Catholic Vocations Home Diocesan Priesthood Articles and Information The Catholic Priesthood - What's It All About?

Written by Bishop George Pell (1995), Imprimi potest: Rev Dr G Diamond, Imprimatur: Mons G Cudmore, Vicar General of Melbourne. Reprinted by Catholic Vocations Q.1    What is a Catholic Priest? A.    The priest is a baptized man who has received the sacrament of Holy Orders.  He has been ordained to the priesthood in a special ceremony “to feed the Church by the word and grace of God”; consecrated for a special mission, he builds up the People of God and works for the salvation of others. St John Vianney was the parish priest of Ars, a small village in France.  He explained the priesthood like this:  “The priest continues the work of redemption on earth … If we really understood the priest on earth, we would die not of fright but of love.  The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.” Through the sacrament of ordination the priest receives a sacred power and his soul is marked or characterised in a new and permanent way.  He becomes forever a representative of Christ the head of the Church.  Christ acts through him. Because he represents Christ, the priest is also able, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to represent the people before God, and especially to present to God the prayers of all the Church when he celebrates the Eucharist. There are two degrees of ministerial participation in the priesthood of Christ: bishops and presbyters (which we usually call “priests”).  Deacons are not priests, but they do constitute one of the three orders of the sacred ministry, and therefore receive the diaconate from the bishop. Q.2    What is the work of redemption? A.    All is not well in our world.  There are wars, violence, starvation, sickness, premature death, families torn apart.  The world needs a saviour, a redeemer, someone to set things right. Christ Our Lord did this through his death and resurrection, but his victory will only be complete when suffering is banished on the Last Day. In other words, Jesus Christ, Son of Mary and Son of God, truly human and truly divine, died on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven.  As the suffering servant, Christ showed God’s love for us and unleashed the spiritual energy which empowers us to do good and lead lives of faith and service.  Heaven, an eternity of happiness with God, becomes possible for us through this sacrifice.   Because of all this, Christ is the one mediator between God and man, our supreme High Priest.  Christ’s priesthood is shared and continued among us in two complementary ways.  Through baptism and confirmation the whole community of believers participates in the priesthood of all the faithful.  The baptized are not only “God’s own people” (as the hymn says), but are also a priestly people. The ministerial or hierarchical priesthood of bishops and priests is essentially different from this.  Indeed it exists to serve the common priesthood and especially to help unfold and to develop the baptismal grace of all Christians.  Through this means, Christ builds up the Church community. Q.3    What does the New Testament say about Church leadership in general and priests in particular? A.    Jesus himself chose his leaders, a small inner circle of twelve disciples, whom he called apostles (those sent on mission). They were to be “fishers of men” or “shepherds” and became his representatives.  In some mysterious way these apostles were almost to be identified with the Christ who sent them out and they were to serve the other disciples. The role of the apostles was to preside over worship, to teach and to provide discipline for the community; what we now describe in theological terms as the offices of priest, prophet and king. Originally there were the twelve apostles chosen during Christ’s life-time; but apostleship was extended later.  St Paul was the most famous addition (Gal.1:1), also call by Christ, like the Twelve, to be an ambassador for Christ (2 Cor.5:20). There were further extensions of apostleship to people whom one might describe as assistant apostles, such as Barnabas and Silas, who were in direct contact with the original Twelve, and another category whom we might describe as apostolic delegates, such as Timothy.  These were brought into being in the later years of the apostolic generation and were regional representatives of the apostles for a particular number of local churches.  Their tasks were to maintain the teaching of the apostles (2 Tim 4:1-5) and to organize the local ministry, bishops, presbyters and elders, deacons and widows; they were to ordain or enrol these officials (1 Tim 3:1-13). The terminology used for church officials other than apostles varies throughout the New Testament.  There were also varieties of local practice and the evidence is fragmentary.  Sometimes those placed by the apostles in positions of local leadership were called “leaders” or “presidents in the Lord”.  More frequently they were called presbyters of elders, bishops or overseers, and deacons. In many local churches without an apostle there were colleges of presbyters (or groups of elders), like similar bodies in the Jewish synagogue, while the relationship between these presbyters and the bishop (or overseer), who supervised the entire presbyterium, is not clear-cut. The New Testament reveals the beginnings of the present church order of bishop, presbyter and deacon.  The Scriptures are always to be read in the light of Catholic tradition, recognising the Church’s on-going authority to teach and to decide. It is Catholic teaching that Our Lord institute the apostles as an effective sign of his continuing authority in the Church and the apostles brought into being the ordained ministry as a sacramental reality, which applied and inherited the apostolic ministry itself.  In other words the ordained ministry is sacramentally rooted in the ministry of the apostles and the bishops, as heads of the local churches, are the successors of the apostles. Q.4      Did Jesus himself ordain priests or bishops? A.    We have seen how Jesus chose the Twelve apostles as leaders (Mt 10:1-5), gave them authority and sent them out to teach and heal; later giving a similar, if lesser authority to the seventy disciples to work for the Kingdom (Lk.10:1). However it is official Catholic teaching, defined by the whole Church at the Council of Trent in 1562, that Jesus ordained the apostles priests, when he instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper on the night before he died and commanded them “Do this as memorial of me.” (Lk.22:19; 1 Cor.11:24). He ordained by word alone. There is also considerable evidence in the New Testament, especially as the Christian communities spread and leadership passed to the first generation after the apostles, that the new leaders were commissioned into the order of bishops, or priests, or deacons (ordained) by a liturgical ceremony involving prayer and the laying on of hands (1 Tim.4:14, 2 Tim.1:6).  When the early Christian community in Jerusalem elected the seven deacons (perhaps they were presbyters) to assist the apostles “they presented these to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them” (Acts 6:6). Q.5    Why don’t Catholic priests marry? A.    Priests of the Latin rite (or family) of the Catholic Church are celibate or unmarried, although priests of the Eastern Catholic rites can marry before ordination.  There are some exceptions to the Latin rite discipline as a few married convert priests from the Anglican Church have been ordained and work as Catholic priests. Latin rite priests follow the example of Christ who did not marry.  This is a sacrifice of something god; not an avoidance of evil.  Respect for celibacy and esteem for marriage reinforce one another. Priestly celibacy “for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt.19:12) means that the priest’s heart should be undivided, given to God and his works; turned away from the loves for wife and children. In an age like ours, which devalues sex by an obsessive separation from love and family, faithful celibacy asserts that the highest model of love is not sexual union, but loving union with God. Even when the Church has been stained with sexual scandals, when magazines proclaim that celibacy is impossible, probably unhealthy and somehow conducive to sexual deviancy, faithful priestly celibacy is still a superb and provocative witness to people inside and outside the Church.  It remains the best sign that the priest has not signed up for some human advantage, real or imagined. The overwhelming majority of priests remains faithful to their promises, and the absence of family responsibilities can bring a radical freedom for service, for hard work. The present vitality of Catholic communities throughout the world is due in no small measure to the sacrifices of celibate priests and religious.  The very history of the Western world cannot be understood without acknowledging the civilising power of Catholic celibacy, without acknowledging the freedom celibacy can bring in times of crisis, such as persecution.  A single woman or man without family responsibilities is more able to die for a cause (for example, Saint Maximilian Kolbe whose story is a shining example of this). A good priest is man for others, because holy orders, like marriage, is a sacrament for others.  Just as Christ was seen as the suffering servant who redeemed his people, so the priest must be in some sense, like an Easter victim, a burnt offering.  This does not mean that the priest must be regularly unhappy or bitter, but it does mean that the priest should be like a candle which is gradually used up, turned by God into light and love. Such celibacy presents an awe-inspiring triumph over natural instincts and has ignited millions of souls with the love of God over the centuries.  People recognize and admire genuine sacrifice. Celibacy helps explain the priesthood.  It is one of the glories of Christendom, but only for people who understand something of faith and sacrifice. Q.6    During the Church’s long history, were apostles, bishops and priests always unmarried? A.    Naturally all people who are celibate (or unmarried) are required to follow the general Christian prescriptions and practice continence or purity, that is, not engage in sexual activity.  This is specially true of priests.  However there certainly have been married clergy. We know that Saint Peter was married, because Our Lord cured his mother-in-law (Lk 74:38-39), but there is no Scriptural evidence on the marital status of the other apostles.  Tradition tells us that Saint John was unmarried and that Saint Philip, the apostle, and Philip, one of the Seven, were both married with daughters. Paul’s first letter to Timothy lists the criteria for a bishop, including the necessity of not being married more than once (1 Tim.3:1-7).  However, there were very early Christian traditions, probably stemming from the Jewish background as well as Our Lord’s personal practice, which saw celibacy and purity as appropriate for priests. Even in early times different emphases appeared in Eastern and Western Christianity.  The Orthodox now have married priests as well as celibate monks and their bishops are celibate too.  In the East (and the West) priests could marry before ordination, a right explicitly recognized by the Synod of Trullo in Constantinople in 692 after the sixth General Council. The Council of Nicaea in 325, the first great meeting of all the world’s bishops in the Roman Empire, which had just ceased persecuting Christians, refused to outlaw married clergy, but from the fourth century, especially in the West, sexual abstinence was urged also on married clergy, who were to live with their wives as “brother and sister”, e.g. Pope Siricius in 386 and Pope Leo the Great in 458. Efforts continued throughout the Middle Ages to require celibacy of clergy and the Second Lateran Council of 1139 made the marriage of clergy invalid as well as unlawful. When the Protestant and Anglican churches broke away in the sixteenth century Reformation and allowed married clergy, the Catholic Church through the Council of Trent (1545-63) reaffirmed the discipline of clerical celibacy.  This is substantially the situation today. Q.7.    Could the discipline of the Western Church change?  Wouldn’t married priests remove the shortage of clergy? A.    Jesus said that “a good tree brings forth good fruit” (Mt.7:17).  If we continue strong in faith and service, God will continue to look after the centerpiece of his Kingdom, the Catholic Church.  God will provide; sometimes in ways we do not expect. Australia is not short of Catholic priests, especially relative to many other countries.  However, many diocese have a critical shortage of seminarians. This is not a world-wide pattern, as today there are more than twice the number of diocesan seminarians as when Pope John Paul II was elected in 1978.  But a scarcity of seminarians is a fact in many parts of the Western World. Because we now have a deeper realization of the consequences of baptism for lay people, while the hostile pressures on faith and religious practice are stronger than ever, greater lay involvement in church communities will be required. The answer to the vocations crisis depends on the strength of our faith communities and the generosity of young people, but the Church is irrevocably committed to the necessity of the sacraments and local priestly leadership. As obligatory priestly celibacy is a matter of disciplines, not of faith or morals, the Church could in future allow the ordination of married men.  There is no indication that the Church will allow this in the near future and no certainty that such a provision would help strengthen religious vitality in the long run. Our religious problems and the decline of faith and practice might well be immune to improvement from merely disciplinary changes. Q.8    Didn’t the Second Vatican Council empower the laity (those not ordained)?  Could the parishes follow the schools with priests being replaced by lay leaders ad religious were replaced by lay teachers? A.    People who say this sometimes appeal to the Second Vatican Council (1962-5), when the Pope and bishops gathered together in Rome to re-orient the Church for the future, but they give little evidence of reading the documents.  Certainly Vatican II issued a special decree on the role of the laity, stressing their baptismal dignity and their responsibilities in the world. In the Catholic scheme of things both laity and clergy are essential.  They play complementary roles and are not alternatives.  The clergy are needed too.  Early in the second century St Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, wrote that without the bishop, presbyters and deacons “one cannot speak of the Catholic Church” (Ad Trall. 3:1). Already in Australia there are parishes and Mass centres without a resident priest.  However, there is no such thing as a priestless parish.  It is a contradiction in terms, because Catholic parishes are essentially sacramental and priestly religious leadership is essential. Bibliography Catechism of the Catholic Church (Chapter 3, Article 6) Aidan Nichols OP, Holy Orders, Veritas, Dublin, 1990