Holy Orders
Christ instituted the Holy Orders as a sacrament. As you’ll recall, a sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace, the sign both signifying and effecting the grace for our salvation. This sacrament imprints an indelible mark on the soul like baptism and confirmation, increases sanctifying grace like matrimony, and confers special spiritual powers upon the recipient, who is obliged to lead a holy life and pray the Divine Office daily.
Christ is the one high priest who has fulfilled the priesthood of the Old Covenant, where sacrifices were made to God to atone for the peoples’ sins, implore divine aid, etc. His unique, one-time sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary offered salvation for all. Through baptism and confirmation, the entirety of the faithful participate in Christ’s mission and priest, prophet, and king. We offer our lives as a living sacrifice to God in this way.
Luther and other early protestant thinkers, due to their particular notion of “sola fide,” gave a sharp contrast to the priests of the old covenant and the pastors of the new. Thus, only baptism and the “last supper” remained as necessary, and gives us a reminder that a protestant “Lord’s Supper” and the Catholic Mass are two complete different forms of worship to the exclusion of one another.1
While all participate in the common priesthood of Christ, God calls certain men to participate in a higher way in the ministerial (or, hierarchical) priesthood. Christ instituted this sacrament to a select group of his followers to do certain tasks (baptize, preach, “Do this in memory of me,” cast out demons, etc.).
Bishops, from the Greek episkopos (overseer), enjoy the fullness of Holy Orders. They transmit and safeguard the teachings and Tradition of the Church. They ordain and delegate authority to priests. They are the lawful pastor of a select portion of the flock while being called in a collegial nature with his brother bishops. They are successors of the apostles (those sent forth by Christ himself) as we see in Act 1:20 - his bishopric (episkopee) let another take… (The bishopric is by nature an apostolic office.)
A Cardinal is a title given to someone who votes for a pope during a conclave. (A Cardinal doesn’t have to be a bishop, theoretically.)
The Pope is the bishop of Rome, the first among equals, the Vicar of Christ, and the successor of Peter, whose confession of faith Christ built His Church upon. He is the universal pastor and has full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the entire Church which he may always exercise unhindered. (Please refer to the notes on The Church where we discussed papal infallibility and its limitations.)
Priests, from the Greek presbuteros (elder/presbyter, where English got the term “priest”), exists because bishops cannot be everywhere all the time. They confect the Eucharist and offer confessions primarily. They also have a teaching/preaching role, may be delegated to confirm, and provide for the spiritual needs of their flock. They are to be a friend of Christ at all times and act in persona Christi (in the person of Christ) when offering the sacraments.
In confession, it is Christ who you confess to and who forgives you your sins through the ministry of the priest.
In the Mass, it is Christ who offers Himself on the Cross at Calvary for you through the ministry of the priest.
The one offered, the one offering, the gift, and the giver are all the same.
Without priests, the world would not have Jesus
Scripture tells us to go to them during sickness as well for anointing, for another example, in James 5:14 (presbyteroi, it doesn’t say to go to just anyone).
Deacons, from the Greek diaconos (servant), also enjoy a smaller portion of Holy Orders as ministerial aides to priest. They’re primary functions are ordered toward service. They may baptize, witness marriages, and perform certain burial rites. In some cases, a priest may allow the deacon to give a homily.
Pope Benedict XVI instituted a commission to research the possibility of female deacons. The results showed that there is inconclusive evidence to suggest that this could be the case.
In the early church, there were deaconesses, but they were not ordained or given holy orders as deacons, priests, and bishops were. They were helpmates to women entering into the Church, since baptisms were done in the nude. For modesty’s sake, the women helped the women, and the men, the men. As this is not the current practice, there is no need for the ancient ministry.
Very recently, the Church has started ordaining permanent deacons (instead of solely transitional deacons as a step to the priesthood). In the Latin Rite’s custom, these can be married men. However, if their wife dies, they are not to remarry.
The “sub-deacon’s” role at one point was mainly liturgical. This office has been suppressed since the 1970’s.
There are also “minor orders” in the Church. These were not the same as the sacrament of Holy Orders. The roles were porter, lector, exorcist, and acolyte.
It’s a worthwhile meditation that St. Peter is often portrayed with keys at the gates of Heaven. The prince of the apostles, therefore, is shown as a porter, which is the lowest of the minor orders. (The greatest being the servant of all…)
Notes on the male priesthood:
Because sacraments are given to us by Christ, the Church is unable to change their form or matter based on the time, culture, etc. that the people of God find themselves in. Someone cannot be baptized in tea or use milk and cookies for the Eucharist. These were not the materials Christ instituted those sacraments with.
Anyone who has spent time with the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s order) will know that none of them desire to be a priest. Those who draw near to God in prayer, advance in the spiritual life, and are close to the heart of Jesus do not find discomfort in accepting the teachings of the Church as they are currently and historically taught.
The Church is bound to The Lord’s decision, who only chose men to be priests. No man has a “right” to this sacrament any more than others. Men who discern within their hearts to have a potential calling to this life are to seek out their pastor to obtain guidance.
This does not have anything to do with women being inferior in any way. The Church is not a democracy, is not subject to time or culture, and proclaims that men and women to be equal in dignity while distinct in character.
Jesus is God made man, while the most glorious, holy, perfect, fully human-only creature God ever made on Earth is a woman: the Blessed Virgin Mary. If anyone was most worthy of this office, it would have been the her, of whom we have no record of her performing any such ministry.
A final note:
We have a duty to respect the dignity of holy orders and all those in it, support the clergy by giving alms, never discourage a possible vocation among our sons, godsons, etc., and pray that God sends and protects holy priests in His Church.
The closer one is to God, the more intense the attacks from Satan will be, and the more public a figure (Popes and bishops, especially), the greater the target for the devil. Satan would love to use their public sins and missteps to scandalize and discourage people from pursuing the narrow path to salvation. When the priest lives his priesthood well, he offers Jesus to a dark world, so the dark forces hold nothing back in attacking them.
Some books and references:
The Priest is Not His Own – Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Many are Called – Scott Hahn
St. John Paul II’s apostolic letter on the ordination of priests
See Benedict XVI’s “The Catholic Priesthood” in What is Christianity? for a more historical analysis.