"It sounds like Catholicism to me..which actually I see a whole lot of similarities to." - Good point mg.

Now look back in the history of Europe - When did things really take off for the peoples of western europe? What event, or rather, series of events, prompted them to challenge and question the precepts of the day?

A little thing called - The Reformation accelerated by the knowledge that flooded out of Constantinople which the Roman Catholic Church could not stem or control.