Part Three | A Share in the One Priesthood

It has taken the shortage of priestly and religious vocations to awaken in us an appreciation of a broadly based shared ministry and a realization that it is in the nature of the Church as the Body of Christ to be endowed with many gifts, ministries and offices. What some refer to as a "vocations crisis" is, rather, one of the many fruits of the Second Vatican Council, a sign of God’s deep love for the Church, and an invitation to a more creative and effective ordering of gifts and energy in the Body of Christ. This is a time of great challenge and opportunity in the Church, not least of all because the gifts of the lay faithful have been flourishing in unprecedented numbers and in unforeseen ways.

Conciliar Orientations

Following the Second Vatican Council there has been a rediscovery in Catholic theology of baptism as the foundational sacrament of ministry, and a clearer recognition that ministry is not just for the ordained. The council related the baptismal call, the ministry of the baptized, and the office of the ordained to the mystery of Christ and found in each a reflection of the threefold office of Christ as prophet, priest, and king. Every vocation in the Church and every ministry is rooted in the same reality of Christ and his presence by the Spirit in the Church. The Christian vocation is rooted in the Church as a sacrament of Christ in the communion of the Holy Spirit. All ministry, be it the ministry of the baptized or of the ordained, is to be understood in relation to the community of the Church which expresses and receives its identity as the Body of Christ in Word and Sacrament. All ministry is for the service of the Church and the wider world, a participation in the ministry of Christ the Servant who, after washing the feet of his disciples urges them, and us, one and all: "As I have done for you, you should do also" (John 13: 15).

The Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium, calls us to an awareness of the one priesthood of Christ into which we are initiated through baptism. Both ordained and baptismal priesthoods share in this one priesthood. The laity as well as the ordained participate in the threefold office of Christ the prophet, priest, and king. What emerges from the Second Vatican Council is a clear theology of the laity rooted in an understanding of the Church as the People of God, in the universal call to holiness, and in an appreciation of the diversity of the nature of the Church both hierarchical and charismatic (Lumen gentium 4). The common priesthood of the faithful and the ordained priesthood are of different kinds. But because the ordained priesthood and the priesthood of the faithful are none the less interrelated (Lumen gentium 10), it is altogether clear that lay people share in the Church’s saving mission through baptism, confirmation, and the ongoing celebration of the Eucharist. Thus with the Second Vatican Council there is a restoration of the baptismal dignity of the laity, an emerging recognition of baptism as the basis and foundation of all ministry, and a fuller realization that ministry is not exercised only by the ordained. Ministry is rooted in the charisms given by the Spirit in baptism:

There are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. (1 Corinthians 12: 4-7)

A Baptismal Priesthood: An Abundance of Gifts

Rooted in the gifts of the Spirit given in baptism, ministry both ordained and nonordained is a share in the anointing of Christ as prophet, priest, and king in the waters of the Jordan (Matthew 3: 13-17; Mark 1: 9-11; Luke 3: 21-22; John 1: 29-34). Baptized at the hands of John the Baptist, Jesus the Christ is impelled by the Spirit into the wilderness to be a witness to the glory of God the Father. His whole life was given to worship of the Father through the service of self-sacrificial love.

Brought into being through baptism, the Christian community is formed in and through the Eucharist (1 Corinthians 10: 16-17). It becomes the Body of Christ who is Priest, and it joins itself to Christ the Priest in his return to the Father in his self-offering, thereby becoming a priestly community endowed with the flourishing of gifts to sanctify and evangelize the world (1 Peter 2: 9).

All Christians are configured to Christ through baptism, for that is the sacrament by which the new People of God are incorporated into the Church, participate in Christ’s death and resurrection, and assume the name "Christian." All Christians are called to a life of discipleship and have the obligation of extending his work and presence in the world today, advancing the Reign of God in our own time and place. All share in the one same vocation—to be and to build the Body of Christ, building up the Kingdom of God here and now.

It is in the Church, at this time and in this place, that the presence of Christ—the one who witnessed, worshiped, and above all, served—continues. And it is through witness, worship, and service that the Church continually expresses and receives its identity as the Body of Christ.

The baptized are called to share in the Church’s mission through mutual service (diakonia), through a life of worship (leitourgia/koinonia), and through witness (marturia) to the Gospel by holiness of life. These are the hallmarks of Christian living. The manner and degree of engagement in this common call differ, depending on the gifts and ministries given by the Spirit: "And the gifts are given so that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers" (Ephesians 4: 11).

Most lay persons are called to transform the world by living out their baptismal vocation, being and becoming the Body of Christ in the world, advancing the Kingdom of God amidst the pressing demands of marriage, family, school and workplace.

The baptized also witness to the light and love of Christ through all forms of prophetic utterance, through teaching, through the ministry of catechesis, through theological reflection by which they seek to probe the riches of the Word and the Christian tradition, and through participation in the Church’s evangelical mission, sometimes being sent from home and country as heralds and servants of the Good News in other lands.

The baptized worship God in Spirit and in Truth through full, conscious and active participation in the Sunday liturgy, through the proclamation of the Word in word and in deed, through the liturgical ministries of lector, musician or eucharistic minister, through the many other ministries which serve to animate the community gathered for prayer.

The baptized serve God through administration, feeding the hungry, caring for the needs of the sick, working for justice, washing the feet of the homeless, safeguarding and protecting the rights of the last, the littlest, and the least, giving the Body and Blood of Christ to those gathered at the Table of the Lord, and bringing this Holy Communion to those who are sick at home or in hospital. In all these ways and more, the gifts of the Christian people for witness, worship, and service are being shared for the greater glory of God in a community of faith, hope, and love whose members together become a living doxology—alive for the praise and glory of God the Father, through Christ the Word, in the creative and bonding Spirit of Love through which the world is transformed.

In our own day, in addition to the call to the office of bishop, presbyter, or deacon, and the vocation to the consecrated religious life, some lay persons are called to "lay ecclesial ministry," a vocation of full time Church service in response to the needs of each local community. This must be distinguished from the vocation of all the baptized to advance the Reign of God through their commitments to marriage and family, workplace and social responsibility. It must also be distinguished from the many other lay ministries that flourish in the Church for the building up of the Church and the transformation of the world. Within the context of the common call to service which is given to all the baptized, "lay ecclesial ministry" refers to professionally trained or otherwise properly prepared women and men, including vowed religious, who are in positions of service and leadership in the Church.

This is a unique vocation in the Church, a call to service in the name of the Church. "Lay ecclesial ministry" does not describe one kind of service or work, but refers to the ministries of committed persons, women and men, married or single, which are exercised in a stable, public, recognized, and authorized way. This is Church ministry in the strict and formal sense. It emerges from a personal call, requires appropriate formation, and is undertaken with both the support and the authorization of competent Church authority. Lay ecclesial ministers serve in such capacities as Pastoral Associate, Parish Business Manager, Director of Religious Education, Catechist, Director of the RCIA program, Youth/Young Adult Minister or Coordinator of Liturgy. The vocation to lay ecclesial ministry calls for greater attention and support in the Church today, through public recognition and authorization within a particular ecclesial community, even as we recognize the inestimable value of the foundational vocation of the baptized, from which arise the vocations to ordained ministry and the vowed religious life, as well as marriage and the committed single life.

Whatever the vocation or ministry, ordained or nonordained, each and every one is an expression of the threefold mission of every baptized Christian. What the Church is—a Body of witness, worship, and service, participating in the threefold office of Christ who is prophet, priest, and king—is what each of us is called to be. We do this according to the gifts, the charisms we have received in baptism. These differ. But whatever we do, we do it in the name of the Lord in the power of the Spirit for the building of the Body of Christ and the transformation of the wider world.

Priestly identity can only be discerned within priestly relationships—with Christ, with the priestly People of God, with the bishop and other priests. The purpose of priestly ordination is to call forth and serve the priesthood of the whole Church, the entire Body. The ordained priesthood is not only a ministry for the Church on behalf of Christ, but it is also a ministry done with a priestly people (Lumen gentium 10). Although the notion of the priesthood of the community is older than the concept of an ordained ministerial priesthood (1 Peter 2: 5-9), the Church very early recognized the consecrated ministry of those who are called uniquely to the service of God’s priestly people.

The priest both engages the priesthood of the faithful and represents the priesthood of Christ to the priestly people. This the priest does principally through preparing the People of God to celebrate the Eucharist and by presiding over the eucharistic celebration. The priest also does this as one whose life, by a unique and permanent sacramental character, is ordered to prayer, witness, and service in the name of and on behalf of the whole Church.

Priest as Sign of Ecclesial Communion

In light of shifting perceptions of the nature of ministry, priests sometimes wonder about the distinctiveness of the ordained ministry. This calls for a clear articulation of the identity of the priest. What precisely is the priest ordained to be and to do?

The essence of ordination to the priesthood lies in being a co-worker with the bishop(s) to assist in the threefold office of teaching, sanctifying, and guiding. Priests are co-workers with the bishop. The priest builds up the Church by engaging in a threefold ministry of preaching the Word, celebration of divine worship that is rooted in his sacramental ordination, and guidance of the faithful. But the ordained priest’s ministry of teaching, sanctifying, and guiding is also linked to the more fundamental mission of the baptized to witness, worship, and serve. As is the bishop’s. By teaching, the priest enlightens, encourages, and at times corrects the baptized faithful as they strive to witness (marturia) to the Gospel amidst a culture quite indifferent and often hostile to its values. The ordained priest sanctifies the baptized by preaching the Word (for Christ is present when the Word is proclaimed and preached), by leading prayer (for Christ is present whenever two or three gather faithfully in his name) and by celebrating the sacraments (for Christ is present in every sacrament, and, above all, in the Eucharist, the source and summit of Christian worship). All this he does best when he understands himself first as a member of God’s holy people gathered at worship (leitourgia/koinonia). And the ordained guides by establishing, cultivating, and sustaining patterns of relationship rooted in equality, interdependence and mutual service (diakonia), calling forth and coordinating the gifts of all the baptized.

In understanding properly the ministry of the ordained priest, what must be underlined is the gift of presiding over the life of a community and its prayer. The priest must know how to evangelize, to catechize, to preach, to pray, to celebrate, to discern, but, above all, he must know how to draw all the baptized together into communion and mutual service.

The sacramental life of the Church is centered on the Eucharist, whose celebration is to reflect the many gifts and roles exercised in the Church community. The ordained priest exercises his ministry by calling all the faithful to its celebration, by affirming their baptismal call within it, and by centering the life of the community around Christ in memory and in hope, through the gift of the one Spirit given to all the baptized.

By his share in Christ’s threefold office of prophet, priest, and king, the ordained priest focuses in his person the revelation of Christ in and to the Church. Just as the ordained represent the entire community of faith, hope and love, so also the members of the Body of Christ should recognize themselves in the ministry of the ordained: in the bishop’s ministry of teaching, sanctifying, and guiding; in the priest’s ministry of witness to the Word, sanctification through sacramental celebration, and exercise of pastoral leadership.

Deacons serve the Church by assisting bishops and priests. Through ordination deacons participate in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, but they do not share in the ministerial priesthood itself (Lumen gentium 29). Nonetheless they express in a most visible way the character of the Church as servant. Diakonia is so central to the life of the Church that it is singled out and sacramentalized in diaconal ordination. The ordained deacon signifies in his person the unique charism of service in and for the Church.

From its origins, sacramental ordination has served the purpose of building up and presiding over the Church. Our understanding of the ordained priesthood has changed and is still changing. But certain key terms have been used over time to try to pinpoint the priestly role.

The term in persona Christi (in the person of Christ) has been used to show that it is really Christ who acts in the Eucharist and in the sacraments. No personal power or gift of holiness on the part of the minister can assure this, even though the priest’s gifts must be put at the service of Christ and the Spirit to add a fitting witness to the sacramental action. The priest can never stand in as a substitute for Christ, nor ever represent all that Christ truly is.

The term in persona Christi capitis (in the person of Christ the head) has been used to indicate that the priest acts in the person of the Church and of Christ the head of the Church. Affirming that the priest acts in persona Christi capitis relates priestly ministry to the whole Body, head and members, and emphasizes the priest’s collaborative role, the need to work with other ministries, and the need to draw into the unity of the Gospel and the Church community all the gifts and ministries that come from Christ and his Spirit. As head of the community, the priest addresses challenging prophetic words to the community, exercises pastoral ministry of oversight and direction of the charisms of the community, and presides sacramentally as the instrument of Christ’s action in the sacraments. But, in headship, the ordained minister is in the Church, not above the Church, or apart from the Church. The Church is the primary subject of liturgical and sacramental activity. The whole Church celebrates the sacraments—head and members.

The term pastor (shepherd) has been used to express the priest’s relationship both to Christ and to the faithful. The term priest has been used to underscore the reality of the Eucharist in the life of the Church and in the ministry of the ordained.

Models of ministry continue to change, and in times of rapid change such as our own great discernment is needed. In light of the many gifts and challenges that are calling us to reshape our ministerial structures, the priest may be best understood as a sign of ecclesial communion. By sacramental ordination, the priest signifies the unity, apostolicity, and catholicity of the Church, the Body of Christ, the entire People of God—head and members.

When we are gathered by Word and Sacrament at the Table of the Lord as the one Body of Christ, we are amidst the real presence of the apostolic Church here and now. The priest as co-worker with the bishop seeks to preserve communion within eucharistic assemblies and between and among local Churches and all Churches of the apostolic faith throughout the world. We are at our roots when the People of God gather faithfully together at the Eucharist with their bishop and with his priests and deacons and other ministers. The Spirit evokes the apostolic Church not by bringing us into the past, but by wedding the past to the ongoing life and faith of this community, and by enlivening the charisms and enabling their full flourishing in a way that marked the early gatherings of the Church at prayer.

A Future Full of Hope

The Church at this moment may be likened to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13 ff). Like them, we continue to speak with one another about all that God has been doing in our midst. Like them, we are on the road, in via, amidst a journey, and, like them, many of our expectations have been unsettled. As our tightly-held expectations are disturbed, the gift of the Lord’s presence, the power of the Spirit, is ours to receive, and the Lord is in our midst, no less than on the road to Emmaus—as companion on the journey, as teacher, as guide and, especially, in the Blessing and Breaking of the Eucharistic Bread.

All across the continents a broadly based, shared ministry has been awakened in the Church by the Second Vatican Council and the developments which followed. Now we see with greater clarity that the Church is endowed with many gifts and ministries and offices. Today we recognize more clearly the role of the laity and the requirement to exercise all ministry in a more communal and collaborative fashion. All of these developments are signs of God’s enduring love and care for the Church, and all are invitations to renewed and deeper faith in the Spirit’s guidance, to profound gratitude for the Spirit’s gifts, and to an ever-widening hope for a future as yet unknown.

Continue to Part Four

Part Three | A Share in the One Priesthood

Conciliar Orientations

A Baptismal Priesthood: An Abundance of Gifts

Priest as Sign of Ecclesial Communion

A Future Full of Hope

Pastoral Regions

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