this through its teachings - a slap to God's face.