Discover the beliefs and disagreements within Catholicism. In this piece read the answer to the question 'What do Catholics believe about the end times."
The sacraments are given to us as ways to nourish, in various ways, an active love for God and neighbor. They are means to an end, not ends in themselves.
Historically, one of the points of disagreement between Martin Luther and Roman Catholic leaders had to do with the connection between faith and good works. Luther insisted that salvation depended on faith alone, while Catholic teachers responded that one's eternal destiny required good works.
Your average middle-aged-to-older adult remembers when it was a requirement for all Catholics to abstain from meat on all Fridays as long as their health allowed.
It's not going to happen overnight, but change it will if and when it's God's will. However, leaving the church rather than sticking around to help it change helps change happen not at all.