What does the term Sacerdotalism mean?
Just encountered this in a look into what the basic issues that protestants have with the Catholic faith. Right off the bat they hit me with a new word.
To go with the answer,
Ask your friends what the Old Covenant consisted of.
To answer, the original Covenant included (1) God asking for a sacrifice of an animal, (2) an appointed priesthood to offer it for (3) Atonement of sins. Over time, the Word of God on these matters were (4) put to paper by (5) oral history.
Now point them to Matthew 5:17. Christ said, “I did not come to abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfill them.” That means that Christ wanted to improve on the existing framework through a perfected covenant.
Christ first (1) Chose men for a new ministerial priesthood, teaching them over 3 years. He then (2) told all what the new sacrifice would be, a perfect Lamb: Himself. He then (3) sacrificed Himself for (4) a perfect atonement of sin that allows men to enter heaven. He chose bread and wine and said “This is my body/This is my blood.” Over time, Christ’s spoken teachings and that of his Apostles were (5) put to paper.
It is due to some Protestants that the New Covenant is not fully followed. If questioned that “You Catholics re-sacrifice God over and over; there is only 1 sacrifice,” you can answer, "The Passover of the Old Covenant, thousands of years after, was celebrated in the present tense: ‘Tonight we are led out of Egypt’. In the same way, the Apostles began the breaking of the bread (the Eucharist) as if it were that moment of Christ’s Passion, which Catholics do to this day. ‘Today, Christ sacrificed Himself for us.’ There is only one Sacrifice.
And, as in the Old Covenant, a part of that Sacrifice must be eaten, as Christ emphasized without hyperbole or symbolism in John 6: “I am the living bread.” “If you do not eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have no life within you.”
The nature of sacrifice and a priesthood to confer it is key to Christianity, you might challenge. This was how it was done and is still done for thousands of years, supported by both Scripture and historical writings. You could say that you are proud of being “Sacredotalist”, for in it you follow what Christ taught his Church to do. Your friends are only following a small part of a larger whole in the faith.
