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).