 |
|
|
|
 |
|||
|
Holy Orders: Ministerial Priesthood The Church is the Body of Christ. As such, the whole Church shares in the nature and tasks of Christ, our head. this includes sharing in His priesthood. But beyond this “common priesthood of the faithful,” there is the special or “ministerial priesthood” of Christ that certain members of the Church receive through the sacrament of holy orders. Each type of priesthood -- common or ministerial -- is a sharing in the priesthood of Christ. And both types are related to each other. But there is a basic difference between them. In the eucharistic sacrifice, for example, the ordained priest acts “in the person of Christ” and offers the sacrifice to God in the name of all, and the people join with the priest in that offering. The two roles -- of priest and people -- go together. Priests receive their priesthood from bishops, who possess the fullness of the sacrament of holy orders. when a bishop ordains priests, he gives them a sharing of his priesthood and mission. Priests share in Christ’s ministry by preaching His gospel, doing all in their power to bring their people to Christian maturity. They baptize, heal, forgive sin in the sacrament of penance, and act as the Church’s witness in the sacraments of matrimony and anointing of the sick. Most importantly, priests celebrate the Eucharist, which is “the center of the assembly of the faithful over which the priest presides.” All priests are united in the single goal of building up Christ’s Body. When priests are ordained, they “are signed with a special character,” an interior capability that empowers them to “act in the person of Christ the head.” This special inner “character” unites priests in a sacramental bond with one another -- a fact that, in a sense, sets them apart from other people. This “being set apart” is meant to help priests do God’s work with total dedication. As Vatican II points out, priests “exercise other services for the benefit of men [and women]” just as Jesus did. One thing this means is that priests need their people just as their people need them. Laypeople who work closely with priests help them to be leaders in the community of God’s people. In addition to bishops and priests, deacons also have a special sharing in the sacrament of holy orders. The diaconate, conferred by a bishop, is received as the first stage in ordination by those who go on to the priesthood. Since the Second Vatican Council, however, the ancient order of deacon has been restored in the Roman Catholic Church as an office in its own right. Many dioceses now have deacons who do not go on to become priests. They are known, therefore, as permanent deacons. Working under the authority of the local bishop, permanent deacons serve the people of God at the direction of priests in parishes.
|
|||
