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The ministerial orders of the Roman Catholic Church includes both the orders of bishops and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos.^[1] The ordained priesthood and common priesthood (or priesthood of the all the baptized) are different in function and essence.^[2]

A distinction must be made between "priest" and "presbyter." In the 1983 Code of Canon Law, "The Latin words sacerdos and sacerdotium are used to refer in general to the ministerial priesthood shared by bishops and presbyters. The words presbyter, presbyterium and presbyteratus refer to priests [in the English use of the word] and presbyters"^[3]

The priesthood in the Catholic Church includes the priests of both the Latin Rite and the Eastern Rites. There are just over 500,000 priests serving the Church worldwide.

While the consecrated life is neither clerical or lay by definition,^[4] clerics can be both members of institutes of consecrated life or secular (diocesan).^[5]

Contents 1 History 2 Theology of the priesthood 2.1 Passover and Christ 3 Education 4 Rite of ordination 5 Clerical celibacy 5.1 Before 1054 A.D. 5.2 After the Great Schism 6 Duties of a Catholic priest 7 Catholic priest: East and West 8 References 9 See also

The priesthood is understood to have begun with the Last Supper, when Jesus instituted the Eucharist. While the threefold ministry is recorded in the New Testament, it is believed that in many assemblies this complete articulation did not take place until the second century. Until then, most small communities were led by an episkopos (overseer or bishop) or a presbyteros (elder or priest), hence in Catholic theology they are referred to as presbyter-bishops in this period. As communities grew larger and needed more ministers the bishops became the highest level of minister in the Church with priests assisting them in presiding at the Eucharist in the multiple communities in each city. The diaconate (servant) evolved as administrators of Church funds and programs for the poor.

The theology of the Catholic priesthood is rooted in the priesthood of Jesus and to some degree shares elements of the ancient Hebraic priesthood as well. A priest is one who presides over a sacrifice and offers that sacrifice and prayers to God on behalf of believers. The ancient Jewish priesthood which functioned at the temple in Jerusalem offered animal sacrifices at various times throughout the year for a variety of reasons.

In Christian theology, Jesus is the Lamb provided by God himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Before his death on the cross, Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples and offered blessings over the bread (matzoh) and wine beginning respectively “This is my body which will be sacrificed for you” and “This is my blood of the new covenant which will be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.” The next day his body and blood became visible in his sacrifice on the cross. Catholics believe that it is this same body, sacrificed on the cross and risen on the third day which is made present in the offering of each Eucharistic sacrifice during the Mass.

Thus priests (and bishops who are “high priests”) in presiding at the Eucharist join each offering of the bread and wine in union with the sacrifice of Christ. Catholic ordained ministers are known as priests because by their celebration of the Eucharist, they offer in a new moment in time the one eternal sacrifice of Christ.

Canon law regulates the formation and studies of clerics. In the Latin rite, this legislation begins with canons 232 -- 264 of the Code of Canon Law. As a general rule, education lasts between five and six years, depending on the national Program of Priestly Formation.^[6] Most frequently in the United States, priests must have a four year university degree plus an additional four to five years of seminary formation. This formation includes not only academic but also human, spiritual and pastoral formation. The purpose of the seminary education is not only intellectual formation in the teaching, history, and traditions of the Church, but to prepare men to be pastors of souls.^[7] Seminarians graduate with a Masters of Divinity or a Masters of Theology, a four year professional degree (as opposed to a Master of Arts which is an academic degree). At least four years are to be in the major seminary.^[8] In the final analysis, however, each bishop is individually responsible for the admission of students and the ordinations themselves. Only bishops may ordain priests.

The sacrament of Ordination is what "makes" one a priest. The minister of Holy Orders is a consecrated bishop.^[9] At the beginning of the ordination rite the candidates to be ordained lie prostrate, while the assembled faithful pray the Litany of the Saints for them. They promise to perform properly the duties of the priesthood, and each individually promises respect and obedience to his Ordinary (his bishop or religious superior). The essential part of the rite is that wherein the bishop lays his hands in silence upon the individual candidates, before reciting for all together the consecratory prayer, of which, by decree of the Apostolic Constitution Pontificalis Romani of 18 June 1968, the following words "belong to the nature of the rite and are consequently required for validity" in the Roman Rite:

Almighty Father,

grant to these servants of yours

the dignity of the priesthood.

Renew within them the Spirit of holiness.

As co-workers with the order of bishops

may they be faithful to the ministry

that they receive from you, Lord God,

and be to others a model of right conduct.^[10]

Before this consecratory prayer all the presbyters (priests) present also lay their hands in silence on each candidate and then stand on either side of the bishop until the prayer of consecration is completed.

The bishop anoints with chrism the hands of each new priest and then all the priests present, new and old, concelebrate the Eucharist along with the bishop.

The laying of hands of the priesthood is found in 1 Timothy 4:14:

"Do not neglect the gift you have, which was conferred on you through the prophetic word with the imposition of hands of the presbyterate."

Note that the word for presbyter or elder is from the same Greek word as priest. Imposition of hands or filling of hands, or semicha, in Hebrew was necessary for the installation of Joshua, rabbis, and Levite priests.

Main article: Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)

It is known that the First Ecumenical Council which took place at Nicaea included in its legislation a discipline of the priesthood known as clerical continence. This was the requirement of all priests and bishops to refrain from sexual contact with their wives or with any other woman. For a married man to become a priest, his wife had to agree to abstain from all sexual relations. This discipline was reinforced in the legislation of various councils particularly the Council of Elvira, the date of which cannot be determined with exactness, but is believed to be in the first quarter of the fourth century, in Spain. It is evident that while priests of the East and West were required to refrain from all sexual contact by virtue of their presiding at sacrifices, this was an exceedingly difficult discipline to maintain. As the priests of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem were required to abstain from sexual contact (in order to achieve ritual purity) for a lengthy period prior to the periodic performance of the sacrifices of the temple, so the priests of the Early Church were required by ecclesiastical law to abstain from sexual contact. However, the Christian priests presided at the sacrifice of the Eucharist on a regular basis including every Sunday and the annual feasts of the various martyrs. Thus, Christian priests were not afforded by the Christian calendar periods in which they could be sexually active with their wives. Sexual continence was required of all Christian priests by ecclesiastical law until the great schism.

Within a century of the schism of 1054 A.D., the Churches of the East and West came up with differing disciplines as alternatives to the very difficult practice of being married while abstaining from sexual contact. In the East, provision was made for candidates for the priesthood to be married with permission to have a regular sexual life with their wives. Still, a priest once ordained could not marry. Additionally, the Christian East did require that to become a bishop a priest must separate from his wife (wives are permitted to object), they becoming bishops and their wives typically becoming nuns.

In the West the law of celibacy was required by the 11th century. This law required that a man must not be married to become a candidate for ordination. This law remains in effect in the West until the present. While it has often been said that mandatory priestly celibacy was merely a reaction to priests passing on their pastoral responsibilities to their sons, it is actually rooted in the discipline of clerical continence, a discipline difficult for men already married to maintain.

The Catholic Encyclopedia says that there are two sides to the priesthood, offering the sacrifice of the Mass and forgiving sins.^[11]

Among the duties of a Catholic priest is the celebration of the Eucharist as a presider in persona Christi or as a concelebrant if required. The daily recitation of the principle and minor offices of the Liturgy of the Hours.^[12] Catholic priests are the only ministers of the Sacrament of Penance and Anointing of the Sick. They are the only ones who can celebrate the Eucharist in the Catholic Church (not to be confused with distribution by deacons or by extraordinary ministers). They and deacons are ordinary ministers of Baptism and witnesses to marriage.

The Catholic Church encompasses the Western Church as well as twenty-two Eastern Churches (sui iuris). Thus, the disciplines and ordering of the priesthood does vary to some extent among the various particular Churches which make up the universal Church. The principle differences lie in the liturgical disciplines between East and West.

1. ^ Catechism 1547
2. ^ Lumen Gentium 10
3. ^ Woesteman, Wm. The Sacrament of Orders and the Clerical State St Paul's University Press: Ottawa, 2006, pg 8, see also De Ordinatione
4. ^ can. 588, CIC 1983
5. ^ can. 266, CIC 1983
6. ^ can. 242.1 CIC 1983
7. ^ Presbyterorum ordinis 4
8. ^ can. 235.1, CIC 1983
9. ^ canon 1012 of the Code of Canon Law
10. ^ Rite of Ordination of a Priest
11. ^ "Priesthood". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. 
12. ^ Congregation for Divine Worship, Institutio generalis de Liturgia horarum Feb. 2, 1971

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