J
JReducation
Guest
Actually, the theology of the sacraments tells us that Peter handed down his authority, not shared it. That’s why the Pope’s prayer is worded that way. When we refer to Peter in the Roman Catholic Church, we are not refering to the Apostle, but to the current Peter. Peter is both a historical figure of the past and an office in the Church. We also refer to the bishops as the successors of the Apostles. There cannot be a shared papacy or a shared bishopric. The office is handed down from generation to generation.
The reason why it is handed down is because the person who held the office ceases to hold it at the moment of death. Think of it this way, a deceased priest can no longer celebrate the sacraments. Think of the saints who were priests during life. We do not invoke them to absolve our sins. They cannot do that. We invoke them to guide us and to pray for us. That they can do. During the mass the priest includes the sains in the Eucharistic prayer. But they are not called upon to offer the sacrifice even those who were priests, only he can do that. he invokes their name to offer praise and prayers of petition with the Church.
The only office that is held in perpetuity is that held by founders of religious communities. They continue to be the fathers and mothers of their community and they continue to hold authority over their communities in a loose sense. The community is bound to maintain the spirit and the charism of the founder. But even in that case, the successors are held to obey the founders by the Church and by their rule, not by the deceased founder.
The priesthood is a state in the Catholic Church. That state belongs to a living person, not to one who is deceased. For example, when a pope or another bishop dies, the seat is empty. The deceased is no longer a bishop, therefore his particular church is without an apostle until one assumes the post.
If the deceased bishop were still a priest, he would still enjoy the fullness of the priesthood in which case he would also be entitled to his see.
It is true that scripture says “you are a priest forever”, but the Church’s interpretation of that is that the priest is a priest until death. Let us not forget that it is up to the Church to interpret the meaning of these passages.
Jesus continues to be the high priest by virtue of his resurrection. He is physically alive. Had he remained death, his priestly sacrifice would have died with him.
Finally, let’s look at the sacrament of the Eucharist. The priest acts in the place of Christ. Christ was very much alive and in this world when he offered his sacrifice.
The same rule that applies to marriage applies to orders. Remember St. Paul who said that there are no differences in the Kingdom of Heaven, no free man or slave. In the Gospel Jesus says that the woman who married the brothers is no one’s wife in the aferlife, because those relationships do not exist.
Since we are talking about sacraments that invoke an ontological change in the recipient (marriage and holy orders), we can also assume that the same logic applies to Holy Orders, since it operates on the same principal. There is an ontological change, but that change takes place within a living person and it is efficacious until death.
Hope this helps.
JR
PS You do present some interesting ideas for thought.
If there are ghost priests, there must be ghost bishops? What say you?
