Is the catholic church a force for good?

[Tonus]

The scenario is that neither the atheist nor the theist gains any earthly reward. Thats a level playing field. The challenge would be for the atheist to show a corresponding sacrifice for no earthly gain.

You cannot remove the reward of an afterlife from the table, because it's an important part of the theist's belief system. Lacking that, the theist is in exactly the same situation as the atheist, and there is no reason to think that they will act differently.

But these acts, (that an atheist couldnt do,) can result in very real, positive moral outcomes in terms of human happiness and good will even if the atheist says heaven and prayer can't be empirically verified.

Aren't those positive outcomes dependent on the prayer having an effect? Is it the case that every time a theist prays, his prayer is answered? Or is the theist occasionally (perhaps frequently) disappointed, and how will this affect his happiness and good will? Or is it a form of the Placebo Effect, where a person believes prayer will help, and is thus motivated to take the steps necessary to improve his situation?

An atheist would not be helped by prayer, that is true. He'd be left to his own devices and not dependent on a capricious being who might answer his prayer or might decide that he wasn't deserving.