“The authority, or the ability?”
Authority.
Answer the question please.
Who do you believe has the authority to interpret scripture?
“But if we’re going to continue with that argument, when did the Magisterium conclude that the Church Fathers were more authoritative than the apostles’ inspired writings?”
The magisterium claims Apostolic succession - that the Apostles handed down their authority to the bishops who came later.
“Earlier on this thread, you claimed to have formerly been a Mennonite.”
I was a Mennonite.
“When you were Mennonite, did you consider Mennonites to be a product of the Reformation”
I was a believer in the ‘three pillars’. It had Anabaptists in one. Zwingli, Luther, Calvin, and Cranmer in the other.
“I’m guessing that you believed the latter”
I believed that Anabaptists were a product of the reformation. They were founded by Menno Simons. However, I also believed that they were an entirely different branch from Zwingli, Luther, Calvin and Cranmer. Tradition and history bears this out - they never were a part of the same structure. There were significant differences in theology from Menno Simons and the rest.
So, yes, I believed I was a protestant. Some did believe that they were the remnent, but there’s no historical evidence for this. Mennonites date to the reformation, but unlike many churches today (Methodists, etc), they go all the way back.
Look up Balthazar Hubmeier. He was the first ‘anabaptist’ who developed the doctrine of what would become believer’s baptism.
However, he like Luther revered the Theotokos.