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Church Hierarchy

Catholic (universal)

  • Catholic → universal, “according to the totality” or “in keeping with the whole” → fullness of salvation. (CCC 830, CCC 831)
  • Calls all into one people → universal call to holiness.
  • Regarding membership
    • Roman Catholics: baptized, profess the Creed, in union with Rome. (persevere in charity to remain a member in heart, not just in body)
    • Christians who are baptized, though in imperfect communion (Orthodox)
    • Separated Brethren, baptized but do not profess the Catholic Faith, nor communion with Rome. (Protestants)
    • Those who have not yet received the Gospel (Jews primarily)
    • Those who acknowledge the Creator (Muslims)
    • Those who search for the God who is unknown, yet near (Buddhism/Hinduism)
  • The Church is necessary for Salvation → No salvation without Christ, and we don’t know Christ without the Church.

Apostolic

  • She was and remains built on "the foundation of the Apostles," the witnesses chosen and sent on mission by Christ himself; with the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the Church keeps and hands on the teaching, the "good deposit," the salutary words she has heard from the apostles.
    • Apostolic Succession → Unbroken line of bishops going back to the original 12.
  • Acts 2:42-47, 1 Cor 12:12-26

Hierarchy of the Church

  • CCC 871 "The Christian faithful are those who, inasmuch as they have been incorporated in Christ through Baptism, have been constituted as the people of God; for this reason, since they have become sharers in Christ's priestly, prophetic, and royal office in their own manner, they are called to exercise the mission which God has entrusted to the Church to fulfill in the world, in accord with the condition proper to each one."
    • All baptized Christians participate in Christ’s priestly, prophetic, and royal office.
    • Common priesthood vs. Ministerial priesthood
  • CCC 873 The very differences which the Lord has willed to put between the members of his body serve its unity and mission. For "in the Church there is diversity of ministry but unity of mission. To the apostles and their successors Christ has entrusted the office of teaching, sanctifying and governing in his name and by his power. But the laity are made to share in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly office of Christ; they have therefore, in the Church and in the world, their own assignment in the mission of the whole People of God."
  • The Laity: all the faithful except those in Holy Orders or in a religious state approved by the Church.
    • "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 are the front line of the Church on earth.
    • All lay faithful are entrusted by God with the apostolate by virtue of their baptism and confirmation to make known the divine message of salvation.
  • Lay people in Christ’s priestly office
    • Sanctify your daily life, your work, your efforts. Offer these through the offering of the Eucharist. (LG 34)
    • The sacrifice of the mass is the avenue for us to make our offerings, through Christ. (through him, with him, and in him)
  • Participation in Christ’s prophetic office
    • Being a witness to the faith by your life → Evangelizing by word and testimony of life.
      • Serve as a catechist, volunteer to serve the homeless, join a ministry of the parish, etc.
  • Participation in Christ’s kingly office (LG 36)
    • Dying to self → conquering sin within oneself, governing your passions.
    • Bringing all things under the reign of Christ → establishing the Kingdom of God, especially in secular institutions.
    • Be guided by a Christian Conscience in every temporal affair.
    • Done first and foremost through self-sacrificial love.
  • Ecclesial Ministry
    • CCC 875 No one can give himself the mandate and the mission to proclaim the Gospel. The one sent by the Lord does not speak and act on his own authority, but by virtue of Christ's authority; not as a member of the community, but speaking to it in the name of Christ. No one can bestow grace on himself; it must be given and offered.
    • This fact presupposes ministers of grace, authorized and empowered by Christ. From him, bishops and priests receive the mission and faculty ("the sacred power") to act in persona Christi Capitis.
    • The ministry in which Christ's emissaries do and give by God's grace what they cannot do and give by their own powers, is called a "sacrament" by the Church's tradition.
    • Ministers are meant to be “slaves of Christ.” (imitate Christ who took the form of a slave)
  • College of Bishops: Likewise, it belongs to the sacramental nature of ecclesial ministry that it have a collegial character.
    • Begun when Jesus instituted the twelve as "the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy", together, they were also sent out together, and their fraternal unity would be at the service of the fraternal communion of all the faithful.
    • Each bishop exercises his ministry from within the episcopal college, in communion with the bishop of Rome.
  • Teaching Office (Magisterium): to preach the Gospel to all men, endowed with the authority of Christ. To clarify, defend, explain the faith.
    • Christ confers on the teaching office the gift of infallibility to preserve the magisterium from errors regarding the truth of salvation (faith and morals).
    • It is this Magisterium's task to preserve God's people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error → the prophets in the OT foreshadow this.
    • When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine "for belief as being divinely revealed," and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions "must be adhered to with the obedience of faith."
  • Sanctifying Office: Administering the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.
    • Communicating grace through the authority given by Christ.
  • Governing Office: Bishops, as emissaries of Christ, govern the particular Church assigned to them. Their authority is exercised in communion with the whole Church under the guidance of the Pope.
  • Ecclesial Ministry
    • CCC 875 No one can give himself the mandate and the mission to proclaim the Gospel. The one sent by the Lord does not speak and act on his own authority, but by virtue of Christ's authority; not as a member of the community, but speaking to it in the name of Christ. No one can bestow grace on himself; it must be given and offered.
    • This fact presupposes ministers of grace, authorized and empowered by Christ. From him, bishops and priests receive the mission and faculty ("the sacred power") to act in persona Christi Capitis.
    • The ministry in which Christ's emissaries do and give by God's grace what they cannot do and give by their own powers, is called a "sacrament" by the Church's tradition.
    • Ministers are meant to be “slaves of Christ.” (imitate Christ who took the form of a slave)
  • College of Bishops: Likewise, it belongs to the sacramental nature of ecclesial ministry that it have a collegial character.
    • Begun when Jesus instituted the twelve as "the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy", together, they were also sent out together, and their fraternal unity would be at the service of the fraternal communion of all the faithful.
    • Each bishop exercises his ministry from within the episcopal college, in communion with the bishop of Rome.
  • Sanctifying Office: Administering the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.
    • Communicating grace through the authority given by Christ.
  • Governing Office: Bishops, as emissaries of Christ, govern the particular Church assigned to them. Their authority is exercised in communion with the whole Church under the guidance of the Pope.
  • Teaching Office (Magisterium): to preach the Gospel to all men, endowed with the authority of Christ. To clarify, defend, explain the faith.
    • Christ confers on the teaching office the gift of infallibility to preserve the magisterium from errors regarding the truth of salvation (faith and morals).
    • It is this Magisterium's task to preserve God's people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error → the prophets in the OT foreshadow this.
    • When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine "for belief as being divinely revealed," and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions "must be adhered to with the obedience of faith."
  • CCC 2032 The Church, the "pillar and bulwark of the truth," "has received this solemn command of Christ from the apostles to announce the saving truth." "To the Church belongs the right always and everywhere to announce moral principles, including those pertaining to the social order, and to make judgments on any human affairs to the extent that they are required by the fundamental rights of the human person or the salvation of souls."
  • CCC 2034 The Roman Pontiff and the bishops are "authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach the faith to the people entrusted to them, the faith to be believed and put into practice.
  • CCC 2035 The supreme degree of participation in the authority of Christ is ensured by the charism of infallibility. This infallibility extends as far as does the deposit of divine Revelation; it also extends to all those elements of doctrine, including morals, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, explained, or observed.
  • CCC 2036 The authority of the Magisterium extends also to the specific precepts of the natural law, because their observance, demanded by the Creator, is necessary for salvation. In recalling the prescriptions of the natural law, the Magisterium of the Church exercises an essential part of its prophetic office of proclaiming to men what they truly are and reminding them of what they should be before God.
    • The natural law is essential to follow for salvation.
    • The divine law (revelation) aids and helps us.