there is no such thing as a former Catholic...once you are baptized into the true church that Jesus Himself founded, you remain a member forever...to return to practice...repent and WELCOME HOME!!!
The Church Jesus Christ founded was on the Apostles, in Jerusalem, not in the pagan imperial capitol of Rome. The Apostles left a sure and certain record of their beliefs and exact teachings in what we call the New Testament—that collection of books all Christian groups agree about.
Conservative protestant Churches, such as the OPC mentioned in the article, regard the Apostles as their highest authority under Jesus Christ—hence, they regard their writings, the New Testament, as well the Jewish Old Testament scriptures, their full and final authority.
Imagine for example that you get in a time machine and come back to America in 1,000 years. There is some mishmash of a highly controlling, dictatorial, socialistic government, which claims that yes, the US Constitution of 1789 is their governing authority—but that Dictator’s Government has an equal authority to the Constitution, and also the ability to infallibly tell you exactly what the Constitution says.
Few at that time read, or really even know about the Constitution, because, after all, the Government tells you what it says....and, is its equal, as well as it’s final unquestionable interpreter—so WHATEVER the Dictator’s Government says is constitutional is, in practice, the law.
Would you wonder that that AD 3011 Government is a dictatorship, and bears little, if ANY resemblance to the original American Constitutional governance?
Of course not! No thinking person would wonder why that 3011 government was NOT at all truly constitutional.
Any organization which puts its current governing authority equal to its constitution...with the full power to interpret it with no questioning from its people permitted, will find themselves in a tyranny—with a very different form and teachings than are actually in its constitution.
This is how we Protestants logically view Roman Catholics. Under a tyranny NOT faithful to the constitutional teachings of the Apostles—as we know for sure what they taught, in the New Testament. “Private interpretation?” No. This is why we have creeds and confessions—as they give public voice to a broadly shared interpretation of scripture (or OUR CONSTITUTION) which every thinking person can understand—and question, in a reasonable way.
So go with your Church that claims “unbroken” succession back to Jesus’ Apostles in the laying of hands...even while it is unfaithful to the actual written-down teachings of those Apostles themselves.
I’ll go with the Apostles, and what they taught....even if in a little bitty denomination. Much safer to be under the authority of His Word, than in a big old human-created organization outside of that Word.