The role of the priest

Monday, July 28, 2008

In my blog entry on July 9th I addressed an incident I faced challenging the role of priest as a teacher. This got me thinking about the role of the Catholic priest. The Catholic priest shares in the threefold mission of Christ: that of teacher, priest and shepherd. A Catholic priest serves 'In Persona Christi Capitis' ( in the person of Christ the Head) and as such share in the headship and ministry of Christ. As I was thinking about this I decided that I would spend the next three blog entries blogging on each of these ministries and responsibilities of the Catholic priest.

I want to give a little background on the priest and his position in the Church as a foundation for these next three blogs. The Church speaks of the two priesthoods of Christ. The first is royal priesthood and this is a priesthood shared by every baptized and confirmed Catholic. Those belonging to the royal priesthood, also called the common priesthood, have an important role to play in the Church. "The common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace --a life of faith, hope, and charity" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 1547).

The second priesthood, the hierarchial or ministerial priesthood, is that of the ordained ministry and is at the service of the common priesthood. The ministerial priesthood is bestowed by the sacrament of Holy Orders. There are three degrees of Holy Orders: bishop, priest and deacon. Each have a special role in the the service to the common priesthood. The bishop and priest share in the the ministerial priesthood of Christ whereas the deacon is intended to help and serve the bishop and priest. With that in mind, I am going to focus on the bishop and priest as they share in the ministry of the Person of Christ the Head.

The ministerial priesthood is ordered in the ministry of bishop and of priest. The bishop is said to have the received the "fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders" (CCC, para. 1594) meaning he is a successor of the Apostles and is the visible head of Church. It is the bishops, in union with the Holy Father, that govern the Catholic Church. It is only the bishop who can ordain a man to the priesthood. The priest shares in the ministerial responsibilities of the bishop and serves as a co-worker with the bishop. It is their ministy as teacher, priest and shepherd that we will focus on in these next entries.

Obviously, with the discussions we have had recently, my first entry on this subject will be on the role of priest (when I refer to the priest this will also include the bishop as they both share in the ministerial priesthood) as teacher. Until next time...God bless.