OP :
I arrived at Catholicism in, I suppose, an untypical way ; by studying history .
So my reply will come from that direction.
It, roughly, started with Martin Luther, whose basic position was, "never mind a thousand years of excepted tradition , never mind the verdicts of Church councils, I will decide for myself, personally. You know not so well as I. "
Fast forward 300 years, and we get , " Life Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. "
The American Revolution follows, the French Revolution, 1848, the Bolshevik Revolution ( really a coup,) etc.
That is, the secular state , its power and influence always limited and diluted , becomes ubiquitous. It is everywhere and in everything.
And what is the secular state ? It is a thing of man, and only man.
" Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness " whatever its original intent, has become ;
THIS life. THIS life ONLY.
Man is the measure of all things,
The pursuit of what man wants in this life becomes the goal, the only real consideration the here and now.
Morality, which is handed down by a God, will be replaced with law, the rules men themselves make up as they go along.
What is it they always say ? In the bad old days the state was in bed with bad old religion.
That is it was subject to religion, subject to morality, subject to God, if imperfectly so.
Now the state serves the people.
That is it serves man, and only man , and then really only a few men, in the present.
Always to be discounted and ignored is the fact that fat ugly unloved poor girls in wheelchairs are going to be left out of the happy present.
The modern secular state is intrinsically Atheistic.
It’s eventual direction of evolution must necessarily end in an empty , " He who dies with the most toys wins. "
Characteristically it and its supporters will attack all the traditional religions. Mainly it will go harder on whatever religion is most prominent locally , go softer on the religion further away, or even temporarily favor the one further away.
For example, in Japan it will undermine and discredit Shinto at every opportunity.
In Sweden it won’t go so hard on Hinduism because there are like 15 Hindus in all of Sweden.
It will do so because they represent a rival power base, an alternative narrative.
It really hates them all.
In the west , typically, even Christians, will point out every error and crime of the medieval temporal church. The Papal States have ceased to exist, but they proceed to point out every error and crime in the contemporary temporal church.
To reform it they say. But no reform will ever be enough , except that the Vatican city itself be erased.
To be glossed over is the basic difference between the secular state and the temporal church. The secular state only concerns itself, can only be concerned with, temporal power. The Temporal church on the other hand, even though temporal, is finally concerned with mans soul, it is concerned not with this life , but with the one that comes after.
Why the New Age movement ? Because , " Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness " , " He who dies with the most toys wins, " is not nearly enough even for the rich.
And if you support the secular state to the hilt, flatly deny its basic illegitimacy, except its basic premises, any of the traditional religions must at least subconsciously be seen as what they are ; dangerous rivals, enemies.
You cannot serve two masters.
But there is still that great big hole in the core of your being that no amount of toys can ever fill.
So you naturally turn to the vague alternative , precisely because it is vague.
New Age dogmas , whatever they are, are always vague. The vagueness is deliberate.
I said all the traditional religions are attacked.
But especially Christianity, and especially the Catholic Church.
In Christianity exclusively, as far as I know, is found redemption and salvation.
In all others you are either lucky enough to be born into the elite that the Gods favor, you can bribe your way into the Gods favor via some ritual, or you can think your way into heaven.
The Catholic Church is a special target, as it is the direct heir of he who embodies salvation and redemption.
