In the sacrament of Holy Orders, how is the priest everything and nothing?

[sweller]

I am a Protestant and I actually want to become a Catholic. One thing really hangs me up. Not Mary, not praying to saints, not smells and bells, not the consubstantial eucharist, not even the Papacy but… the sacrament of Holy Orders! Yes, I have read my Catechism and I still don’t get it. I hope you can clarify this for me.

The catholic church says it is, quite literally, the body of Christ, as it is unified by His Body and Blood made present in the Eucharist. Those outside the church are outside this body because the Eucharist served is not really Christ’s body, it is just a symbol that in now way imparts Grace on the faithful. Even if a non-Catholic Church were to believe that they were feasting on a consubstantial eucharist it would not be so because of… Holy Orders, right?

Anyway, my problem with this is… How can the Priest be everything and nothing? In one sense, his ordination, placing him in the line of apostolic succession gives him the power to make Christ “really present” in the Eucharist. What is this power and where does it come from? Because, you do admit there are faithful Christians outside of the Catholic Church (though you say they are not participating in the fullness of Christ’s salvic work, but forget that), though they cannot make Christ “really present” in the Eucharist. So a faithful Christian, outside the Catholic Church and apostolic succession, cannot make the Lord present in the Eucharist, but, correct me if I am wrong, an unfaithful catholic priest can, simply because he was ordained. So, the Catholic priest is everything in the sense he is a necessary condition for the Eucharist to be present, but the priest is also nothing, because his ability to make exercise the Eucharistic mystery is in no way dependent on him and his faith.

Thus, in my mind, the sacrament of Holy Orders seems like a fabrication to me, since it has little to do with the faith of the individual priest. And since it holds together your whole Chruch structure, I have reservations becominig catholic. Please explain this for me.

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

First of all the Catholic Church considers ALL Christians to be a part of the Mystical Body of Christ. “Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood of all believers.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1268) But the Church does not consider that all Christians have access to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It is only through the ministerial priesthood that such is possible. See the CCC, Chapter 3 beginning with # 1533.

What you are missing is that Jesus gave the power to change bread and wine into His body and blood to certain disciples that He chose for the purpose of carrying on His work after He left them. They were the Church’s first bishops and theirs was the obligation to confer that power to certain other individuals for future generations.

The Catholic Church has what is called “apostolic succession” in that its’ line of bishops can be traced back to the apostles. The power that He has conferred upon His bishops and through them to His priests, is His power. It originates in Him—not in them. It is not their personal property and its’ value does not depend on how they feel or how well or poorly they behave. Certainly, we would hope that their individual faith is strong, But no one, no matter how strong his faith may be, is worthy of such an honor.

You say that since the power of Christ’s priesthood has little to do with the faith of the individual priest, it must be a fabrication. It would be far more likely to be a fabrication if it WERE dependent of the faith of the individual priest. It would be something that he conjures up. But in fact, it is of the Lord and is much, much bigger than the priest. The priest’s faith does not give it credibility (thank God); it is the power the Lord has bestowed upon him that does! The reality of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist in the Catholic Church is an objective reality and not a subjective one that depends on the priests’ human feelings and abilities. So long as the priest is validly ordained and intends what the Church intends with the words of consecration, the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Lord in His wisdom did not make the faithful dependent on the human frailty of the priest in order to nourish them with Himself!

So the priest is everything in that his priestly ministry is really that of Christ and he is nothing in that his priestly ministry is not his own. “For every high priest chosen form among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is bound to offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not take the honor upon himself, but is called by God, just as Aaron was.” Hebrews 5:1-4

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.