55. The Structure of the Church on Earth
20. The Church as Congregation of the Faithful
Christ’s faithful are those who, since they are incorporated into Christ through Baptism, are constituted the people of God. For this reason they participate in their own way in the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ. They are called, each according to his or her particular condition, to exercise the mission which God entrusted to the Church to fulfill in the world.1
In the Church, there is both a radical equality of dignity and a diversity of function among the faithful: a unity of mission and a diversity of ministries. These differences in the faithful, established by the Lord, accomplish the unity and mission of his body. The Church of God has the following foundation:
· Christ is her head.
· Each member of the faithful enjoys the dignity and freedom of children of God.
· The commandment of love binds all.
· All members share the common purpose of spreading the Kingdom of God.
This fourfold foundation derives from the common baptismal incorporation into the Church. Hence, all the faithful of the Church share in the same mission.
The Church is “the congregation of the faithful,” who share the same faith—enlivened with charity—and welcome the gifts of God: the sacraments, the hierarchy, and other gifts. This welcome implies a vital commitment—a personal surrender—to God.
21. The Particular Churches and the Universal Church
The Church is the “congregation of the faithful,” but she is also a “body of churches”—of particular churches. Each particular church is a community of Christian faithful in communion of faith and sacrament with its bishop ordained in the apostolic succession.2 Thus, a particular church is a portion of the universal Church gathered around the Eucharist, and is presided over by the bishop, who is united to the pope. The chief example of a particular church is a diocese.
The universal Church—the chosen people of God—manifests herself in each corner of the world in and through a particular church; the latter is an image of the universal Church. Yet, the universal Church is the reason for the being of the particular churches, not vice versa.
The universal Church is not the sum or a federation of particular churches3; she is prior to every particular church.
Each one of the Church’s faithful in any part of the world, particularly in the Eucharistic celebration, is in his Church, the Church of Christ, regardless of whether he belongs to that particular community or not. Yet, the Church’s universality does not nullify legitimate variety among the particular churches.
Guiding her in the way of truth, the Holy Spirit bestows his charismatic gifts on the Church, thus, constantly leading her to perfect union with God.4
The mission that Christ entrusted to the Church is universal: to unite human beings with God and among themselves. The particular churches participate in that mission. Thus, they share in the gifts of the universal Church—the spouse of Christ—insofar as they are united to her. Communion with the universal Church, which is represented by Peter’s successor, is not an external complement of the particular church, but one of its internal constituents. The particular churches are fully “catholic” through the communion with the Church of Rome, “which presides in the charity.”5
22. Unity and Variety among the Faithful
The Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation on one hand, and Holy Orders on the other, reveal the fundamental structure of the Church: All the members of the people of God are at the same time radically and fundamentally equal and functionally diverse.6
All baptized persons (the faithful) are equally called to the fullness of sanctity; they all enjoy equal dignity in the Church as God’s children born of Christ. All of them are equal in dignity and duties. All are equally called to seek sanctity and apostolate—this call is their unity or principle of equality.
Because of this radical unity of God’s people, all the faithful share in the mission that Christ passed on to his Church. They all share in Christ’s priesthood: the common (or royal) priesthood of all the faithful.7
Christ the Lord, high priest taken from among men, made the new people “a kingdom of priests to God, his Father.” The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to a spiritual house and a holy priesthood.… Therefore all the disciples of Christ, persevering in prayer and praising God, should present themselves as a sacrifice, living, holy and pleasing to God. They should everywhere bear witness to Christ and give an answer to everyone who asks a reason for the hope of an eternal life which is theirs.8
Furthermore, “to shepherd the People of God and to increase its members without cease, Christ the Lord set up in his Church a variety of offices, which aim at the good of the whole body.”9 In the Church, there is a diversity of ministries sharing in the same mission.
22a) The Hierarchy
It is Christ’s will for the Church to have a hierarchy—to teach, rule, and sanctify. Christ endowed the hierarchy with the power and mission to teach doctrine, guard the deposit of the faith, govern the life of the Church, and administer the sacraments. This embodies the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood of those who have received the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
The ministerial priest, by the sacred power that he has, forms and rules the priestly people; in the person of Christ he effects the eucharistic sacrifice and offers it to God in the name of all the people. The faithful indeed, by virtue of their royal priesthood, participate in the offering of the Eucharist. They exercise that priesthood, too, by the reception of the sacraments, prayer and thanksgiving, the witness of a holy life, self denial, and active charity.10
Thus, the principle of variety takes shape in the different ways in which Christ’s priesthood is shared—namely, the common priesthood of the baptized and the ministerial priesthood of those in Holy Orders. The common priesthood of the baptized is accomplished in the growth of baptismal grace. The ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood to develop the baptismal grace of all Christians; it is one of the means by which Christ builds and guides his Church.
The difference between the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial (or hierarchical) priesthood is an essential difference, not just one of degree.11
22b) The Laity
“Everything that has been said of the People of God applies equally to the laity, the religious, and the clergy. Because of their situation and mission, however, certain things pertain specifically to the laity.”12 The Second Vatican Council described the laity and their mission as follows:
The laity are … the faithful who by Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they are part of the People of God; and in their own way share the priestly, prophetic, and kingly office of Christ; and in their personal manner carry on the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world.…
By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will. They live in the world, that is, they are engaged in each and every work and business of the earth and in the ordinary circumstances of social and family life, which, as it were, constitute their very existence.13
“Lay people, moved by the Holy Spirit, are becoming ever more conscious of the fact that they are the Church, that they have a specific and sublime mission to which they feel committed because they have been called to it by God himself. And they know that this mission derives from the very fact of their being Christians.”14 Thus, as does every member of the faithful, lay people have the duty to spread the divine message of salvation. They may do so individually or by forming associations.
The laity, therefore, are those members of the Church who belong fundamentally to the civitas terrena and take part in its development. Hence, for the layman to be a good Christian it is essential that he or she be a good member of the civitas terrena; the catholic doctor has a serious duty to be a good doctor, the farmer must be a good farmer, etc. Further, since a man is good because of his virtues, the layman must attain and practice the human, natural, virtues—which are the basis of the supernatural virtues—and know as much as possible, within his capabilities, about his secular function, that is to say his occupation.15
22c) The Religious
The religious are Christians consecrated to God by vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The religious make a total consecration to God and abandon the world for love of him. They consecrate their lives to the good of the Church and souls, helping others with their prayer, mortification, and apostolate. The religious life is a wonderful witness before the whole people of God to the supremacy of heavenly values.
The Church exhorts all religious to be faithful to the spirit and rules established by their founders.16
23. Hierarchical Constitution of the Church
23a) The Hierarchical Order
Jesus Christ passed on to the apostles the power to save all, which he himself had received. Shortly before ascending into heaven, he declared, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:18–20).
The apostles understood this command well. From the very beginning, they acted as a distinct group (cf. 1 Cor 9:5ff; Rom 16:7; Eph 2:20; 3:5; 4:11), exercising the powers that they received as ministers of the Lord (cf. Acts 1:15–26; 2:42; 6:1–7; 8:14–17; 1 Cor 14:26ff). Jesus willed that his Church should not end with the death of the apostles; he willed that their successors—the bishops—should continue being the shepherds in his Church until the end of the world.
The Second Vatican Council has taught:
In order to shepherd the People of God and to increase its number without cease, Christ the Lord set up in his Church a variety of offices which aim at the good of the whole body.…
This sacred synod, following in the steps of the First Vatican Council, teaches and declares that Jesus Christ, the eternal pastor, set up the holy Church by sending apostles and entrusting them with their mission as he himself had been sent by the Father. He willed that their successors, the bishops namely, should be the shepherds in his Church until the end of the world. In order that the episcopate itself, however, might be one and undivided, he put Peter at the head of the other apostles, and in him he set up a lasting and visible source and foundation of the unity both of faith and communion.17
By the will of Christ, the Church is a living and hierarchical society, enlivened by the Holy Spirit and governed by the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter. The successor of Peter is the Vicar of Christ and the visible head of the whole Church. He is also the head of the bishops and the visible source and foundation of the unity of faith and communion within the Church.
The apostles and their successors speak and act not in their own name, but by virtue of Christ’s authority, not as members of the community, but speaking to it in the name of Christ. Thus, the ministers of Christ’s grace receive the mission and sacred power of acting in persona Christi Capitis. They produce and give “God’s gift,” which the Tradition of the Church calls sacrament. No one can confer the grace of ministry to himself—it must be offered and given. It is conferred by the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
In the following sections, we will examine the following features of the ecclesial ministry:
· It comes from and acts in the person of Christ, the head of the Church.
· It is conferred by the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
· It is a real service.
· It has a collegial character: The bishops act within the college of bishops, the priests within the presbytery of the diocese.
· It has a personal character. This is proper to the sacramental nature of the office.18
23b) Errors on the Hierarchical Nature of the Church.
· Luther and the Protestants denied the existence of a hierarchy in the Church. They admit only the common priesthood of the faithful.
· The conciliarists ascribed the supreme power to the General Council, and declared the primacy of the pope to be merely honorary.
· The Gallicans taught that the totality of the faithful directly received the powers from Christ, and they later transferred the powers to the pastors.
· The modernists claimed that the Church hierarchy was the result of a general historical development.
· More recently, some teach that the Church founded by Christ was “merely kept together by the bond of charity” without hierarchy (the “charismatic Church”). Only gradually did she develop into a legally organized society (the “juridical Church”).
23c) The Roman Pontiff, Successor of St. Peter
Among the apostles, Peter received a very special mission and authority (it is also a service, the Petrine ministry) that was directly passed on to his successors.19 This is a truth solemnly defined by the Church in a number of councils. The Council of Florence declared:
We define that the holy Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff have the primacy over the whole world; that the same Roman Pontiff is the successor of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and the true vicar of Christ, the head of the whole Church, the father and teacher of all Christians; that to him, in the person of St. Peter, was given by our Lord Jesus Christ the full power of feeding, ruling, and governing the whole Church; as is also contained in the proceedings of the ecumenical councils and in the sacred canons.20
Jesus Christ promised a specific authority over the Church to St. Peter. Christ, the “living stone” (1 Pt 2:4), assured his Church (built upon Peter) victory over the powers of death. Peter, Jesus said, will be the unbreakable cornerstone of the Church. He will have the mission of guarding the faith and confirming his brothers in the same faith:
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Mt 16:18–19)
These three images—the rock, the keys, and binding and loosing—convey the idea of supreme authority.
Later, Jesus Christ himself conferred the primacy on Peter. The Lord made a threefold reference to the mission of feeding God’s people:
Jesus said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep” (Jn 21:17).
After the Ascension, Peter immediately exercised the primacy, acting as head of the apostles. Peter passed on this power received from Jesus Christ to his successors, the bishops of Rome.
The unanimous Tradition of the Church holds that this succession is found only in “the bishops of the holy Roman See, which he established and consecrated with his blood. Therefore, whoever succeeds Peter in this Chair holds Peter’s primacy over the whole Church according to the plan of Christ himself.”21 This has always been the Catholic faith, manifested in the Church’s history.
Thus, the pope is the visible head of the Church and her universal government; he is the Vicar of Christ on earth. He is also the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity of the Church, both among the bishops and among the whole company of the faithful.22
The Pope’s primacy and infallibility, so clearly stated in Holy Scripture, has been ardently defended by the Church for twenty centuries. It was solemnly defined as dogma by the First Vatican Council and was restated by the Second Vatican Council: “This teaching concerning the institution, the permanence, the nature and import of the sacred primacy of the Roman Pontiff and his infallible teaching office, the sacred synod proposes anew to be firmly believed by all the faithful.”23 The edifice of the entire Church rests on this teaching, against which the powers of the devil or death cannot prevail.
By virtue of his primacy, the Roman pontiff has several proper and exclusive prerogatives:
· He feeds, rules, and governs the entire universal Church; his authority is also direct over each of the faithful. He is the visible source of unity.
· He is the visible head of the Church of Rome as a particular church.
· He is the head of the college of bishops. He calls, transfers, and dissolves councils, appoints bishops, and possesses jurisdiction over them all.
· He has absolute authority over all spiritual matters and has the Church’s spiritual treasury at his disposal for granting all types of indulgences.
· He is the Church’s supreme lawmaker, establishing her laws, promulgating decrees, and enacting canons.
· He is not subject to civil powers.
23d) The Bishops, Successors of the Apostles
The mission that Jesus Christ entrusted to the apostles, with Peter as their head, is not a temporal one. It was meant to last until the end of time. That is why the apostles chose disciples to take their place when they would be gone. These successors of the apostles are the bishops who preside over the flock as pastors in God’s name. They form the episcopate, or college of bishops.24 The college of bishops succeeds the apostolic college. “The sacred synod consequently teaches that the bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the Apostles as pastors of the Church, in such wise that whoever listens to them listens to Christ and whoever despises them despises Christ and him who sent Christ.”25
The pope is the head of the college of bishops as well as of the universal Church. He has supreme and full power over the entire Church, as described above. The college of bishops, together with the pope—never apart from him—also has supreme and full authority over the universal Church.26 Thus, there is a double subject of the supreme authority in the Church:
i) The pope
ii) The college of bishops, with its head the pope, never apart from him
To exercise their collegial power, the bishops need to be summoned either by the pope when they are scattered in different parts of the world, or convoked in a solemn way in an ecumenical council.27
One becomes a member of the college of bishops by episcopal consecration—the fullness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders—and by the communion with the head and members of the college of bishops. The sacrament brings with it a consecration (a special presence of the Holy Spirit) and a mission (the duties of sanctifying, teaching, and ruling as a bishop).
Each bishop also receives a canonical mission from the pope to exercise these duties over a specific portion of the Church, usually a particular church, or diocese.
The bishop is the head of the particular church assigned to him; he is the source and visible foundation of its unity. This power is personal, proper, ordinary, and immediate, although its exercise is ultimately controlled by the supreme authority of the Church.28
The main duties of bishops are:
· to participate in a collegial manner in the government of the universal Church, united to the pope and the other bishops,
· to have a certain solicitude for the universal Church,29
· to govern the particular Church entrusted to each individual,
· to preach the Gospel and teach all that refers to faith and morals in their dioceses,
· to preside over the Eucharist and administer the other sacraments, especially Confirmation and Holy Orders, and
· to give a good Christian example in everything, imitating Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd, who came not to be served but to serve.
Neighboring particular churches with similar culture form “ecclesiastical provinces,” “patriarchates,” or “regions.” The bishops of these territories may gather together in provincial synods or councils. “In like fashion the conferences of bishops may contribute in many and fruitful ways to the concrete realization of the collegiate spirit.”30
23e) Priests and Deacons
The teaching of the Second Vatican Council on priesthood and diaconate can be summarized as follows:
The presbyters or priests are the bishop’s closest collaborators, and with him, they form one priestly body. They sanctify and govern the portion of the Lord’s flock entrusted to them under the bishop’s authority. While not attaining the highest level of priesthood, they are, by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, true priests in the image of Jesus Christ, the eternal high priest. As such, they must preach the Gospel, nourish the faithful, celebrate the divine worship—especially the holy sacrifice of the Mass, reconcile people with God through the Sacrament of Penance, and lead all to God the Father through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.31
The deacons form the lowest level of the hierarchy. They help the priests in the administration of the sacraments and are assigned to tasks of charity and welfare.32
The Church is a living society in which all the members have, without exception, an active role to play.
Footnotes:
1. CIC, 204; cf. CCC, 871–873.
2. Cf. CCC, 832–835.
3. Cf. LG, 23.
4. Cf. Ibid., 4.
5. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Rom., 1.1.
6. Cf. Msgr. Alvaro del Portillo, Faithful and Laity in the Church, pp. 25–26; cf. CCC, 871–873.
7. Cf. CCC, 784, 1268, 1546.
8. LG, 10.
9. Ibid., 18.
10. Ibid., 10.
11. Cf. Ibid.; CCC, 1545, 1547ff.
12. LG, 30.
13. Ibid., 31; cf. LG, 30–38.
14. Conversations with Msgr Escrivá de Balaguer, 59.
15. Msgr. Alvaro del Portillo, Faithful and Laity in the Church, p. 105; cf. CCC, 897–900.
16. Cf. CCC, 914–933.
17. LG, 18.
18. Cf. CCC, 874–879.
19. Cf. CCC, 551–553, 880–883.
20. DS 1307.
21. DS 3056–57.
22. Cf. LG, 23.
23. Ibid., 18.
24. Cf. CCC, 883–887.
25. LG, 20.
26. Cf. Ibid., 22; CCC, 883.
27. Cf. LG, 22; CCC, 884.
28. Cf. LG, 23, 27.
29. Cf. CD, 3.
30. LG, 23; CCC, 887.
31. Cf. LG, 18.
32. Ibid., 29.
Christ’s faithful are those who, since they are incorporated into Christ through Baptism, are constituted the people of God. For this reason they participate in their own way in the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ. They are called, each according to his or her particular condition, to exercise the mission which God entrusted to the Church to fulfill in the world.1
In the Church, there is both a radical equality of dignity and a diversity of function among the faithful: a unity of mission and a diversity of ministries. These differences in the faithful, established by the Lord, accomplish the unity and mission of his body. The Church of God has the following foundation:
· Christ is her head.
· Each member of the faithful enjoys the dignity and freedom of children of God.
· The commandment of love binds all.
· All members share the common purpose of spreading the Kingdom of God.
This fourfold foundation derives from the common baptismal incorporation into the Church. Hence, all the faithful of the Church share in the same mission.
The Church is “the congregation of the faithful,” who share the same faith—enlivened with charity—and welcome the gifts of God: the sacraments, the hierarchy, and other gifts. This welcome implies a vital commitment—a personal surrender—to God.
21. The Particular Churches and the Universal Church
The Church is the “congregation of the faithful,” but she is also a “body of churches”—of particular churches. Each particular church is a community of Christian faithful in communion of faith and sacrament with its bishop ordained in the apostolic succession.2 Thus, a particular church is a portion of the universal Church gathered around the Eucharist, and is presided over by the bishop, who is united to the pope. The chief example of a particular church is a diocese.
The universal Church—the chosen people of God—manifests herself in each corner of the world in and through a particular church; the latter is an image of the universal Church. Yet, the universal Church is the reason for the being of the particular churches, not vice versa.
The universal Church is not the sum or a federation of particular churches3; she is prior to every particular church.
Each one of the Church’s faithful in any part of the world, particularly in the Eucharistic celebration, is in his Church, the Church of Christ, regardless of whether he belongs to that particular community or not. Yet, the Church’s universality does not nullify legitimate variety among the particular churches.
Guiding her in the way of truth, the Holy Spirit bestows his charismatic gifts on the Church, thus, constantly leading her to perfect union with God.4
The mission that Christ entrusted to the Church is universal: to unite human beings with God and among themselves. The particular churches participate in that mission. Thus, they share in the gifts of the universal Church—the spouse of Christ—insofar as they are united to her. Communion with the universal Church, which is represented by Peter’s successor, is not an external complement of the particular church, but one of its internal constituents. The particular churches are fully “catholic” through the communion with the Church of Rome, “which presides in the charity.”5
22. Unity and Variety among the Faithful
The Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation on one hand, and Holy Orders on the other, reveal the fundamental structure of the Church: All the members of the people of God are at the same time radically and fundamentally equal and functionally diverse.6
All baptized persons (the faithful) are equally called to the fullness of sanctity; they all enjoy equal dignity in the Church as God’s children born of Christ. All of them are equal in dignity and duties. All are equally called to seek sanctity and apostolate—this call is their unity or principle of equality.
Because of this radical unity of God’s people, all the faithful share in the mission that Christ passed on to his Church. They all share in Christ’s priesthood: the common (or royal) priesthood of all the faithful.7
Christ the Lord, high priest taken from among men, made the new people “a kingdom of priests to God, his Father.” The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to a spiritual house and a holy priesthood.… Therefore all the disciples of Christ, persevering in prayer and praising God, should present themselves as a sacrifice, living, holy and pleasing to God. They should everywhere bear witness to Christ and give an answer to everyone who asks a reason for the hope of an eternal life which is theirs.8
Furthermore, “to shepherd the People of God and to increase its members without cease, Christ the Lord set up in his Church a variety of offices, which aim at the good of the whole body.”9 In the Church, there is a diversity of ministries sharing in the same mission.
22a) The Hierarchy
It is Christ’s will for the Church to have a hierarchy—to teach, rule, and sanctify. Christ endowed the hierarchy with the power and mission to teach doctrine, guard the deposit of the faith, govern the life of the Church, and administer the sacraments. This embodies the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood of those who have received the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
The ministerial priest, by the sacred power that he has, forms and rules the priestly people; in the person of Christ he effects the eucharistic sacrifice and offers it to God in the name of all the people. The faithful indeed, by virtue of their royal priesthood, participate in the offering of the Eucharist. They exercise that priesthood, too, by the reception of the sacraments, prayer and thanksgiving, the witness of a holy life, self denial, and active charity.10
Thus, the principle of variety takes shape in the different ways in which Christ’s priesthood is shared—namely, the common priesthood of the baptized and the ministerial priesthood of those in Holy Orders. The common priesthood of the baptized is accomplished in the growth of baptismal grace. The ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood to develop the baptismal grace of all Christians; it is one of the means by which Christ builds and guides his Church.
The difference between the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial (or hierarchical) priesthood is an essential difference, not just one of degree.11
22b) The Laity
“Everything that has been said of the People of God applies equally to the laity, the religious, and the clergy. Because of their situation and mission, however, certain things pertain specifically to the laity.”12 The Second Vatican Council described the laity and their mission as follows:
The laity are … the faithful who by Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they are part of the People of God; and in their own way share the priestly, prophetic, and kingly office of Christ; and in their personal manner carry on the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world.…
By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will. They live in the world, that is, they are engaged in each and every work and business of the earth and in the ordinary circumstances of social and family life, which, as it were, constitute their very existence.13
“Lay people, moved by the Holy Spirit, are becoming ever more conscious of the fact that they are the Church, that they have a specific and sublime mission to which they feel committed because they have been called to it by God himself. And they know that this mission derives from the very fact of their being Christians.”14 Thus, as does every member of the faithful, lay people have the duty to spread the divine message of salvation. They may do so individually or by forming associations.
The laity, therefore, are those members of the Church who belong fundamentally to the civitas terrena and take part in its development. Hence, for the layman to be a good Christian it is essential that he or she be a good member of the civitas terrena; the catholic doctor has a serious duty to be a good doctor, the farmer must be a good farmer, etc. Further, since a man is good because of his virtues, the layman must attain and practice the human, natural, virtues—which are the basis of the supernatural virtues—and know as much as possible, within his capabilities, about his secular function, that is to say his occupation.15
22c) The Religious
The religious are Christians consecrated to God by vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The religious make a total consecration to God and abandon the world for love of him. They consecrate their lives to the good of the Church and souls, helping others with their prayer, mortification, and apostolate. The religious life is a wonderful witness before the whole people of God to the supremacy of heavenly values.
The Church exhorts all religious to be faithful to the spirit and rules established by their founders.16
23. Hierarchical Constitution of the Church
23a) The Hierarchical Order
Jesus Christ passed on to the apostles the power to save all, which he himself had received. Shortly before ascending into heaven, he declared, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:18–20).
The apostles understood this command well. From the very beginning, they acted as a distinct group (cf. 1 Cor 9:5ff; Rom 16:7; Eph 2:20; 3:5; 4:11), exercising the powers that they received as ministers of the Lord (cf. Acts 1:15–26; 2:42; 6:1–7; 8:14–17; 1 Cor 14:26ff). Jesus willed that his Church should not end with the death of the apostles; he willed that their successors—the bishops—should continue being the shepherds in his Church until the end of the world.
The Second Vatican Council has taught:
In order to shepherd the People of God and to increase its number without cease, Christ the Lord set up in his Church a variety of offices which aim at the good of the whole body.…
This sacred synod, following in the steps of the First Vatican Council, teaches and declares that Jesus Christ, the eternal pastor, set up the holy Church by sending apostles and entrusting them with their mission as he himself had been sent by the Father. He willed that their successors, the bishops namely, should be the shepherds in his Church until the end of the world. In order that the episcopate itself, however, might be one and undivided, he put Peter at the head of the other apostles, and in him he set up a lasting and visible source and foundation of the unity both of faith and communion.17
By the will of Christ, the Church is a living and hierarchical society, enlivened by the Holy Spirit and governed by the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter. The successor of Peter is the Vicar of Christ and the visible head of the whole Church. He is also the head of the bishops and the visible source and foundation of the unity of faith and communion within the Church.
The apostles and their successors speak and act not in their own name, but by virtue of Christ’s authority, not as members of the community, but speaking to it in the name of Christ. Thus, the ministers of Christ’s grace receive the mission and sacred power of acting in persona Christi Capitis. They produce and give “God’s gift,” which the Tradition of the Church calls sacrament. No one can confer the grace of ministry to himself—it must be offered and given. It is conferred by the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
In the following sections, we will examine the following features of the ecclesial ministry:
· It comes from and acts in the person of Christ, the head of the Church.
· It is conferred by the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
· It is a real service.
· It has a collegial character: The bishops act within the college of bishops, the priests within the presbytery of the diocese.
· It has a personal character. This is proper to the sacramental nature of the office.18
23b) Errors on the Hierarchical Nature of the Church.
· Luther and the Protestants denied the existence of a hierarchy in the Church. They admit only the common priesthood of the faithful.
· The conciliarists ascribed the supreme power to the General Council, and declared the primacy of the pope to be merely honorary.
· The Gallicans taught that the totality of the faithful directly received the powers from Christ, and they later transferred the powers to the pastors.
· The modernists claimed that the Church hierarchy was the result of a general historical development.
· More recently, some teach that the Church founded by Christ was “merely kept together by the bond of charity” without hierarchy (the “charismatic Church”). Only gradually did she develop into a legally organized society (the “juridical Church”).
23c) The Roman Pontiff, Successor of St. Peter
Among the apostles, Peter received a very special mission and authority (it is also a service, the Petrine ministry) that was directly passed on to his successors.19 This is a truth solemnly defined by the Church in a number of councils. The Council of Florence declared:
We define that the holy Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff have the primacy over the whole world; that the same Roman Pontiff is the successor of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and the true vicar of Christ, the head of the whole Church, the father and teacher of all Christians; that to him, in the person of St. Peter, was given by our Lord Jesus Christ the full power of feeding, ruling, and governing the whole Church; as is also contained in the proceedings of the ecumenical councils and in the sacred canons.20
Jesus Christ promised a specific authority over the Church to St. Peter. Christ, the “living stone” (1 Pt 2:4), assured his Church (built upon Peter) victory over the powers of death. Peter, Jesus said, will be the unbreakable cornerstone of the Church. He will have the mission of guarding the faith and confirming his brothers in the same faith:
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Mt 16:18–19)
These three images—the rock, the keys, and binding and loosing—convey the idea of supreme authority.
Later, Jesus Christ himself conferred the primacy on Peter. The Lord made a threefold reference to the mission of feeding God’s people:
Jesus said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep” (Jn 21:17).
After the Ascension, Peter immediately exercised the primacy, acting as head of the apostles. Peter passed on this power received from Jesus Christ to his successors, the bishops of Rome.
The unanimous Tradition of the Church holds that this succession is found only in “the bishops of the holy Roman See, which he established and consecrated with his blood. Therefore, whoever succeeds Peter in this Chair holds Peter’s primacy over the whole Church according to the plan of Christ himself.”21 This has always been the Catholic faith, manifested in the Church’s history.
Thus, the pope is the visible head of the Church and her universal government; he is the Vicar of Christ on earth. He is also the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity of the Church, both among the bishops and among the whole company of the faithful.22
The Pope’s primacy and infallibility, so clearly stated in Holy Scripture, has been ardently defended by the Church for twenty centuries. It was solemnly defined as dogma by the First Vatican Council and was restated by the Second Vatican Council: “This teaching concerning the institution, the permanence, the nature and import of the sacred primacy of the Roman Pontiff and his infallible teaching office, the sacred synod proposes anew to be firmly believed by all the faithful.”23 The edifice of the entire Church rests on this teaching, against which the powers of the devil or death cannot prevail.
By virtue of his primacy, the Roman pontiff has several proper and exclusive prerogatives:
· He feeds, rules, and governs the entire universal Church; his authority is also direct over each of the faithful. He is the visible source of unity.
· He is the visible head of the Church of Rome as a particular church.
· He is the head of the college of bishops. He calls, transfers, and dissolves councils, appoints bishops, and possesses jurisdiction over them all.
· He has absolute authority over all spiritual matters and has the Church’s spiritual treasury at his disposal for granting all types of indulgences.
· He is the Church’s supreme lawmaker, establishing her laws, promulgating decrees, and enacting canons.
· He is not subject to civil powers.
23d) The Bishops, Successors of the Apostles
The mission that Jesus Christ entrusted to the apostles, with Peter as their head, is not a temporal one. It was meant to last until the end of time. That is why the apostles chose disciples to take their place when they would be gone. These successors of the apostles are the bishops who preside over the flock as pastors in God’s name. They form the episcopate, or college of bishops.24 The college of bishops succeeds the apostolic college. “The sacred synod consequently teaches that the bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the Apostles as pastors of the Church, in such wise that whoever listens to them listens to Christ and whoever despises them despises Christ and him who sent Christ.”25
The pope is the head of the college of bishops as well as of the universal Church. He has supreme and full power over the entire Church, as described above. The college of bishops, together with the pope—never apart from him—also has supreme and full authority over the universal Church.26 Thus, there is a double subject of the supreme authority in the Church:
i) The pope
ii) The college of bishops, with its head the pope, never apart from him
To exercise their collegial power, the bishops need to be summoned either by the pope when they are scattered in different parts of the world, or convoked in a solemn way in an ecumenical council.27
One becomes a member of the college of bishops by episcopal consecration—the fullness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders—and by the communion with the head and members of the college of bishops. The sacrament brings with it a consecration (a special presence of the Holy Spirit) and a mission (the duties of sanctifying, teaching, and ruling as a bishop).
Each bishop also receives a canonical mission from the pope to exercise these duties over a specific portion of the Church, usually a particular church, or diocese.
The bishop is the head of the particular church assigned to him; he is the source and visible foundation of its unity. This power is personal, proper, ordinary, and immediate, although its exercise is ultimately controlled by the supreme authority of the Church.28
The main duties of bishops are:
· to participate in a collegial manner in the government of the universal Church, united to the pope and the other bishops,
· to have a certain solicitude for the universal Church,29
· to govern the particular Church entrusted to each individual,
· to preach the Gospel and teach all that refers to faith and morals in their dioceses,
· to preside over the Eucharist and administer the other sacraments, especially Confirmation and Holy Orders, and
· to give a good Christian example in everything, imitating Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd, who came not to be served but to serve.
Neighboring particular churches with similar culture form “ecclesiastical provinces,” “patriarchates,” or “regions.” The bishops of these territories may gather together in provincial synods or councils. “In like fashion the conferences of bishops may contribute in many and fruitful ways to the concrete realization of the collegiate spirit.”30
23e) Priests and Deacons
The teaching of the Second Vatican Council on priesthood and diaconate can be summarized as follows:
The presbyters or priests are the bishop’s closest collaborators, and with him, they form one priestly body. They sanctify and govern the portion of the Lord’s flock entrusted to them under the bishop’s authority. While not attaining the highest level of priesthood, they are, by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, true priests in the image of Jesus Christ, the eternal high priest. As such, they must preach the Gospel, nourish the faithful, celebrate the divine worship—especially the holy sacrifice of the Mass, reconcile people with God through the Sacrament of Penance, and lead all to God the Father through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.31
The deacons form the lowest level of the hierarchy. They help the priests in the administration of the sacraments and are assigned to tasks of charity and welfare.32
The Church is a living society in which all the members have, without exception, an active role to play.
Footnotes:
1. CIC, 204; cf. CCC, 871–873.
2. Cf. CCC, 832–835.
3. Cf. LG, 23.
4. Cf. Ibid., 4.
5. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Rom., 1.1.
6. Cf. Msgr. Alvaro del Portillo, Faithful and Laity in the Church, pp. 25–26; cf. CCC, 871–873.
7. Cf. CCC, 784, 1268, 1546.
8. LG, 10.
9. Ibid., 18.
10. Ibid., 10.
11. Cf. Ibid.; CCC, 1545, 1547ff.
12. LG, 30.
13. Ibid., 31; cf. LG, 30–38.
14. Conversations with Msgr Escrivá de Balaguer, 59.
15. Msgr. Alvaro del Portillo, Faithful and Laity in the Church, p. 105; cf. CCC, 897–900.
16. Cf. CCC, 914–933.
17. LG, 18.
18. Cf. CCC, 874–879.
19. Cf. CCC, 551–553, 880–883.
20. DS 1307.
21. DS 3056–57.
22. Cf. LG, 23.
23. Ibid., 18.
24. Cf. CCC, 883–887.
25. LG, 20.
26. Cf. Ibid., 22; CCC, 883.
27. Cf. LG, 22; CCC, 884.
28. Cf. LG, 23, 27.
29. Cf. CD, 3.
30. LG, 23; CCC, 887.
31. Cf. LG, 18.
32. Ibid., 29.