Holy Orders and Vocations
“Ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
-Matthew 9: 32
There is a great need in the Church today to increase the numbers responding to the call to priesthood. Each of us has a role to play in this effort, building awareness and inviting the young people in our families and communities to be open to this call. It begins with teaching children to pray, to have a relationship with Christ. When we do that, we can have confidence they will respond to His call.
If you feel that the Lord is calling you to discern a possible priestly vocation, please do not hesitate to reach out directly to any of the clergy here at the Collaborative.
Another excellent resource is vocationsboston.org.
Are you between the ages of 30-60 and feel as though God is calling you to be a priest? Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary (558 South Ave | Weston, MA) is offering First Friday (of the month) visits (September - June) for those wondering. Join the Seminary Community for prayer and fellowship, holy hour and evening prayer, dinner and a tour of the seminary. Our first First Friday will be on Friday, September 6th from 4:30 - 7:30. RSVP Msgr. Fay at (781) 899-5500, ext 127 or at msgr.fay@psjs.edu. To learn more about the seminary, visit www.psjs.edu
is a group for single women interested in learning more about a vocation to religious life in the Catholic Church. For more information, email Sr. Marian Batho, CSJ or phone her at
(617) 746-2025.
Holy Orders is the sacrament by which bishops, priests and deacons are ordained and receive the power and grace to perform their sacred duties. The sacred rite by which orders are conferred is called ordination. The apostles were ordained by Jesus at the Last Supper so that others could share in his priesthood.
Holy Orders, which was instituted by Christ himself, is administered by the laying on of hands by the Bishop, through which the priest is given the power to serve the Church through his preaching, teaching and celebration of the Sacraments.
"That office...which the Lord committed to the pastors of his people,
is in the strict sense of the term service." It is entirely related to Christ and to men.
It depends entirely on Christ and on his unique priesthood; it has been instituted for the
good of men and the communion of the Church. The sacrament of Holy Orders
communicates a 'sacred power' which is none other than that of Christ."
-Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1551
In the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ himself
who is present to His Church as Head of his Body, Shepherd of his flock, high priest of the redemptive sacrifice, Teacher of Truth. This is what the Church means by saying that the priest, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, acts in persona Christi Capitis: It is the same priest, Christ Jesus, whose sacred person his minister truly represents. Now the minister, by reason of the sacerdotal consecration which he has received, is truly made like to the high priest and possesses the authority to act in the power and place of the person of Christ himself (virtute ac persona ipsius Christi).Christ is the source of all priesthood:
the priest of the old law was a figure of Christ, and the priest of the new law acts
in the person of Christ.
-Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1548
"The Sacrament of Apostolic Ministry by which the mission entrusted by Christ to his
Apostles continues to be exercised in the Church through the laying on of hands.
This sacrament has three distinct degrees or 'orders': deacon, priest, and bishop.
All three confer a permanent, sacramental character"
-Catechism of the Catholic Church, #536
"The whole Church is a priestly people. Through Baptism all the faithful share in the
priesthood of Christ. This participation is called the 'common priesthood of the faithful.'Based on this common priesthood and ordered to its service, there exists another participationin the mission of Christ: the ministry conferred by the sacrament of Holy Orders, wherethe task is to serve in the name and in the person of
Christ the Headin the midstof the community"
-Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1591
There are two sacraments at the service of communion: Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony. Both of these sacraments confer a special grace directed not towards the salvation of the one who receives the sacrament, but to the salvation of those who are served by the one ordained or married. In Baptism and Confirmation, we are consecrated or set apart from the world by God and for God; in Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony we receive another consecration. Bishops, priests, and deacons are consecrated to feed the Church by the Word and grace of God, and spouses are consecrated for the duties and dignity of marital love and family life.
Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission of Christ continues in His Church until the end of time. The three degrees of this one sacrament (episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate) are a participation in the apostolic offices of teaching, sanctifying, and governing given by the Lord Jesus to the Twelve. In Roman law, the word "order" designated a group or civil body within society, and "ordination" means incorporation into an "order."
Sacred Scripture describes to us the three offices of ministry proper to the New Covenant, and each of these offices constitutes a single such "order" in the Church: the Order of Bishops, the Order of Priests (or Presbyters), and the Order of Deacons. A Baptized man is ordained into one of these three Orders by a prayer of consecration and the laying on of hands by a true bishop in apostolic succession, and this liturgical action of Christ and the Church confers on the one ordained the sacred power to preach the Word of God and administer the other sacraments, according to the station of each Order.
Bishops and presbyters share by different degrees in the one ministerial priesthood of the New Covenant; by their consecration, bishops and priests are configured to the Lord Jesus in such a way that they can act in His Person in the sacred liturgy and stand in the Person of Christ, Head and Bridegroom of the Church. The ministerial priesthood has the task of representing Christ the Head of the Church before the whole assembly and also of acting in the name of the whole Church when offering to God the prayer of the Church. Deacons are ordained unto a ministry of service, but not to the priesthood. Deacons assist bishops and priests in the celebration of the sacred mysteries, in works of charity, in blessing marriages, in the proclamation of the Gospel, in administering baptism, and in presiding over funerals.
Read sections 1533-1600 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
for a fuller explanation of the Sacrament of Holy Orders.