What contribution did the catholic church make to society during the early middle ages?

Although many argue that the church had a very negative impact on cultural progression during the middle ages, it did have some positive aspects and impacted different societies as a whole in some good ways. 

These include their caring for the poor, as they did provide (where they could) very basic services for the poorest people that were left without anything during their lifetime (this happened during the Crusades for example). 

They improved education - the church has been a center for education all around Europe as monks were taught in many European cities, this later expanded into universities and also expanded only a theological curriculum but also included medicine and law for example.