You are right, in your first remark, most of my disagreements with the church are over rules which are changeable, yet my interpretation of books like Revelation, Daniel, and Genesis are compatible with Catholicism. Most Protestants I speak to are shocked about my non-literal view of the Bible, and are in complete disagreement. You second statement about referring to God as the Father, I agree with, yet I believe it is a narrow view. God is the father of us all, and in the same sense is the mother of us all. The reason why father is used, is because it is clear that the mother of Jesus is Mary.
Gender exists as a form to produce children through sex.
Since God is infinite, you cannot apply finite qualities to God. Fortunately we don't interpret scripture in this manner. We must apply scriptural interpretation uniformly according to context, not just when appropriate. On the fourth, Jesus explained the Torah to us, Jesus is our explanation. Dissent within Catholicism is common, there is a group of women, and men Catholics including a priest and nun that perform mass in the park in which a woman consecrates the host.