Religion: Will Catholics Recognize Protestant Ministries?

For all their notable successes in interfaith cooperation, Roman Catholics and Protestants are still separated by knotty doctrinal differences as old as the Reformation. Among the major problems are varying notions of the Eucharist or Lord's Supper, differing concepts of priesthood and ministry, and conflicting definitions of apostolic succession, that essential tie to the Apostles that most Christians see—in various ways—as a necessary mark of an authentic church. By Catholic standards, neither the ministry nor the Eucharist of Protestant churches is valid, and until recently, any hope of unity seemed to lie...

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