text: I see this assertion a lot, but have never read why some people believe it to be indisputable truth.  It is not.
  
  "As humans, we also need rituals"
  
  SOME people may DESIRE to particiopate in rituals, but to say that ALL people "need" rituals is not true.  
  
  In the context of religion, some desire some rituals in certain contexts (they don't "need" ritual), others pretty much forgo ritual (for example, Quakers).  
  
  In the early church, the eucharist was a meal, presided over by someone chosen from the congregation, or by the head of household, who might have been either a man or a woman. No priests.
  
  The rituals that have developed during the history of the RCC and christianity in general,  were developed by men, and sometimes have become a bit ludicrous. When any small change from the GIRM becomes a matter for civil war in the RCC, the notion of  the importance of 'ritual" has gone too far, becoming an end in itself that is often even at odds with true prayer and true spirituality.