The Sacrament Of Holy Orders

By DON FIER

Several months ago when we began our consideration of the seven sacraments, it was noted that they can be subdivided into various categories (see volume 148, n. 32; August 13, 2015). The authors of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) chose to present them according to a threefold classification: sacraments of Christian initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist), sacraments of healing (Penance and Anointing of the Sick), and sacraments of vocation or service (Holy Orders and Matrimony).
Having now covered the first five sacraments, it can be seen they share a common characteristic: Each of the five has as its primary effect the sanctification of the individual person.
The sacraments of Christian initiation “lay the foundations of every Christian life….The faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive in the Eucharist the food of eternal life” (CCC, n. 1212).
The Sacrament of Penance restores life to the soul of a person who has become estranged from God through post-baptismal sin and Anointing of the Sick “unites the sick person more intimately with the Passion of Christ,…gives comfort, peace, courage, and even forgiveness of sin if the sick person is not able to make a confession,…[and] if it is the will of God…brings about the restoration of physical health” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 319).
The Catechism begins its consideration of the remaining two sacraments by introducing them as “sacraments at the service of communion.” All seven sacraments, to be sure, have ecclesial effects that flow from their personal effects; however, in a special way, the Sacraments of Holy Orders and Matrimony “are directed towards the salvation of others; if they contribute as well to personal salvation, it is through service to others that they do so. They confer a particular mission in the Church and serve to build up the People of God” (CCC, n. 1534).
Holy Orders provides for the sanctification of the Church while Matrimony, on the other hand, provides for the sanctification of the world and the continuation of the Church in history by adding new members.
Before launching into a comprehensive consideration of these two sacraments, it would be good to remind ourselves that an overriding principle which guided the deliberations of the Fathers of Vatican Council II was the “universal call to holiness” (see Lumen Gentium [LG], chapter V, nn. 39-42). Each of us is invited by our Creator to enter into a relationship with Him, indeed into union with Him, through living out a particular state of life or vocation.
With great confidence we can trust that if we pray fervently, seek spiritual counsel, and listen attentively to the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit, He will reveal to us God’s plan for our lives.
It would likewise be good to recall that all members of the Church share in “the common priesthood of the faithful.” In other words, by virtue of their incorporation in Christ through Baptism, all members of Christ’s Church “have become sharers in Christ’s priestly, prophetic, and royal office in their own manner” (CCC, n. 871).
Some then receive a particular calling to the ministerial priesthood. Although interrelated, the ministerial priesthood and the common priesthood differ “in essence and not only in degree” (LG, n. 10 § 2). As expressed by Fr. John A. Hardon, SJ: “Men who are called by God to participate in the ministerial priesthood possess the authority to act in the power and place of Christ. The common priesthood of the faithful does not include such a participation” (Basic Catholic Catechism Course, p. 121).
The vast majority of those who share in the common priesthood constitute the laity. They “carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world” (LG, n. 31 § 1), many in the married state. It is through the Sacraments of Holy Orders and Matrimony that those consecrated to the common priesthood through Baptism can receive particular consecrations:
“Those who receive the sacrament of Holy Orders are consecrated in Christ’s name ‘to feed the Church by the word and grace of God’ (LG, n. 11 § 2). On their part, ‘Christian spouses are fortified and, as it were, consecrated for the duties and dignity of their state by a special sacrament [Matrimony]’ (Gaudium et Spes, n. 48 § 2)” (CCC, n. 1535).
The Catechism now begins its exposition on Holy Orders by defining it as “the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time” (CCC, n. 1536). The first question that one might ask is: “Why is the sacrament that Christ instituted to establish apostolic ministry called ‘Orders’? What does order have to do with the episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate?”
In the third volume of Fundamentals of Catholicism (FoC-3), Fr. Kenneth Baker, SJ, begins to answer these questions by recalling that when He established His Church, Jesus was founding a hierarchical structure to endure until His Second Coming that would ultimately include millions and millions of members and require functions of governing, teaching, and sanctifying (cf. p. 316).
To achieve so lofty a goal, a proper relationship between all the members and functions, as well as a well-defined authority structure, would undoubtedly be required. As Providence would have it, during the first century of Christianity in the Roman Empire, “the Latin word ordo, or order, meant an organized civil body of persons under authority. The Church adopted this name to identify the religious body of persons established by Christ for the sanctification of the People of God” (Fr. Hardon, The Faith, p. 131-132).
The Council of Trent, in its Roman Catechism (RC), provides a more formal explanation of why the name Orders is so fitting: “Order, when understood in its strict meaning and acceptation, is the arrangement of superior and inferior things so disposed as to stand in mutual relation towards each other. Now as in this ministry there are many grades and various functions, and as well these are disposed and arranged according to a definite plan, the name Order has been well and properly applied to it” (RC, II, 7, 8).
From ancient times and within the sacred Tradition of the Church, there is a threefold order of divinely instituted ecclesiastical ministry which is exercised in different degrees by bishops, priests, and deacons. “The liturgy speaks of the ordo episcoporum [episcopate; bishop], the ordo presbyterorum [presbyterate; priest], and the ordo diaconorum [diaconate; deacon]” (CCC, n. 1537).
As we progress in our treatment of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the level of participation in the priesthood of Christ for each of these degrees of ministry will be elaborated upon.
The Catechism goes on to explain that “integration into one of these bodies in the Church was accomplished by a rite called ordinatio, a religious and liturgical act which was a consecration, a blessing, or a sacrament” (CCC, n. 1538).
In the Church of today, however, the use of the word ordination is reserved for “the rite of the Sacrament of Holy Orders by which the bishop, through the imposition of hands and the prayer of consecration, confers the order of bishop, priest, or deacon to exercise a sacred power which comes from Christ on behalf of the Church” (CCC, Glossary).
Unlike the other six sacraments, Holy Orders is received in stages or degrees since there are three “orders” to the one Holy Orders, namely bishop, priest, and deacon; it remains one sacrament, however, even though there are three levels.
Fr. Baker expounds on the wondrous sacramental action that takes place when a man is ordained: “By the external rite of ordination a spiritual power or office among the people of God is conveyed to the one ordained and interior supernatural grace is communicated to him. Thus the sacrament of Holy Orders confers grace” (FoC-3, p. 318).

A Higher Condition

I close this installment by citing a beautiful quotation from St. Gregory of Nyssa, bishop and one of three fourth-century Cappadocian Fathers (along with St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nazianzus).
It comes from a sermon he delivered on the Feast of Epiphany (probably in 383) and compares the consecration of a priest in the Sacrament of Holy Orders with the consecration of bread and wine in the Eucharist:
“The same power of the Word makes the priest worthy of veneration and honor. The new blessing separates him from his common life with the people. Yesterday he was one of the crowd, one of the people. Now, suddenly, he has become a guide, a leader, a teacher of righteousness, an instructor in hidden mysteries. And this he does without any change in body or form. But, while he appears to be the man he was before, his invisible soul has really been transformed to a higher condition by some invisible power and grace” (Dr. Scott Hahn and Mike Aquilina, Living the Mysteries: A Guide for Unfinished Christians, p. 44).

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(Don Fier serves on the board of directors for The Catholic Servant, a Minneapolis-based monthly publication. He and his wife are the parents of seven children. Fier is a 2009 graduate of Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology. He is a consecrated Marian catechist.)