pghguy, you have made a good point about the timing. I suggest you let it ride for a while and think about it from various angles.
Your point is one of the points that fundamentalists use to 'Prove' that human beings do not have a spiritual existence beyond the grave. Of course, proving that opens the gates of alchemy with which to 'Prove' many other things, any of which I can rattle off to you fairly easily. I don't know why that is the stopping place, but essentially that is a big stopping point for some of the Bible student groups. It relates to timing in that way: That is the time when many people get off the bus and think they have arrived at their destination, but maybe you should consider going a little bit farther.
Might it be that all of those technical doctrinal arguments are like analogies? ::in that they can be taken too far:: Consider the Trinity. How much sense does it actually make for a human mind? Could it be that perhaps it is there to benefit the seeker in a way other than being a calculated result on its own? Three does not add up to one you know. When you are a child there are things that you learn without understanding, but when you grow up you begin to understand. You think, and you invent new thoughts. You especially begin to understand life and death in a way that a child cannot (fact). As an adult instead of being sheltered, at some point you realize that someone must provide shelter and that you are the someone. That revelation can be a shock and a burden to carry by yourself. Hopefully you have been shaped into a person who cares for the next generation, whether or not you remain Catholic. Hopefully you can find a way to share the burden. Maybe the bus doesn't always stop at the Catholic church either? I have only stepped into a Catholic building two or three times in my life (not being from a Cath family), but my guess is there is some real benefit to being an active member. I'll bet someone there has faced the same question that you are facing now and kept riding the bus. May be you are not alone?
I hope everything works out for you,
Dream