This is a good point when comparing USA churches with their European counter-parts. However, the comparison I was making was specifically about the USA. Even

This is a good point when comparing USA churches with their European counter-parts. However, the comparison I was making was specifically about the USA. Even without tax/public funds (or preferential tax treatment), American christian churches did engage in all of the things you list. There are hundreds of private, non-tax-funded middle schools, high schools, colleges, universities, and seminaries in the USA. Many of our hospital systems (that have long sense become beasts unto themselves) were started as religious charities without state funding. Almost all non-state-owned orphanages and homeless shelters were religiously affiliated charities that did not receive state funds. And many of these things were done by home-grown congregations. In an American context, the fact that the church did fill these roles even without preferential state support -- in fact, in a country where preferential state support was explicitly forbidden -- just makes the "then vs. now" comparison that much more concerning.