SACRAMENTOLOGY III
In the exam three questions will be chosen from the following six and you will be requested to answer one question.
1 Discuss five main characteristics in the ministry of Jesus.
2 Explore the development of ministry in the NT.
3 What contributions did Ignatius of Antioch, Tertullian, Cyprian, and Gregory VII make to the development of ordained ministry? Explain the derivation of the following words: presbyter, acolyte, mystagogue, and cleric. What is the principal function of each of them?
4 Discuss what Vatican II wrote about bishops. What were the consequences of the Council in relation to ministry.
5 Explore the main activities of the priest in relation to the community.
6 Write about the priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial priesthood, describing the relationship between them and the ways in which they participate in the priesthood of Jesus Christ.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Slide Show Orders 2009
Orders
Introduction
Jesus Christ: The only mediator between God and humanity (I Tim 2.5)
Possesses a unique and absolute priesthood
Fulfils, Surpasses & Abolishes the Old Testament Priesthood (Hebrews).
He exercised his priesthood as Prophet by revealing the Father,asShepherd by gathering God’s scattered people, and as Priest by his self-offering on the cross in the Paschal Mystery.
The Church is established by Him as a ‘Kingdom of Priests’ (I Pet 2:9). All Christians share in Christ’s priesthood.
However, Christ entrusted a special function to the apostles. They passed on their ministry to their successors, who in turn shared it with others in various degrees through the Sacrament of Order.
The ministerial priesthood represents Christ’s function as Head in the Church and the Sacrament of Order is intimately linked with the other sacraments and impinges directly on the life and the nature of the Church.
Unique & Absolute Priesthood of Christ - Common Priesthood of the Faithful - Ministerial Priesthood
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Donald Cozzins,The Changing Face of the Priesthood, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 2000.
Jean Galot, Theology of the Priesthood, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1986.Kenan B Osborne, Orders and Ministry, Orbis, New York, 2006.
Len Sperry, Sex, Priestly Ministry, & the Church, Collegeville, Liturgical Press, 2003.
The Documents of Vatican II: Lumen Gentium, Presbyterorum Ordinis.
Congregation for the Clergy: The Priest and the 3rd Christian Millennium, 1999,
The Priest, Pastor and Leader 2002
Class Requirements. Participation in Class. Reading related material. Mid term exam on Orders: 30 Marks. End of Semester Exam on Marriage + One question on Orders: 50 Marks.
http://sacramentology2009.blogspot.com
Chapter One
THE OLD TESTAMENT
Early Israel
No distinct priesthood – Head of clan functions as priest.
After Exodus
Clan of Aaron and the tribe of Levi (Ex 28-29; 32:25-29).Priests to lead holy and exemplary lives (Lev 19:2; 21:8).
Whole nation was considered a “kingdom of priests”, a chosen people, called to holiness.(Lev 19, 21).
Discerning will of God (1 Sam 14:41).Teaching and interpreting the Mosaic Law, the Torah (Dt 33:10).Offering Sacrifices (Dt 33:10).Priest - Intermediary
Prophets replace priests as spokespeople for God.Scribes and rabbis assume tasks of preserving and teaching the traditions of Judaism.
Priests - Temple Ministry.EldersGroups of elders organised and governed the Jewish communities.
Chapter Two
JESUS CHRIST
Pattern for Ministry
1. Call from God:Lk 4:16-22. Jn 4.34 – My food is to do the will of the one who sent me.
2. Servant The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, & to give his life as a ransom for many – Mk 10:45. Paul urges the same notion of service in Phil 2:5-8.
Jesus is remembered by his disciples in the washing of feet as giving them an example to serve others (Jn 13:12-17). A Christian in any ministry is a servant.
3. Priest Jesus loved us to the very end, that he gave his life for us; he offered himself as a sacrifice so that we may have life.
Jesus was a priestly person because he acted as mediator for those who believed in him interceding for them with the Father and because he offered his life for all.
Ministry in the pattern of Jesus is bound to demand self-giving and sacrifice. Note Mk 10.45 (ransom for many), Jn 10.15 (laying down his life), Ph 1.29 (suffer for his sake).
4. Shepherd 'I am the good shepherd; I know my own..., I lay down my life for the sheep' (Jn 10:14-15). His attitude of shepherding is seen especially in his leadership & compassionate care.
As a leader, he gathered a group of disciples and formed them into an intimate community through his preaching and table fellowship (Mt 10) and he spoke out for justice for poor people, seeing justice as a higher goal than stability.
5. Prophet Jesus was a prophet, proclaiming the will and message of Yahweh for his people.
He taught and interpreted the scriptures with an impressive authority: 'They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one that had authority’ (Mk 1:22).
He revised the Law of Moses (Mt 5.21-22).He criticised the religious leaders (Mt 23.27). He cast the money changers out of the Temple (Mk 12.15-17).
Transmission of Ministry
The Call of the Twelve Disciples (Mk 3:13-19, Mt 10.1-4, Lk 6.13-16).
Jesus chose 'those he wanted' (Mk 3.13)
The Apostles: The leaders of the early Christian community.
Peter (Mt 16.18, Lk 22.32, Jn 21.15-19). Exercises Primacy (Acts 1.15, 2.14, 37, 3.6)
The Seventy-Two (Lk 10.1-12)
The Mandate and the Holy Spirit – Jn 20:21-22.
Chapter Three
NEW TESTAMENT
The Twelve
Elders in a Jewish Christian Community, continuing ministry of Jesus.
Peter, James and Consensus Leadership.
Twelve: Representing the New Israel and Universality of Church.So need to complete group & continue ministry of 12 leads to the Election of Matthias (Acts 1:15-26).
The retention of apostolic ministry must be regarded as the essence of early Christianity. So, it is a question not of whether there was a transmission of the apostolic authority to the episcopate of the 2nd Century, but only when and how it took place.
The Church is Apostolic because she has kept the connection with the original Apostles and because her faith is based on the faith of the Apostles. Apostolic Succession: The link of Bishops with the Apostles and Fidelity to Apostolic Faith.
Acts: Chapter Six
Development of ministry: Seven men chosen for ministry.
1. Sense need. 2. Propose solution. 3. Gain community approval.4. Let community implement.5. Community present plans.6. Confirm them. 7. Word spreads.
Missionary Apostles Besides the Twelve, there were other “apostles”, bringing the words of Jesus Christ to the world.
Paul claims to be an apostle (Rom11.13, I Cor 15.9) & uses the term for Silvanus, Timothy (I Th 2.7) & Barnabas (I Cor 9.5); it seems that after a certain development the name of apostle was reserved in a privileged way for the restricted circle of the Twelve.
Flexible Structures & Variety of Ministries
The disappearance of the twelve, the seventy-two and the seven meant that no structure was carved in stone.
Each makes his or her contribution to the progress of the whole. Each utilise his/her charisms, so that the community is built & grows in love. The Spirit is given to each for the good of all.
Apostles and disciples are gradually being replaced by apostles, prophets & teachers (I Cor 12.28)
Presbyters
The Elders, the presbyteroi,derived from Judaism’s traditional category, were men of distinction appointed by the laying on of hands to oversee local affairs.
Note I Peter 5.2 and Acts 20.17-36. Presbyteros does not imply a liturgical functionary. Elders exercise the presidency, preach and teach (I Tim 5.17) and anoint the sick oil (Jms 5.14).
Titles: The names of activities became titles in a more organised Church.Apostoloi means “emissaries”.Deacon is from diakonia, meaning “ministry” or “service”. The titles bishops & priests come from the activities of overseeing, episkopoi, and being elders, presbyteroi, respectively.
The Pastoral EpistlesWords for Elder & Episkopos interchangeable – Acts 14.23. Later Episcopos: Designates the presiding elder or council president.
To perform their administrative task well, supervisors and elders were supposed to have the same qualities as a good head of a family (I Tim 3:1-7, Tit 1:6-9).
Deacons and deaconesses served the internal needs of the community – I Tim 3:8-13.Inducted into leadership with approval of community by being prayed over and laying on of hands – Acts 6.1-6,, 13.1-3, I Tim 4.14, 5.22
Apostles & Disciples → apostles, prophets, & teachers → presbyter-bishops & deacons.
The structured leadership of a supervising committee of presbyter-bishops assisted by deacons evolved.
Priesthood
Nowhere in the NT is the word priest used of a Christian individual, even of any of the apostles.
1. Pagan Priesthood 2. Temple Priests 3. Legacy from Jesus
High Priest of the order of Melchisedek – Heb 5.6, 6.20, 7.1, 10, 15. Melchisedek, Gen 14.17-20 – eternal priesthood, superior to levitical priesthood, King of Jerusalem, offers bread & wine.Ps 110.4 represents him as a figure of the Messiah.
In a spiritual sense all believers were part of a priestly people called to honour Godby praise and self-sacrifice, (I Pet 1:2; 2:10, Rev 1:6; 5:10; 20:6).
Source of Sacrament: Heb 5 (Jesus the Compassionate High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek). Foundation: Lk 6:12-16 (Choice of 12). Institution: Lk 22:19 (Do this in memory of me), Lk 9:1-6 (Mission of 12), Jn 20:21-22 (Mandate & Spirit). Practice: 2 Tim 1:6 (Fan into a flame the gift God gave you, when I laid my hands on you).
Chapter Four
EARLY DEVELOPMENT
The Second Century
Early Christianity very seculardidn't look like a religion no temples, no altars, no priestsLeaders – overseers, elders, servants
Monarchical Episcopate: Around 110 AD we find evidence for the so-called monarchical episcopate, a local Church presided over by one bishop, in the writings of Ignatius of Antioch.
He presents the bishop as the one in charge with deacons as his assistants and presbyters as his advisors and as having responsibility for one parish towns. Slow evolution – Rome ruled by presbyterate with presiding elder.
Pope – Papa, Greek for Father.In East, Reserved for Bishop of Alexandria. In West, Used for important bishops. By 11th Century it comes to be limited to the Bishop of Rome
Presbyters also served as overseers (I Pet 5.1-3).Presbyter-Bishops and Monarchical Bishops seen as 'successors of the Apostles', but not successors in the sense that they were duly appointed and ordained by an Apostle.
Bishop’s emergence: Apostles died + Persecution + No Second Coming + Internal strife & Heresies => Need for a firm, solid, stable leadership.
Clement of Rome, 96,clear line of authority.Didache called for appointment of bishops & deacons.
The tripartite ministry of bishop, presbyter, and deacon emerges and becomes universal in the Church by the end of the second century.
Other Ministries: “Subdeacons” helped the deacons in their practical ministries.
“Exorcists” assisted at rituals of initiation and repentance, “lectors” were appointed to read the scriptures loud & clear during worship, “porters” were assigned janitorial and guard duties, “acolytes” accompanied the bishop and acted as secretaries and messengers.
President. The one who presides over the community presides over the Eucharist. One is ordained to gather, build, and celebrate the Christian community, and flowing from this to preside at that community’s Eucharist. This principle was so strong in the early Church that the Council of Chalcedon in 451 forbade the ordination of anyone unless a local community was assigned to him. One is not ordained to preside at the Eucharist and then, as a side effect, to preside over the community. What seems to have been the operative principle was that whoever was recognised as the community’s leader was accepted as the presider at Eucharist, whether that was an apostle, a prophet, a teacher, or a bishop. This principle reminds us that the early Church saw no separation between its worship and its daily life. Worship was the expression of the Church’s life, and so the leader of the community was the leader of worship. By the second century two roles that were probably once separated are joined together: the role of the presbyter-bishop and the role of the presiding minister of the Eucharist. Presiding eventually became the exclusive privilege of bishops and presbyters. Significantly, not until the year 1208 is there an official declaration that priestly ordination is necessary to celebrate the Eucharist (Pope Innocent III) (CF, n. 1703, p. 720).
Third To Tenth Centuries
Order & Ordination.
In the Greco-Roman political & social world, there were indeed well-defined orders, the order of senators, the order of decurions, & the order of knights.
In the view of Christians, the term "order" indicated the exact opposite of service. Order indicated power and prestige; service, however, reflected Jesus himself.
Hippolytus (d. 235)The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus sketches a picture of the third-century Church and contains a detailed description of an ordination liturgy.
For centuries the approval of two groups was required for this ordination: the community & the pastoral group he was joining. 'Let him be ordained as bishop who has been chosen by all the people' – Apostolic Tradition. 'He who has to preside over all must be elected by all' – Pope Leo.
In Early Church, an avoidance of priestly language. Now Eucharist linked to sacrifice of Jesus, Jesus seen as great high priest, community as priestly people and highly sacral culture leads to bishop be seen as a priest, especially in Didache, & writings of Clement, Ignatius & Hippolytus.
Cyprian (210-258), Bishop of Carthage.
Cyprian repeatedly calls the bishop a high priest and applies the priestly language of the OT to the Church order of his day.
These presbyters took over the eucharistic presidency in the outlying districts.
More Development
Moreover, the diaconate as a separate ministry was gradually disappearing. Bishops needed assistants who could officiate at the liturgy & deacons were not empowered to do this.
The humble origin of the priest as basically an inferior cleric from the countryside remained intact throughout the centuries. Priests remained largely uneducated & from a lower social strata than the bishops, who were educated, often aristocratic & from the ruling class.
The clergy gradually took over the various ministries that had been relatively autonomous in earlier decades, absorbing them all into “the pastoral office,” which was possessed fully only by the bishops.
Finally, these bishops, presbyters and deacons, came to be viewed as “sacred.” Ordination made these ministers members of a distinct “order” within the Church.
Celibacy & Clerical Dress
If the Christian priesthood were a newer & greater priesthood than that of the Jewish priests & Levites, then it seemed logical that Christian clerics would be called to a greater holiness than the priests of the old covenant.
In the 5th Century clerics took to wearing a long robe as a sign of their status in society rather than the short tunic that was worn by ordinary people. (The priest should always conform to the clerical garb since it is a sign of his limitless dedication to the faithful in his service to Jesus – The Priest & 3rd M, Ch 4, No 3)
The Middle Ages
Most Christians in the early Middle Ages were probably served by married clergy, and they were probably unaware of the canons which forbade priests to have intercourse with their wives.
The eleventh century was an important period of reform. With Gregory VII in 1073, celibacy became a condition for entering the presbyteral ministry. The monk became an ideal.
The Lateran Councils
The First Lateran Council prohibited those in holy orders from marrying at all & ordered all married priests to renounce their wives & do penance.
The Fourth Lateran Council asserted that no one could preside at the Eucharist except a priest or bishop who had been validly ordained.
Priests and people: ‘ex opere operato sacraments’.Priests: Poorly educated, low credibility, great burden.
Popes, Cardinals, Bishops:Princes - eager to increase wealth & maintain power.
Council of Florence, 1439Ordination a sacrament, whose matter is the handing over of symbol of order conferred & whose form relates to the power linked to the order.
Chapter Five
THE COUNCIL OF TRENT
The Reformers
Reacting excessively against a one-sided stress on the ministerial priesthood which did not do full justice to the common priesthood of all (I Pet 2:5) and the increasing alienation of the clergy from the rest of the Church, the Reformers were led to deny the existence of a Sacrament of Order instituted by Christ, and considered the ministry as a function delegated by the Christian community to some of its members. They stressed the priesthood of all believers. Since the Eucharist is not a sacrifice (Calvary cannot, and need not, be repeated), there is no need for a cultic priesthood in the Church. They discounted the notion that authority in the Church was funnelled from Christ through the pope to the bishops to the priests, and they rejected the claim that this was divinely ordained. They found little evidence in the Scriptures that ranks of holy orders existed in the early Church, and they objected to the way that men were ordained to ministries (such as the diaconate) that they never really performed. They observed that the law of celibacy was more often a cause of scandal than edification in the Church, and since they abandoned the idea of the Eucharist as a priestly sacrifice they saw no grounds for applying the OT rules of ritual purity to Christian ministers.
In place of the priestly ministry of cult and ritual, the reformers substituted a pastoral ministry of preaching and teaching, because they conceived salvation as coming through conversion and faith in God’s word. So Christians had a right to hear the scriptures and ministers had a duty to explain them. In a way, then, the Bible was introduced as a verbal sacrament replacing the ritual sacraments of traditional Christianity. Through it, the Holy Spirit entered one’s heart and enlightened one’s mind. Preaching itself was expected to be sacramentally inspiring and uplifting. Explaining God’s teachings was a means of deepening faith and commitment, and exhorting people to follow his commandments was supposed to be an effective protection against sin.
Protestants did not do away with sacramental ordination but they changed the form and meaning of ordination to fit their new interpretation of ministry. They recognised the need for some sort of ceremonial initiation into the ministry and for a ritual to express and symbolise the meaning of the office and service.
So, the Reformers were led to deny the existence of a Sacrament of Order instituted by Christ, and considered the ministry as a function delegated by the Christian community to some of its members.
They observed that the law of celibacy was more often a cause of scandal than edification in the Church, and since they abandoned the idea of the Eucharist as a priestly sacrifice they saw no grounds for applying the OT rules of ritual purity to Christian ministers.
Explaining God’s teachings was a means of deepening faith and commitment, and exhorting people to follow his commandments was supposed to be an effective protection against sin.
Protestants did not do away with sacramental ordination but they changed the form and meaning of ordination to fit their new interpretation of ministry.
Lutherans – Priests and Bishops
Presbyterians – Elders with authority over clusters of Churches.
Congregationalists – Their elders + Scripture & the Spirit.
Anglicans – Episcopalian but defect of intention (transubstantiation) & form (Edwardine Ordinal)
The Council of TrentTrent rejected these views of the Reformers, declaring that the ordained priesthood, separate from and superior to the priesthood of all believers, is conferred through one of the seven sacraments,
In the succeeding period, the ideal priestly life-style was portrayed as a very monastic one, even when priests had to live alone in country parishes and was seen as one that revolved around the mass and the sacraments.
Chapter Six
RECENT TIMES
Pope Pius XII Episcopalis Consecrationis, 1944
Second Vatican Council
The ministerial priesthood in the context of the Church.Christ’s unique priesthood is communicated by Him to the Church & is shared by the entire people of God (LG 10-13).
It consists of three degrees: the episcopate conferred on the bishops as successors of the apostles (LG 20-27), the presbyterate (LG 28) and the diaconate (LG 29).
Bishops “enjoy the fullness of the sacrament of orders,” whereas priests and deacons are dependent upon them in the exercise of authority (CD 15).
Collaborators with the bishop, constitute a college with him (LG 28; CD 29-30) and are his helpers and counsellors (PC 7). Make the bishop present in the local congregations entrusted to their care (LG 28).
Deacons are ordained for service and ministry to the People of God (CD 15). Council recommends the restoration of the permanent diaconate in the Church (LG 29).
Consecration and Mission are integrated (PO 3).Christ is at once Teacher, Priest and Shepherd.
The same three functions are indissolubly linked in the ministerial priesthood and exercised in various degrees by bishops, presbyters and deacons.
Priesthood of the Baptised
The Council puts new emphasis on the Church as being the entire people, encourages the “universal call to holiness,” reversing the previous view that only those with a special vocation are called to holiness
So the Council opens the door to fuller participation of lay people in the activity of the Church’s life.
Change of Emphasis
Vatican II depicts the priest as a proclaimer of the gospel of God and builder of Christian community.
Revision of RitesThe Council ordered that the ceremonies and the texts of the ordination rites be revised.
Reform of Structure
In 1972, Pope Paul VI reformed the structure of ministry in the Church.
Lector and acolyte were no longer considered ordained ministries, but rather lay ministries into which people could be installed by the bishop.
Consequences of the Council
For many who had been ordained to the old minor orders, it came as a bit of a shock that those orders could simply be suppressed by decree.
Still this historical overview shows that the Church can and must shape her ministries according to contemporary needs of the Church community.
A growing awareness of the community base of ordained ministry.
Diversity: The restoration of the diaconate and a virtual explosion of lay ministries.
Bishops – Pastors.
Priests – Preachers and Community Builders.Priests – Loss of Identity
Chapter Seven
Ordained Ministry & Priesthood of the Faithful In virtue of their baptism, all the faithful participate in the priesthood of Christ.
In NT times, there seems to have been a special stress on offering ones life as a sacrifice for those who have not yet heard of Christ, so that they could see Christian dedication as an invitation to believe.
And so, worshipping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrates the world itself to God” (LG 34). Their loving acts of ministry, generosity, justice, and compassion are the visible expression of the living Christ, animating his mystical body.
The CCC asserts that: “While common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace – a life of faith, hope and charity, a life according to the spirit – the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood” (1547).
We have been so cautioned to remember that the priesthood of the faithful & the ministerial priesthood “differ essentially & not only in degree” (LG10) that we have tended to lose the missionary focus of the Church & deprive the faithful of any awareness of their priestly identity.
Two key texts can help us in our understanding of this relationship, namely, Gen 2:7 and Ezek 37. The images of body, shape and bones represent the ministerial priesthood, while the images of breath and flesh signify the common priesthood.
Priesthood in the Church OrdainedPriest Presiding & Administering the Sacraments, Prayer
Faithful Priest Romans 12:1 – Offering their lives as living sacrifices, Participating in the Sacraments, Prayer
Prophet Ordained – Preaching, Teaching Faithful – Example, Witness, Reading the Signs of the Times
King Ordained – Pastor, Leader Faithful – Compassion, Work, Engagement in the World
Vobis sum episcopus, vobiscum Christianus – St Augustine. Pope John Paul II warns against the clericalisation of lay elites (Chistifideles Laici, 23)
He is concerned that the talent and enthusiasms of the most gifted lay faithful are drawn into liturgical ministries. He fears that this may be to the detriment of their lay witness and committed political action in the world.
Chapter Eight
CHARACTER & PERSONAL IDENTITY
CHARACTER: Jesus is said to be the 'express image of God's person’, the 'very stamp of his nature' (Heb 1:3).
Then we can say he has a priestly character that is effective in his personal life and is truly indelible.
PERSONAL IDENTITY:Disciple – Call & Total Response, Cross, HopeApostle – Sent.
Chapter Nine
Community
Priesthood is essentially related to the community.
A Presence in the Community
Model of Human Authenticity.
B. Active in the Community
Preacher, Prophet, Herald of God’s Kingdom, Evangeliser, Proclaimer of God’s word and justice.
Leader:
Public Figure representing the Church. Administrator.
Forms, Organises and builds up the Christian community (requires gift of discernment, dialogue ability, & leadership to stabilise)
Connects
President of Eucharist – he effects the Church’s most powerful expression of unity. Mystagogue.
Servant – Pastor and Agent for Development, Care for the Earth, Justice and Peace.
Definition: Ordination, then, can be defined as a “recognition of the gift of leadership, and at the same time a sacramental commissioning that empowers priests to govern the community in the name of Christ.”
Chapter Ten
Characteristics of Leadership
Courage — I Tim 1:6-7.
No resentment – ‘There is no limit to what you can achieve provided you don't mind who gets the credit.’
Passionate
Openness
Service
Confidence
Inner Authority
Transparency
Presence
Self-awarenessSpirituality
(From ‘Courageous Conversations’ by Daniel O’Leary, Furrow, Feb 2006, Vol 57, No 2).
Chapter Eleven
CELIBACY
The image of the Church official in Apostolic times is that of a married person, who is a good parent.
The Encratic Influence.
Elvira, c295-302 - Imposes celibacy on bishops, priests and deacons, but has not universal application.
Nicaea, 325 - Forbids marriage after receiving orders.
Popes Innocent I in 401 & Pope Leo I, 440-461, allow married priests to live with their wives ‘as brothers and sisters’.
Trullo, 692 - Forbids marriage after receiving orders.
Pope Nicholas II forbade the faithful from attending Mass said by a priest who was not celibate in 1059.
With Gregory VII in 1073, celibacy became a condition for entering the presbyteral ministry.
The First Lateran Council (1123) prohibited those in holy orders from marrying and ordered all married priests to renounce their wives and do penance.
Candidates for the priesthood who were already married might not receive any higher orders unless they severed all relations with their wives.Trent confirms the discipline.
Motives for the Law.
Divine Intimacy
Cultic Purity
Attraction of the Kingdom (Mt 19.12)
Social Motives
Evangelically Inspired
Pope Paul VI: Christ, Church & Eschaton
Pope John Paul II: Freedom for Service & Sign of Fidelity
Conclusion Richard Sipe says: ‘Celibacy is a freely chosen dynamic state, usually vowed, that involves an honest and sustained attempt to live without direct sexual gratification in order to serve others productively for a spiritual motive’.
Therefore, she permits only those who feel themselves called to celibacy to enter the ranks of her ministerial priesthood.
Chapter 12
Inter Insigniores
Reasons for not ordaining women as priests.
1. Jesus Christ did not call any woman to be part of the twelve apostles.
2. The Apostles did not include any women in the apostolic group.
3. From the earliest centuries, the constant practice of the Church has been not to ordain women to the priesthood.
4. No natural resemblance to act in the name of Jesus.
5. Not a human rights issue.
6. Church has not got the authority.
Reasons given for showing that women can minister as priests.
1. Jesus liberates women.
2. During the Last Supper, Jesus empowered women to preside at the Eucharist.
3. Church is called to be Liberated from Prejudice.
4. Affirmed in latent tradition.
5. Women were Ordained as Deacons.
6. Supported by developments in other Christian Churches.
7. Called by the Holy Spirit
SUMMARY Basis of Sacrament: Heb 5 (Jesus the compassionate High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek).
Institution: Lk 22:19 (Do this in memory of me).
Practice: 2 Tim 1:6 (Fan into a flame the gift God gave you, when I laid my hands on you).
Prophetic Act: Lk 6:12-16 (Choice of 12); 9:1-6 (Mission of 12).
Doctrine: The sacrament of Order was instituted by Christ and is conferred through the imposition of hands and the prayer of ordination.
The minister of the sacrament is the bishop. The sacrament confers the Holy Spirit & grace for the exercise of the ministry. It imprints a sacramental character which conforms the recipient to Christ the Priest. Some ministries can be conferred on lay people by installation.
TEN PRINCIPLES FOR A PRIEST’S LIFE PATTERNHow I live as a priest is more important than what I do as a priest.What Christ does through me is more important that what I do by myself.
It is more important for me to live in union with the presbyterium than to be alone and absorbed in my work.The ministry of prayer and the word is more important than serving at tables.
It is more important to work united with my fellow workers than to do the maximum number of jobs all by myself.
It is more important to concentrate on a few points and to influence others than to be hurried and incomplete in everything.
Joint action is more important than isolated action, no matter how perfect.The cross is more important than efficiency; it is more fruitful.
Openness to the whole (community, diocese, Church throughout the world) is more important than a particular interest, no matter how important that may be.
It is more important that the faith be witnessed to all than that all ‘traditional’ demands be satisfied. (From ‘The meaning of Christian Priesthood’ by Gisbert Greshake).
Introduction
Jesus Christ: The only mediator between God and humanity (I Tim 2.5)
Possesses a unique and absolute priesthood
Fulfils, Surpasses & Abolishes the Old Testament Priesthood (Hebrews).
He exercised his priesthood as Prophet by revealing the Father,asShepherd by gathering God’s scattered people, and as Priest by his self-offering on the cross in the Paschal Mystery.
The Church is established by Him as a ‘Kingdom of Priests’ (I Pet 2:9). All Christians share in Christ’s priesthood.
However, Christ entrusted a special function to the apostles. They passed on their ministry to their successors, who in turn shared it with others in various degrees through the Sacrament of Order.
The ministerial priesthood represents Christ’s function as Head in the Church and the Sacrament of Order is intimately linked with the other sacraments and impinges directly on the life and the nature of the Church.
Unique & Absolute Priesthood of Christ - Common Priesthood of the Faithful - Ministerial Priesthood
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Donald Cozzins,The Changing Face of the Priesthood, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 2000.
Jean Galot, Theology of the Priesthood, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1986.Kenan B Osborne, Orders and Ministry, Orbis, New York, 2006.
Len Sperry, Sex, Priestly Ministry, & the Church, Collegeville, Liturgical Press, 2003.
The Documents of Vatican II: Lumen Gentium, Presbyterorum Ordinis.
Congregation for the Clergy: The Priest and the 3rd Christian Millennium, 1999,
The Priest, Pastor and Leader 2002
Class Requirements. Participation in Class. Reading related material. Mid term exam on Orders: 30 Marks. End of Semester Exam on Marriage + One question on Orders: 50 Marks.
http://sacramentology2009.blogspot.com
Chapter One
THE OLD TESTAMENT
Early Israel
No distinct priesthood – Head of clan functions as priest.
After Exodus
Clan of Aaron and the tribe of Levi (Ex 28-29; 32:25-29).Priests to lead holy and exemplary lives (Lev 19:2; 21:8).
Whole nation was considered a “kingdom of priests”, a chosen people, called to holiness.(Lev 19, 21).
Discerning will of God (1 Sam 14:41).Teaching and interpreting the Mosaic Law, the Torah (Dt 33:10).Offering Sacrifices (Dt 33:10).Priest - Intermediary
Prophets replace priests as spokespeople for God.Scribes and rabbis assume tasks of preserving and teaching the traditions of Judaism.
Priests - Temple Ministry.EldersGroups of elders organised and governed the Jewish communities.
Chapter Two
JESUS CHRIST
Pattern for Ministry
1. Call from God:Lk 4:16-22. Jn 4.34 – My food is to do the will of the one who sent me.
2. Servant The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, & to give his life as a ransom for many – Mk 10:45. Paul urges the same notion of service in Phil 2:5-8.
Jesus is remembered by his disciples in the washing of feet as giving them an example to serve others (Jn 13:12-17). A Christian in any ministry is a servant.
3. Priest Jesus loved us to the very end, that he gave his life for us; he offered himself as a sacrifice so that we may have life.
Jesus was a priestly person because he acted as mediator for those who believed in him interceding for them with the Father and because he offered his life for all.
Ministry in the pattern of Jesus is bound to demand self-giving and sacrifice. Note Mk 10.45 (ransom for many), Jn 10.15 (laying down his life), Ph 1.29 (suffer for his sake).
4. Shepherd 'I am the good shepherd; I know my own..., I lay down my life for the sheep' (Jn 10:14-15). His attitude of shepherding is seen especially in his leadership & compassionate care.
As a leader, he gathered a group of disciples and formed them into an intimate community through his preaching and table fellowship (Mt 10) and he spoke out for justice for poor people, seeing justice as a higher goal than stability.
5. Prophet Jesus was a prophet, proclaiming the will and message of Yahweh for his people.
He taught and interpreted the scriptures with an impressive authority: 'They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one that had authority’ (Mk 1:22).
He revised the Law of Moses (Mt 5.21-22).He criticised the religious leaders (Mt 23.27). He cast the money changers out of the Temple (Mk 12.15-17).
Transmission of Ministry
The Call of the Twelve Disciples (Mk 3:13-19, Mt 10.1-4, Lk 6.13-16).
Jesus chose 'those he wanted' (Mk 3.13)
The Apostles: The leaders of the early Christian community.
Peter (Mt 16.18, Lk 22.32, Jn 21.15-19). Exercises Primacy (Acts 1.15, 2.14, 37, 3.6)
The Seventy-Two (Lk 10.1-12)
The Mandate and the Holy Spirit – Jn 20:21-22.
Chapter Three
NEW TESTAMENT
The Twelve
Elders in a Jewish Christian Community, continuing ministry of Jesus.
Peter, James and Consensus Leadership.
Twelve: Representing the New Israel and Universality of Church.So need to complete group & continue ministry of 12 leads to the Election of Matthias (Acts 1:15-26).
The retention of apostolic ministry must be regarded as the essence of early Christianity. So, it is a question not of whether there was a transmission of the apostolic authority to the episcopate of the 2nd Century, but only when and how it took place.
The Church is Apostolic because she has kept the connection with the original Apostles and because her faith is based on the faith of the Apostles. Apostolic Succession: The link of Bishops with the Apostles and Fidelity to Apostolic Faith.
Acts: Chapter Six
Development of ministry: Seven men chosen for ministry.
1. Sense need. 2. Propose solution. 3. Gain community approval.4. Let community implement.5. Community present plans.6. Confirm them. 7. Word spreads.
Missionary Apostles Besides the Twelve, there were other “apostles”, bringing the words of Jesus Christ to the world.
Paul claims to be an apostle (Rom11.13, I Cor 15.9) & uses the term for Silvanus, Timothy (I Th 2.7) & Barnabas (I Cor 9.5); it seems that after a certain development the name of apostle was reserved in a privileged way for the restricted circle of the Twelve.
Flexible Structures & Variety of Ministries
The disappearance of the twelve, the seventy-two and the seven meant that no structure was carved in stone.
Each makes his or her contribution to the progress of the whole. Each utilise his/her charisms, so that the community is built & grows in love. The Spirit is given to each for the good of all.
Apostles and disciples are gradually being replaced by apostles, prophets & teachers (I Cor 12.28)
Presbyters
The Elders, the presbyteroi,derived from Judaism’s traditional category, were men of distinction appointed by the laying on of hands to oversee local affairs.
Note I Peter 5.2 and Acts 20.17-36. Presbyteros does not imply a liturgical functionary. Elders exercise the presidency, preach and teach (I Tim 5.17) and anoint the sick oil (Jms 5.14).
Titles: The names of activities became titles in a more organised Church.Apostoloi means “emissaries”.Deacon is from diakonia, meaning “ministry” or “service”. The titles bishops & priests come from the activities of overseeing, episkopoi, and being elders, presbyteroi, respectively.
The Pastoral EpistlesWords for Elder & Episkopos interchangeable – Acts 14.23. Later Episcopos: Designates the presiding elder or council president.
To perform their administrative task well, supervisors and elders were supposed to have the same qualities as a good head of a family (I Tim 3:1-7, Tit 1:6-9).
Deacons and deaconesses served the internal needs of the community – I Tim 3:8-13.Inducted into leadership with approval of community by being prayed over and laying on of hands – Acts 6.1-6,, 13.1-3, I Tim 4.14, 5.22
Apostles & Disciples → apostles, prophets, & teachers → presbyter-bishops & deacons.
The structured leadership of a supervising committee of presbyter-bishops assisted by deacons evolved.
Priesthood
Nowhere in the NT is the word priest used of a Christian individual, even of any of the apostles.
1. Pagan Priesthood 2. Temple Priests 3. Legacy from Jesus
High Priest of the order of Melchisedek – Heb 5.6, 6.20, 7.1, 10, 15. Melchisedek, Gen 14.17-20 – eternal priesthood, superior to levitical priesthood, King of Jerusalem, offers bread & wine.Ps 110.4 represents him as a figure of the Messiah.
In a spiritual sense all believers were part of a priestly people called to honour Godby praise and self-sacrifice, (I Pet 1:2; 2:10, Rev 1:6; 5:10; 20:6).
Source of Sacrament: Heb 5 (Jesus the Compassionate High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek). Foundation: Lk 6:12-16 (Choice of 12). Institution: Lk 22:19 (Do this in memory of me), Lk 9:1-6 (Mission of 12), Jn 20:21-22 (Mandate & Spirit). Practice: 2 Tim 1:6 (Fan into a flame the gift God gave you, when I laid my hands on you).
Chapter Four
EARLY DEVELOPMENT
The Second Century
Early Christianity very seculardidn't look like a religion no temples, no altars, no priestsLeaders – overseers, elders, servants
Monarchical Episcopate: Around 110 AD we find evidence for the so-called monarchical episcopate, a local Church presided over by one bishop, in the writings of Ignatius of Antioch.
He presents the bishop as the one in charge with deacons as his assistants and presbyters as his advisors and as having responsibility for one parish towns. Slow evolution – Rome ruled by presbyterate with presiding elder.
Pope – Papa, Greek for Father.In East, Reserved for Bishop of Alexandria. In West, Used for important bishops. By 11th Century it comes to be limited to the Bishop of Rome
Presbyters also served as overseers (I Pet 5.1-3).Presbyter-Bishops and Monarchical Bishops seen as 'successors of the Apostles', but not successors in the sense that they were duly appointed and ordained by an Apostle.
Bishop’s emergence: Apostles died + Persecution + No Second Coming + Internal strife & Heresies => Need for a firm, solid, stable leadership.
Clement of Rome, 96,clear line of authority.Didache called for appointment of bishops & deacons.
The tripartite ministry of bishop, presbyter, and deacon emerges and becomes universal in the Church by the end of the second century.
Other Ministries: “Subdeacons” helped the deacons in their practical ministries.
“Exorcists” assisted at rituals of initiation and repentance, “lectors” were appointed to read the scriptures loud & clear during worship, “porters” were assigned janitorial and guard duties, “acolytes” accompanied the bishop and acted as secretaries and messengers.
President. The one who presides over the community presides over the Eucharist. One is ordained to gather, build, and celebrate the Christian community, and flowing from this to preside at that community’s Eucharist. This principle was so strong in the early Church that the Council of Chalcedon in 451 forbade the ordination of anyone unless a local community was assigned to him. One is not ordained to preside at the Eucharist and then, as a side effect, to preside over the community. What seems to have been the operative principle was that whoever was recognised as the community’s leader was accepted as the presider at Eucharist, whether that was an apostle, a prophet, a teacher, or a bishop. This principle reminds us that the early Church saw no separation between its worship and its daily life. Worship was the expression of the Church’s life, and so the leader of the community was the leader of worship. By the second century two roles that were probably once separated are joined together: the role of the presbyter-bishop and the role of the presiding minister of the Eucharist. Presiding eventually became the exclusive privilege of bishops and presbyters. Significantly, not until the year 1208 is there an official declaration that priestly ordination is necessary to celebrate the Eucharist (Pope Innocent III) (CF, n. 1703, p. 720).
Third To Tenth Centuries
Order & Ordination.
In the Greco-Roman political & social world, there were indeed well-defined orders, the order of senators, the order of decurions, & the order of knights.
In the view of Christians, the term "order" indicated the exact opposite of service. Order indicated power and prestige; service, however, reflected Jesus himself.
Hippolytus (d. 235)The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus sketches a picture of the third-century Church and contains a detailed description of an ordination liturgy.
For centuries the approval of two groups was required for this ordination: the community & the pastoral group he was joining. 'Let him be ordained as bishop who has been chosen by all the people' – Apostolic Tradition. 'He who has to preside over all must be elected by all' – Pope Leo.
In Early Church, an avoidance of priestly language. Now Eucharist linked to sacrifice of Jesus, Jesus seen as great high priest, community as priestly people and highly sacral culture leads to bishop be seen as a priest, especially in Didache, & writings of Clement, Ignatius & Hippolytus.
Cyprian (210-258), Bishop of Carthage.
Cyprian repeatedly calls the bishop a high priest and applies the priestly language of the OT to the Church order of his day.
These presbyters took over the eucharistic presidency in the outlying districts.
More Development
Moreover, the diaconate as a separate ministry was gradually disappearing. Bishops needed assistants who could officiate at the liturgy & deacons were not empowered to do this.
The humble origin of the priest as basically an inferior cleric from the countryside remained intact throughout the centuries. Priests remained largely uneducated & from a lower social strata than the bishops, who were educated, often aristocratic & from the ruling class.
The clergy gradually took over the various ministries that had been relatively autonomous in earlier decades, absorbing them all into “the pastoral office,” which was possessed fully only by the bishops.
Finally, these bishops, presbyters and deacons, came to be viewed as “sacred.” Ordination made these ministers members of a distinct “order” within the Church.
Celibacy & Clerical Dress
If the Christian priesthood were a newer & greater priesthood than that of the Jewish priests & Levites, then it seemed logical that Christian clerics would be called to a greater holiness than the priests of the old covenant.
In the 5th Century clerics took to wearing a long robe as a sign of their status in society rather than the short tunic that was worn by ordinary people. (The priest should always conform to the clerical garb since it is a sign of his limitless dedication to the faithful in his service to Jesus – The Priest & 3rd M, Ch 4, No 3)
The Middle Ages
Most Christians in the early Middle Ages were probably served by married clergy, and they were probably unaware of the canons which forbade priests to have intercourse with their wives.
The eleventh century was an important period of reform. With Gregory VII in 1073, celibacy became a condition for entering the presbyteral ministry. The monk became an ideal.
The Lateran Councils
The First Lateran Council prohibited those in holy orders from marrying at all & ordered all married priests to renounce their wives & do penance.
The Fourth Lateran Council asserted that no one could preside at the Eucharist except a priest or bishop who had been validly ordained.
Priests and people: ‘ex opere operato sacraments’.Priests: Poorly educated, low credibility, great burden.
Popes, Cardinals, Bishops:Princes - eager to increase wealth & maintain power.
Council of Florence, 1439Ordination a sacrament, whose matter is the handing over of symbol of order conferred & whose form relates to the power linked to the order.
Chapter Five
THE COUNCIL OF TRENT
The Reformers
Reacting excessively against a one-sided stress on the ministerial priesthood which did not do full justice to the common priesthood of all (I Pet 2:5) and the increasing alienation of the clergy from the rest of the Church, the Reformers were led to deny the existence of a Sacrament of Order instituted by Christ, and considered the ministry as a function delegated by the Christian community to some of its members. They stressed the priesthood of all believers. Since the Eucharist is not a sacrifice (Calvary cannot, and need not, be repeated), there is no need for a cultic priesthood in the Church. They discounted the notion that authority in the Church was funnelled from Christ through the pope to the bishops to the priests, and they rejected the claim that this was divinely ordained. They found little evidence in the Scriptures that ranks of holy orders existed in the early Church, and they objected to the way that men were ordained to ministries (such as the diaconate) that they never really performed. They observed that the law of celibacy was more often a cause of scandal than edification in the Church, and since they abandoned the idea of the Eucharist as a priestly sacrifice they saw no grounds for applying the OT rules of ritual purity to Christian ministers.
In place of the priestly ministry of cult and ritual, the reformers substituted a pastoral ministry of preaching and teaching, because they conceived salvation as coming through conversion and faith in God’s word. So Christians had a right to hear the scriptures and ministers had a duty to explain them. In a way, then, the Bible was introduced as a verbal sacrament replacing the ritual sacraments of traditional Christianity. Through it, the Holy Spirit entered one’s heart and enlightened one’s mind. Preaching itself was expected to be sacramentally inspiring and uplifting. Explaining God’s teachings was a means of deepening faith and commitment, and exhorting people to follow his commandments was supposed to be an effective protection against sin.
Protestants did not do away with sacramental ordination but they changed the form and meaning of ordination to fit their new interpretation of ministry. They recognised the need for some sort of ceremonial initiation into the ministry and for a ritual to express and symbolise the meaning of the office and service.
So, the Reformers were led to deny the existence of a Sacrament of Order instituted by Christ, and considered the ministry as a function delegated by the Christian community to some of its members.
They observed that the law of celibacy was more often a cause of scandal than edification in the Church, and since they abandoned the idea of the Eucharist as a priestly sacrifice they saw no grounds for applying the OT rules of ritual purity to Christian ministers.
Explaining God’s teachings was a means of deepening faith and commitment, and exhorting people to follow his commandments was supposed to be an effective protection against sin.
Protestants did not do away with sacramental ordination but they changed the form and meaning of ordination to fit their new interpretation of ministry.
Lutherans – Priests and Bishops
Presbyterians – Elders with authority over clusters of Churches.
Congregationalists – Their elders + Scripture & the Spirit.
Anglicans – Episcopalian but defect of intention (transubstantiation) & form (Edwardine Ordinal)
The Council of TrentTrent rejected these views of the Reformers, declaring that the ordained priesthood, separate from and superior to the priesthood of all believers, is conferred through one of the seven sacraments,
In the succeeding period, the ideal priestly life-style was portrayed as a very monastic one, even when priests had to live alone in country parishes and was seen as one that revolved around the mass and the sacraments.
Chapter Six
RECENT TIMES
Pope Pius XII Episcopalis Consecrationis, 1944
Second Vatican Council
The ministerial priesthood in the context of the Church.Christ’s unique priesthood is communicated by Him to the Church & is shared by the entire people of God (LG 10-13).
It consists of three degrees: the episcopate conferred on the bishops as successors of the apostles (LG 20-27), the presbyterate (LG 28) and the diaconate (LG 29).
Bishops “enjoy the fullness of the sacrament of orders,” whereas priests and deacons are dependent upon them in the exercise of authority (CD 15).
Collaborators with the bishop, constitute a college with him (LG 28; CD 29-30) and are his helpers and counsellors (PC 7). Make the bishop present in the local congregations entrusted to their care (LG 28).
Deacons are ordained for service and ministry to the People of God (CD 15). Council recommends the restoration of the permanent diaconate in the Church (LG 29).
Consecration and Mission are integrated (PO 3).Christ is at once Teacher, Priest and Shepherd.
The same three functions are indissolubly linked in the ministerial priesthood and exercised in various degrees by bishops, presbyters and deacons.
Priesthood of the Baptised
The Council puts new emphasis on the Church as being the entire people, encourages the “universal call to holiness,” reversing the previous view that only those with a special vocation are called to holiness
So the Council opens the door to fuller participation of lay people in the activity of the Church’s life.
Change of Emphasis
Vatican II depicts the priest as a proclaimer of the gospel of God and builder of Christian community.
Revision of RitesThe Council ordered that the ceremonies and the texts of the ordination rites be revised.
Reform of Structure
In 1972, Pope Paul VI reformed the structure of ministry in the Church.
Lector and acolyte were no longer considered ordained ministries, but rather lay ministries into which people could be installed by the bishop.
Consequences of the Council
For many who had been ordained to the old minor orders, it came as a bit of a shock that those orders could simply be suppressed by decree.
Still this historical overview shows that the Church can and must shape her ministries according to contemporary needs of the Church community.
A growing awareness of the community base of ordained ministry.
Diversity: The restoration of the diaconate and a virtual explosion of lay ministries.
Bishops – Pastors.
Priests – Preachers and Community Builders.Priests – Loss of Identity
Chapter Seven
Ordained Ministry & Priesthood of the Faithful In virtue of their baptism, all the faithful participate in the priesthood of Christ.
In NT times, there seems to have been a special stress on offering ones life as a sacrifice for those who have not yet heard of Christ, so that they could see Christian dedication as an invitation to believe.
And so, worshipping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrates the world itself to God” (LG 34). Their loving acts of ministry, generosity, justice, and compassion are the visible expression of the living Christ, animating his mystical body.
The CCC asserts that: “While common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace – a life of faith, hope and charity, a life according to the spirit – the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood” (1547).
We have been so cautioned to remember that the priesthood of the faithful & the ministerial priesthood “differ essentially & not only in degree” (LG10) that we have tended to lose the missionary focus of the Church & deprive the faithful of any awareness of their priestly identity.
Two key texts can help us in our understanding of this relationship, namely, Gen 2:7 and Ezek 37. The images of body, shape and bones represent the ministerial priesthood, while the images of breath and flesh signify the common priesthood.
Priesthood in the Church OrdainedPriest Presiding & Administering the Sacraments, Prayer
Faithful Priest Romans 12:1 – Offering their lives as living sacrifices, Participating in the Sacraments, Prayer
Prophet Ordained – Preaching, Teaching Faithful – Example, Witness, Reading the Signs of the Times
King Ordained – Pastor, Leader Faithful – Compassion, Work, Engagement in the World
Vobis sum episcopus, vobiscum Christianus – St Augustine. Pope John Paul II warns against the clericalisation of lay elites (Chistifideles Laici, 23)
He is concerned that the talent and enthusiasms of the most gifted lay faithful are drawn into liturgical ministries. He fears that this may be to the detriment of their lay witness and committed political action in the world.
Chapter Eight
CHARACTER & PERSONAL IDENTITY
CHARACTER: Jesus is said to be the 'express image of God's person’, the 'very stamp of his nature' (Heb 1:3).
Then we can say he has a priestly character that is effective in his personal life and is truly indelible.
PERSONAL IDENTITY:Disciple – Call & Total Response, Cross, HopeApostle – Sent.
Chapter Nine
Community
Priesthood is essentially related to the community.
A Presence in the Community
Model of Human Authenticity.
B. Active in the Community
Preacher, Prophet, Herald of God’s Kingdom, Evangeliser, Proclaimer of God’s word and justice.
Leader:
Public Figure representing the Church. Administrator.
Forms, Organises and builds up the Christian community (requires gift of discernment, dialogue ability, & leadership to stabilise)
Connects
President of Eucharist – he effects the Church’s most powerful expression of unity. Mystagogue.
Servant – Pastor and Agent for Development, Care for the Earth, Justice and Peace.
Definition: Ordination, then, can be defined as a “recognition of the gift of leadership, and at the same time a sacramental commissioning that empowers priests to govern the community in the name of Christ.”
Chapter Ten
Characteristics of Leadership
Courage — I Tim 1:6-7.
No resentment – ‘There is no limit to what you can achieve provided you don't mind who gets the credit.’
Passionate
Openness
Service
Confidence
Inner Authority
Transparency
Presence
Self-awarenessSpirituality
(From ‘Courageous Conversations’ by Daniel O’Leary, Furrow, Feb 2006, Vol 57, No 2).
Chapter Eleven
CELIBACY
The image of the Church official in Apostolic times is that of a married person, who is a good parent.
The Encratic Influence.
Elvira, c295-302 - Imposes celibacy on bishops, priests and deacons, but has not universal application.
Nicaea, 325 - Forbids marriage after receiving orders.
Popes Innocent I in 401 & Pope Leo I, 440-461, allow married priests to live with their wives ‘as brothers and sisters’.
Trullo, 692 - Forbids marriage after receiving orders.
Pope Nicholas II forbade the faithful from attending Mass said by a priest who was not celibate in 1059.
With Gregory VII in 1073, celibacy became a condition for entering the presbyteral ministry.
The First Lateran Council (1123) prohibited those in holy orders from marrying and ordered all married priests to renounce their wives and do penance.
Candidates for the priesthood who were already married might not receive any higher orders unless they severed all relations with their wives.Trent confirms the discipline.
Motives for the Law.
Divine Intimacy
Cultic Purity
Attraction of the Kingdom (Mt 19.12)
Social Motives
Evangelically Inspired
Pope Paul VI: Christ, Church & Eschaton
Pope John Paul II: Freedom for Service & Sign of Fidelity
Conclusion Richard Sipe says: ‘Celibacy is a freely chosen dynamic state, usually vowed, that involves an honest and sustained attempt to live without direct sexual gratification in order to serve others productively for a spiritual motive’.
Therefore, she permits only those who feel themselves called to celibacy to enter the ranks of her ministerial priesthood.
Chapter 12
Inter Insigniores
Reasons for not ordaining women as priests.
1. Jesus Christ did not call any woman to be part of the twelve apostles.
2. The Apostles did not include any women in the apostolic group.
3. From the earliest centuries, the constant practice of the Church has been not to ordain women to the priesthood.
4. No natural resemblance to act in the name of Jesus.
5. Not a human rights issue.
6. Church has not got the authority.
Reasons given for showing that women can minister as priests.
1. Jesus liberates women.
2. During the Last Supper, Jesus empowered women to preside at the Eucharist.
3. Church is called to be Liberated from Prejudice.
4. Affirmed in latent tradition.
5. Women were Ordained as Deacons.
6. Supported by developments in other Christian Churches.
7. Called by the Holy Spirit
SUMMARY Basis of Sacrament: Heb 5 (Jesus the compassionate High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek).
Institution: Lk 22:19 (Do this in memory of me).
Practice: 2 Tim 1:6 (Fan into a flame the gift God gave you, when I laid my hands on you).
Prophetic Act: Lk 6:12-16 (Choice of 12); 9:1-6 (Mission of 12).
Doctrine: The sacrament of Order was instituted by Christ and is conferred through the imposition of hands and the prayer of ordination.
The minister of the sacrament is the bishop. The sacrament confers the Holy Spirit & grace for the exercise of the ministry. It imprints a sacramental character which conforms the recipient to Christ the Priest. Some ministries can be conferred on lay people by installation.
TEN PRINCIPLES FOR A PRIEST’S LIFE PATTERNHow I live as a priest is more important than what I do as a priest.What Christ does through me is more important that what I do by myself.
It is more important for me to live in union with the presbyterium than to be alone and absorbed in my work.The ministry of prayer and the word is more important than serving at tables.
It is more important to work united with my fellow workers than to do the maximum number of jobs all by myself.
It is more important to concentrate on a few points and to influence others than to be hurried and incomplete in everything.
Joint action is more important than isolated action, no matter how perfect.The cross is more important than efficiency; it is more fruitful.
Openness to the whole (community, diocese, Church throughout the world) is more important than a particular interest, no matter how important that may be.
It is more important that the faith be witnessed to all than that all ‘traditional’ demands be satisfied. (From ‘The meaning of Christian Priesthood’ by Gisbert Greshake).
Monday, February 2, 2009
Notes for Students Ch 7-12
Chapter Seven Ordained Ministry & Priesthood of the Faithful
In virtue of their baptism, all the faithful participate in the priesthood of Christ. I Peter 2:9 explains that the faithful are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation and a people set apart”. The letter goes on to say in 2:12 that Christians are to live among the gentiles so that seeing their good deeds, they will give thanks to God. In NT times, there seems to have been a special stress on offering ones life as a sacrifice for those who have not yet heard of Christ, so that they could see Christian dedication as an invitation to believe.
Vatican II teaches in LG 34 that the baptized faithful share in Christ’s “priestly office of offering spiritual worship for the glory of the father and the salvation of humanity” and that “their prayers and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, even the hardships of life if patiently borne… are offered to the Father in all piety along with the body of the Lord. And so, worshiping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrates the world itself to God” (LG 34). Their loving acts of ministry, generosity, justice, and compassion are the visible expression of the living Christ, animating his mystical body.
The CCC asserts that: “While common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace – a life of faith, hope and charity, a life according to the spirit – the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood. (1547). The ordained have as their mission to gather, proclaim, explain, heal, nourish, and send the baptised out to engage in the world. Vatican II asserts that the laity are given the special vocation of making the Church present and fruitful in those places and circumstances where it’s only through them that it can become the salt of the earth (LG 33).
We have been so cautioned to remember that the priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial priesthood “differ essentially and not only in degree” (LG 10) that we have tended to lose the missionary focus of the Church and deprive the faithful of any awareness of their priestly identity. The more urgent pastoral problem today is that most Catholics have no idea of the priesthood of all believers and so are not affirmed by it or inspired to action by it. Besides, the statement in LG 10 that the two kinds of priesthood in the Church differ not only in degree but in essence obviously does not mean that the ordained priest undergoes an essential change, thereby ceasing to be a partaker in our common humanity. The distinction is not between two kinds of person but two kinds of priesthood. The Council refuses to attribute a higher grade or degree to the ministerial, as though the common priesthood ranked lower that it on the same scale. Instead it situates the two kinds of priesthood in different categories, like oranges and branches. The ministerial priesthood involves a public representational function rather than a personal giftedness. If anything, the common priesthood is more exalted, for the ministers are ordained for the sake of service toward the whole people of God (Dulles, PO, p.11).
Vobis sum episcopus, vobiscum Christianus – St Augustine.
There are two key texts can help us in our understanding of this relationship, namely, Gen 2:7 and Ezek 37. The images of body, shape and bones represent the ministerial priesthood, while the images of breath and flesh signify the common priesthood. These narratives and images indicate both the interdependence and the difference between ministerial priesthood and the common priesthood of the faithful. As Congar claims there is no Word without Breath and Breath is ineffective without Word. The following table illustrates this even further.
The most successful example of the appropriation by the faithful of their baptismal calling in the years since Vatican II has been the growth of lay ecclesial ministry, participating in the ordained ministry. When lay people realise their vocation through a ministry for the Church, they are participating in the apostolate of the Church in a very direct and specific manner. This apostolate entails a mission that consists of a call and a mandate with the requisite authority assigned to it. The faithful are not all called or obliged to participate in this apostolate, because their general mission is personal, spiritual and ex spiritu as distinct from being social, juridical and ex officio. The ministries and others associated with this apostolate are essential for invigorating the Church’s life and are, undoubtedly, required to ensure the smooth running of the ecclesial community. The following table presents some of the chief functions of the ordained, the baptised and those collaborating in ecclesial ministry.
Ordained Priesthood
Common Priesthood
Collaboration in Ministry
Priest
Presiding & Administering the Sacraments, Prayer
Romans 12:1, Participating in Sacraments, Prayer. LG
Eucharistic Ministry, Ministry of Word
Prophet
Preaching, Teaching
Example, Reading the ‘Signs of Times,’ Presenting way forward.
Catechising, theological work, missionary work,
King
Pastor, Leader
Compassion, Engagement in the World, Work Marriage: Love Spouse, family and community. Be Sacrament of God’s love
Administration of parishes, founding new ecclesial communities, social & youth ministries, maintaining ecclesial communities,
As baptised and confirmed members of the Church, lay ministers, by virtue of their personal call, can exercise apostleship ex officio and they have the right and duty to do so. This apostolate does not become an ‘apostolate of the hierarchy’; the laity are not turned into curates without cassocks. They do not have to wait to be empowered or delegated by the hierarchy to discharge their individual apostolic missions. However, the autonomy of the laity is not absolute; lay activity remains subordinate to the hierarchy and entails participation in the apostolate of the hierarchy. This participation does not extend to sharing in hierarchical powers but is effective in the practical order of Church life. Moreover, every ministry that is exercised publicly in the Christian community needs some kind of recognition from the local Church leader. This direct apostolate and the apostolate of Christian living are both lay apostolates, requiring no mandate from the hierarchy. Yet there is a sense in which all apostolic activity which involves participation in the hierarchical apostolate requires a formal mandate, since this apostolate derives from the mandate of Jesus and is a public activity in the Church. This dialectic of autonomy and dependence shows that lay people, though directors in a certain sense, continue to be directed. Lay ministries co-operate and collaborate with the hierarchical ministry in forming the ecclesial community.
One of the real benefits of having laity serve in ministerial functions is the solidarity which they express with the other laity of the parish. However, Pope John Paul II has warned against the clericalisation of lay elites (Chistifideles Laici, 23) and is concerned that the talent and enthusiasms of the most gifted lay faithful are drawn into liturgical ministries. He fears that this may be to the detriment of their lay witness and committed political action in the world. The hoped-for lay presence in the world has seldom received the theological development, catechesis, or implementation consistent with its importance as a major theme of the Council.
Chapter Eight CHARACTER & PERSONAL IDENTITY
CHARACTER: Jesus Christ is said to be the 'express image of God's person’, the 'very stamp of his nature' (Heb 1:3). It is derived from the Greek word for an engraving tool or a die stamp. Moral character indicates the consistent conduct of a personal agent whose mind and will are fixed on a supreme good, so that moral action comes to him or her almost as second nature. The priestly character is the personal reality corresponding to the outward matter and form of ordination. Mysterium Ecclesiae of 1973, states that the rite of ordination confers “on priests not only an increase of grace for carrying out ecclesiastical duties in a holy way, but also a permanent designation by Christ, or character, by virtue of which they are equipped for their work and endowed with the necessary power that is derived from the supreme power of Christ”. Priestly character is a gift, indelibly marked on the soul at ordination, and a task to be achieved through continuous personal formation. When a priest’s mind and heart are fixed on being fully a priest, then his conduct will be consistent with priestly living and ministry and eventually this priestly activity will come to him almost as second nature. Then we can say he has a priestly character that is effective in his personal life and is truly indelible.
PERSONAL IDENTITY:
Disciple – Call & Total Response, Cross, Hope
Apostle – Sent.
Chapter Nine Community
A Presence in the Community
Symbol Bearer: Officially designated to embody the community’s values.
Living Reminder of God’s Word.
Spiritual Personality.
Model of Human Authenticity.
B Active in the Community
Preacher, Prophet, Herald of God’s Kingdom, Evangeliser, Proclaimer of God’s word and justice.
Leader:
Public Figure representing the Church.
Administrator.
Forms, Organises and builds up the Christian community (requires gift of discernment, dialogue ability, & leadership to stabilise)
Connects
President of Eucharist – he effects the Church’s most powerful expression of unity. Mystagogue.
Servant – Pastor and Agent for Development, Care for the Earth, Justice and Peace.
Definition: Ordination, then, can be defined as a “recognition of the gift of leadership, and at the same time a sacramental commissioning that empowers priests to govern the community in the name of Christ.”
Chapter Ten Characteristics of Leadership
Courage — I Tim 1:6-7.
No resentment – ‘There is no limit to what you can achieve provided you don't mind who gets the credit.’
Passionate
Openness
Service
Confidence
Inner Authority
Transparency
Presence
Self-awareness
Spirituality
(From ‘Courageous Conversations’ by Daniel O’Leary, Furrow, Feb 2006, Vol 57, No 2).
Chapter Eleven CELIBACY
The Apostles were, for the most part, married men who had discovered the hidden riches of the Kingdom of God and were so enthralled at the prospect of being involved in establishing the Kingdom that they joyfully left everything, without counting the cost, to follow Jesus. Thus, while they were essentially capable of marriage, their involvement with Christ and his Kingdom so engaged them that they were “existentially incapable” of doing other than leaving all things to follow Christ. In this sense, they are truly “eunuchs” for the sake of the Kingdom.
In the Synoptics, the original experiential fact of this ‘inner logic’ is already formulated as a demand. Whoever wants to be Jesus’ disciple must leave everything - ‘house, brothers, land, mother, father’(Matthew). In Luke, the formulation of this demand is less strict. The term ‘leave’ is weakened to ‘hate’ – weakened, because for a Semite ‘hate’ in such a context meant ‘to love less’. Jesus approvingly states a fact of religious psychology; in view of their joy in finding the ‘hidden pearl’ some people cannot do other than live as unmarried. But there is absolutely no question of a law commanding this. Thus, the NT knows no juridically binding connection between office in the Church and celibacy, but it recognises something more fundamental - that the religious experience of the overpowering attraction of God’s Kingdom and of being involved in establishing it becomes, for some people, a condition which makes entrance into marriage impossible in practice. Still, the image of the Church official in Apostolic times is that of a married person, who is a good parent.
The Encratic Influence.
Elvira, c295-302 - Imposes celibacy on bishops, priests and deacons, but has not universal application.
Nicaea, 325 - Forbids marriage after receiving orders.
Popes Innocent I in 401 & Pope Leo I, 440-461, allow married priests to live with their wives ‘as brothers and sisters’.
Trullo, 692 - Forbids marriage after receiving orders.
Pope Nicholas II forbade the faithful from attending Mass said by a priest who was not celibate in 1059.
With Gregory VII in 1073, celibacy became a condition for entering the presbyteral ministry.
The First Lateran Council (1123) prohibited those in holy orders from marrying and ordered all married priests to renounce their wives and do penance. The Second Lateran Council (1139) declared celibacy a law of the universal Church. It said that marriage of subdeacons, deacons, or priests after their ordination was invalid. Candidates for the priesthood who were already married might not receive any higher orders unless they severed all relations with their wives.
Trent confirms the discipline.
Motives for the Law.
Divine Intimacy
Cultic Purity
Attraction of the Kingdom (Mt 19.12)
Social Motives
Evangelically Inspired
Pope Paul VI: Christ, Church & Eschaton
Pope John Paul II: Freedom for Service & Sign of Fidelity
Conclusion
Richard Sipe says: ‘Celibacy is a freely chosen dynamic state, usually vowed, that involves an honest and sustained attempt to live without direct sexual gratification in order to serve others productively for a spiritual motive’. While the Church never imposes celibacy on anyone against his will or obliges anyone to become a priest, she has the right to impose restrictions on the manner of life of those whom she chooses as her ministers. On the basis of the biblical connection between religious celibacy and the Kingdom of God, she has concretised the state of life of all who wish to freely accept office in the Church into a Christian way of life that makes them available to all in a special way. Therefore, she permits only those who feel themselves called to celibacy to enter the ranks of her ministerial priesthood.
Chapter 12 Inter Insigniores
Reasons for not ordaining women as priests.
1. Jesus Christ did not call any woman to be part of the twelve apostles.
2. The Apostles did not include any women in the apostolic group.
3. From the earliest centuries, the constant practice of the Church has been not to ordain women to the priesthood.
4. No natural resemblance to act in the name of Jesus.
5. Not a human rights issue.
6. Church has not got the authority.
Reasons given for showing that women can minister as priests.
1. Jesus liberates women.
2. During the Last Supper, Jesus empowered women to preside at the Eucharist.
3. Church is called to be Liberated from Prejudice.
4. Affirmed in latent tradition.
5. Women were Ordained as Deacons.
6. Supported by developments in other Christian Churches.
7. Called by the Holy Spirit
SUMMARY
Basis of Sacrament: Heb 5 (Jesus the compassionate High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek).
Institution: Mt 18:18 (binding & loosing), Lk 22:19 (Do this in memory of me).
Practice: 2 Tim 1:6 (Fan into a flame the gift God gave you, when I laid my hands on you).
Prophetic Act: Lk 6:12-16 (Choice of 12); 9:1-6 (Mission of 12).
Doctrine: The sacrament of Order was instituted by Christ and is conferred through the imposition of hands and the prayer of ordination. The minister of the sacrament is the bishop. The sacrament confers the Holy Spirit and grace for the exercise of the ministry. It imprints a sacramental character which conforms the recipient to Christ the Priest. Some ministries can be conferred on lay people by installation.
TEN PRINCIPLES FOR A PRIEST’S LIFE PATTERN
How I live as a priest is more important than what I do as a priest.
What Christ does through me is more important that what I do by myself.
It is more important for me to live in union with the presbyterium than to be alone and absorbed in my work.
The ministry of prayer and the word is more important than serving at tables.
It is more important to work united with my fellow workers than to do the maximum number of jobs all by myself.
It is more important to concentrate on a few points and to influence others than to be hurried and incomplete in everything.
Joint action is more important than isolated action, no matter how perfect.
The cross is more important than efficiency; it is more fruitful.
Openness to the whole (community, diocese, Church throughout the world) is more important than a particular interest, no matter how important that may be.
It is more important that the faith be witnessed to all than that all ‘traditional’ demands be satisfied. (From ‘The meaning of Christian Priesthood’ by Gisbert Greshake).
In virtue of their baptism, all the faithful participate in the priesthood of Christ. I Peter 2:9 explains that the faithful are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation and a people set apart”. The letter goes on to say in 2:12 that Christians are to live among the gentiles so that seeing their good deeds, they will give thanks to God. In NT times, there seems to have been a special stress on offering ones life as a sacrifice for those who have not yet heard of Christ, so that they could see Christian dedication as an invitation to believe.
Vatican II teaches in LG 34 that the baptized faithful share in Christ’s “priestly office of offering spiritual worship for the glory of the father and the salvation of humanity” and that “their prayers and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, even the hardships of life if patiently borne… are offered to the Father in all piety along with the body of the Lord. And so, worshiping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrates the world itself to God” (LG 34). Their loving acts of ministry, generosity, justice, and compassion are the visible expression of the living Christ, animating his mystical body.
The CCC asserts that: “While common priesthood of the faithful is exercised by the unfolding of baptismal grace – a life of faith, hope and charity, a life according to the spirit – the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood. (1547). The ordained have as their mission to gather, proclaim, explain, heal, nourish, and send the baptised out to engage in the world. Vatican II asserts that the laity are given the special vocation of making the Church present and fruitful in those places and circumstances where it’s only through them that it can become the salt of the earth (LG 33).
We have been so cautioned to remember that the priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial priesthood “differ essentially and not only in degree” (LG 10) that we have tended to lose the missionary focus of the Church and deprive the faithful of any awareness of their priestly identity. The more urgent pastoral problem today is that most Catholics have no idea of the priesthood of all believers and so are not affirmed by it or inspired to action by it. Besides, the statement in LG 10 that the two kinds of priesthood in the Church differ not only in degree but in essence obviously does not mean that the ordained priest undergoes an essential change, thereby ceasing to be a partaker in our common humanity. The distinction is not between two kinds of person but two kinds of priesthood. The Council refuses to attribute a higher grade or degree to the ministerial, as though the common priesthood ranked lower that it on the same scale. Instead it situates the two kinds of priesthood in different categories, like oranges and branches. The ministerial priesthood involves a public representational function rather than a personal giftedness. If anything, the common priesthood is more exalted, for the ministers are ordained for the sake of service toward the whole people of God (Dulles, PO, p.11).
Vobis sum episcopus, vobiscum Christianus – St Augustine.
There are two key texts can help us in our understanding of this relationship, namely, Gen 2:7 and Ezek 37. The images of body, shape and bones represent the ministerial priesthood, while the images of breath and flesh signify the common priesthood. These narratives and images indicate both the interdependence and the difference between ministerial priesthood and the common priesthood of the faithful. As Congar claims there is no Word without Breath and Breath is ineffective without Word. The following table illustrates this even further.
The most successful example of the appropriation by the faithful of their baptismal calling in the years since Vatican II has been the growth of lay ecclesial ministry, participating in the ordained ministry. When lay people realise their vocation through a ministry for the Church, they are participating in the apostolate of the Church in a very direct and specific manner. This apostolate entails a mission that consists of a call and a mandate with the requisite authority assigned to it. The faithful are not all called or obliged to participate in this apostolate, because their general mission is personal, spiritual and ex spiritu as distinct from being social, juridical and ex officio. The ministries and others associated with this apostolate are essential for invigorating the Church’s life and are, undoubtedly, required to ensure the smooth running of the ecclesial community. The following table presents some of the chief functions of the ordained, the baptised and those collaborating in ecclesial ministry.
Ordained Priesthood
Common Priesthood
Collaboration in Ministry
Priest
Presiding & Administering the Sacraments, Prayer
Romans 12:1, Participating in Sacraments, Prayer. LG
Eucharistic Ministry, Ministry of Word
Prophet
Preaching, Teaching
Example, Reading the ‘Signs of Times,’ Presenting way forward.
Catechising, theological work, missionary work,
King
Pastor, Leader
Compassion, Engagement in the World, Work Marriage: Love Spouse, family and community. Be Sacrament of God’s love
Administration of parishes, founding new ecclesial communities, social & youth ministries, maintaining ecclesial communities,
As baptised and confirmed members of the Church, lay ministers, by virtue of their personal call, can exercise apostleship ex officio and they have the right and duty to do so. This apostolate does not become an ‘apostolate of the hierarchy’; the laity are not turned into curates without cassocks. They do not have to wait to be empowered or delegated by the hierarchy to discharge their individual apostolic missions. However, the autonomy of the laity is not absolute; lay activity remains subordinate to the hierarchy and entails participation in the apostolate of the hierarchy. This participation does not extend to sharing in hierarchical powers but is effective in the practical order of Church life. Moreover, every ministry that is exercised publicly in the Christian community needs some kind of recognition from the local Church leader. This direct apostolate and the apostolate of Christian living are both lay apostolates, requiring no mandate from the hierarchy. Yet there is a sense in which all apostolic activity which involves participation in the hierarchical apostolate requires a formal mandate, since this apostolate derives from the mandate of Jesus and is a public activity in the Church. This dialectic of autonomy and dependence shows that lay people, though directors in a certain sense, continue to be directed. Lay ministries co-operate and collaborate with the hierarchical ministry in forming the ecclesial community.
One of the real benefits of having laity serve in ministerial functions is the solidarity which they express with the other laity of the parish. However, Pope John Paul II has warned against the clericalisation of lay elites (Chistifideles Laici, 23) and is concerned that the talent and enthusiasms of the most gifted lay faithful are drawn into liturgical ministries. He fears that this may be to the detriment of their lay witness and committed political action in the world. The hoped-for lay presence in the world has seldom received the theological development, catechesis, or implementation consistent with its importance as a major theme of the Council.
Chapter Eight CHARACTER & PERSONAL IDENTITY
CHARACTER: Jesus Christ is said to be the 'express image of God's person’, the 'very stamp of his nature' (Heb 1:3). It is derived from the Greek word for an engraving tool or a die stamp. Moral character indicates the consistent conduct of a personal agent whose mind and will are fixed on a supreme good, so that moral action comes to him or her almost as second nature. The priestly character is the personal reality corresponding to the outward matter and form of ordination. Mysterium Ecclesiae of 1973, states that the rite of ordination confers “on priests not only an increase of grace for carrying out ecclesiastical duties in a holy way, but also a permanent designation by Christ, or character, by virtue of which they are equipped for their work and endowed with the necessary power that is derived from the supreme power of Christ”. Priestly character is a gift, indelibly marked on the soul at ordination, and a task to be achieved through continuous personal formation. When a priest’s mind and heart are fixed on being fully a priest, then his conduct will be consistent with priestly living and ministry and eventually this priestly activity will come to him almost as second nature. Then we can say he has a priestly character that is effective in his personal life and is truly indelible.
PERSONAL IDENTITY:
Disciple – Call & Total Response, Cross, Hope
Apostle – Sent.
Chapter Nine Community
A Presence in the Community
Symbol Bearer: Officially designated to embody the community’s values.
Living Reminder of God’s Word.
Spiritual Personality.
Model of Human Authenticity.
B Active in the Community
Preacher, Prophet, Herald of God’s Kingdom, Evangeliser, Proclaimer of God’s word and justice.
Leader:
Public Figure representing the Church.
Administrator.
Forms, Organises and builds up the Christian community (requires gift of discernment, dialogue ability, & leadership to stabilise)
Connects
President of Eucharist – he effects the Church’s most powerful expression of unity. Mystagogue.
Servant – Pastor and Agent for Development, Care for the Earth, Justice and Peace.
Definition: Ordination, then, can be defined as a “recognition of the gift of leadership, and at the same time a sacramental commissioning that empowers priests to govern the community in the name of Christ.”
Chapter Ten Characteristics of Leadership
Courage — I Tim 1:6-7.
No resentment – ‘There is no limit to what you can achieve provided you don't mind who gets the credit.’
Passionate
Openness
Service
Confidence
Inner Authority
Transparency
Presence
Self-awareness
Spirituality
(From ‘Courageous Conversations’ by Daniel O’Leary, Furrow, Feb 2006, Vol 57, No 2).
Chapter Eleven CELIBACY
The Apostles were, for the most part, married men who had discovered the hidden riches of the Kingdom of God and were so enthralled at the prospect of being involved in establishing the Kingdom that they joyfully left everything, without counting the cost, to follow Jesus. Thus, while they were essentially capable of marriage, their involvement with Christ and his Kingdom so engaged them that they were “existentially incapable” of doing other than leaving all things to follow Christ. In this sense, they are truly “eunuchs” for the sake of the Kingdom.
In the Synoptics, the original experiential fact of this ‘inner logic’ is already formulated as a demand. Whoever wants to be Jesus’ disciple must leave everything - ‘house, brothers, land, mother, father’(Matthew). In Luke, the formulation of this demand is less strict. The term ‘leave’ is weakened to ‘hate’ – weakened, because for a Semite ‘hate’ in such a context meant ‘to love less’. Jesus approvingly states a fact of religious psychology; in view of their joy in finding the ‘hidden pearl’ some people cannot do other than live as unmarried. But there is absolutely no question of a law commanding this. Thus, the NT knows no juridically binding connection between office in the Church and celibacy, but it recognises something more fundamental - that the religious experience of the overpowering attraction of God’s Kingdom and of being involved in establishing it becomes, for some people, a condition which makes entrance into marriage impossible in practice. Still, the image of the Church official in Apostolic times is that of a married person, who is a good parent.
The Encratic Influence.
Elvira, c295-302 - Imposes celibacy on bishops, priests and deacons, but has not universal application.
Nicaea, 325 - Forbids marriage after receiving orders.
Popes Innocent I in 401 & Pope Leo I, 440-461, allow married priests to live with their wives ‘as brothers and sisters’.
Trullo, 692 - Forbids marriage after receiving orders.
Pope Nicholas II forbade the faithful from attending Mass said by a priest who was not celibate in 1059.
With Gregory VII in 1073, celibacy became a condition for entering the presbyteral ministry.
The First Lateran Council (1123) prohibited those in holy orders from marrying and ordered all married priests to renounce their wives and do penance. The Second Lateran Council (1139) declared celibacy a law of the universal Church. It said that marriage of subdeacons, deacons, or priests after their ordination was invalid. Candidates for the priesthood who were already married might not receive any higher orders unless they severed all relations with their wives.
Trent confirms the discipline.
Motives for the Law.
Divine Intimacy
Cultic Purity
Attraction of the Kingdom (Mt 19.12)
Social Motives
Evangelically Inspired
Pope Paul VI: Christ, Church & Eschaton
Pope John Paul II: Freedom for Service & Sign of Fidelity
Conclusion
Richard Sipe says: ‘Celibacy is a freely chosen dynamic state, usually vowed, that involves an honest and sustained attempt to live without direct sexual gratification in order to serve others productively for a spiritual motive’. While the Church never imposes celibacy on anyone against his will or obliges anyone to become a priest, she has the right to impose restrictions on the manner of life of those whom she chooses as her ministers. On the basis of the biblical connection between religious celibacy and the Kingdom of God, she has concretised the state of life of all who wish to freely accept office in the Church into a Christian way of life that makes them available to all in a special way. Therefore, she permits only those who feel themselves called to celibacy to enter the ranks of her ministerial priesthood.
Chapter 12 Inter Insigniores
Reasons for not ordaining women as priests.
1. Jesus Christ did not call any woman to be part of the twelve apostles.
2. The Apostles did not include any women in the apostolic group.
3. From the earliest centuries, the constant practice of the Church has been not to ordain women to the priesthood.
4. No natural resemblance to act in the name of Jesus.
5. Not a human rights issue.
6. Church has not got the authority.
Reasons given for showing that women can minister as priests.
1. Jesus liberates women.
2. During the Last Supper, Jesus empowered women to preside at the Eucharist.
3. Church is called to be Liberated from Prejudice.
4. Affirmed in latent tradition.
5. Women were Ordained as Deacons.
6. Supported by developments in other Christian Churches.
7. Called by the Holy Spirit
SUMMARY
Basis of Sacrament: Heb 5 (Jesus the compassionate High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek).
Institution: Mt 18:18 (binding & loosing), Lk 22:19 (Do this in memory of me).
Practice: 2 Tim 1:6 (Fan into a flame the gift God gave you, when I laid my hands on you).
Prophetic Act: Lk 6:12-16 (Choice of 12); 9:1-6 (Mission of 12).
Doctrine: The sacrament of Order was instituted by Christ and is conferred through the imposition of hands and the prayer of ordination. The minister of the sacrament is the bishop. The sacrament confers the Holy Spirit and grace for the exercise of the ministry. It imprints a sacramental character which conforms the recipient to Christ the Priest. Some ministries can be conferred on lay people by installation.
TEN PRINCIPLES FOR A PRIEST’S LIFE PATTERN
How I live as a priest is more important than what I do as a priest.
What Christ does through me is more important that what I do by myself.
It is more important for me to live in union with the presbyterium than to be alone and absorbed in my work.
The ministry of prayer and the word is more important than serving at tables.
It is more important to work united with my fellow workers than to do the maximum number of jobs all by myself.
It is more important to concentrate on a few points and to influence others than to be hurried and incomplete in everything.
Joint action is more important than isolated action, no matter how perfect.
The cross is more important than efficiency; it is more fruitful.
Openness to the whole (community, diocese, Church throughout the world) is more important than a particular interest, no matter how important that may be.
It is more important that the faith be witnessed to all than that all ‘traditional’ demands be satisfied. (From ‘The meaning of Christian Priesthood’ by Gisbert Greshake).
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