Holy Orders Notes

Holy Orders is one of the two Sacraments of Love and Friendship.
The common titles associated with Holy Orders are priests, deacons, and bishops.
A sacrament is a visible sign of invisible grace, instituted by Christ.
Key experiences shape our understanding and help us become more Christ-like.

"Holy" means set apart or special.
The term "orders" refers to putting things in place or arranging them.
Religious orders are groups of people ordered in a specific way.
The universe is ordered, with everything having its place.
The universe's age is approximately $13,800,000,000$ years old, according to evolutionary cosmology.
The Big Bang theory describes the universe starting from a singularity.
The universe expanded at a precise rate, allowing particles to form atoms and molecules.
Ilya Prigogine discovered that the universe has a way of ordering itself.
God created the universe in an ordered way, making it understandable.
The opposite of chaos is cosmos.
God loves diversity within the ordered cosmos.
Even in a small space like your mouth, there are ~ $500$ species of microflora.

The Church (with a capital C) is a cosmic body of Christ that transcends space and time.
The Church is a visible sign of God's love.
Priests and deacons embody and mediate friendship and love, reflecting God's love for the Church and the universe.
The ordering within the Church involves modes of mediating God's grace, not necessarily levels of holiness.
All baptized individuals participate in the universal priesthood.
After baptism, there's an anointing, symbolizing kingship and priesthood.
Participants in the universal priesthood offer the world back to God.
Vatican II documents emphasize the universal call to holiness, urging everyone to become more Christ-like.
The sacrament of Holy Orders pertains to the ministerial priesthood.

To understand Holy Orders, it's important to look to the Bible.
The understanding of the priesthood is deeply rooted in the concept of the high priest in the Old Testament, but read in light of Christ in the New Testament.
Christ is understood as the great high priest.
Aaron was the first high priest, appointed by God in Exodus.
Exodus 28 details Aaron's anointing and consecration as high priest.
Aaron and his sons were appointed from the tribe of Levi - the priestly tribe of Israel.
The high priest was consecrated with sacred oil.
Appointment was based on lineage, within the tribe of the Levites and the lineage of Aaron.
On Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), the high priest made blood sacrifices to God as sin offerings.
The Holy of Holies in the temple housed the Ark of the Covenant and symbolized God's presence.
Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies (sacred space).
The Babylonians destroyed the temple and took away the Ark of the Covenant.
During the Second Temple period, sacrifices were made even without the Ark.

In the New Testament, Christ is seen as the great high priest.
Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the people, contrasting with the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament.
Hebrews 9 discusses Christ as the high priest entering the cosmic Holy of Holies.
Christ's priesthood is the measure of all priesthood.

Christ appointed the twelve apostles, who established churches.
Churches traced their apostolic succession back to the apostles.
Matthew 28 (The Great Commission) instructs the apostles to teach the gospel.
John 17 describes Jesus sending his disciples into the world.
A crucial function of the priesthood is to teach.
Post-resurrection, the apostles were granted the power to forgive sins (John 20).
Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.
Christ instituted the priesthood via the apostles.

After the apostles' death, their successors, the bishops, emerged.
Bishops held the office of the episcopate and were the successors to the apostles.
As Christianity grew, bishops appointed priests (presbyters) to assist them.
Priests functioned like bishops but were deputized by them.
Deacons also emerged as helpers to the bishops and priests.
Besides these, minor orders developed, including acolytes, exorcists, readers, and doorkeepers.

Analyzing Holy Orders as a sacrament involves understanding its matter and form.
Pope Pius XII in Sacramentum Ordinis (1947) declared that the laying on of hands is the matter of the sacrament.
The form consists of specific words or formulas used during ordination.
These words call for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, similar to Confirmation.
It's not like they need the holy spirit again. It's already within them. Just asking for it to be poured forth and poured forth how so for particular gifts.
The bishop is the minister who performs ordinations.
Ordination means "making into an order."
The recipient: a baptized and confirmed male.
The Catholic Church ordains only men.
John Paul II stated the Church lacks the authority to ordain women.
This stance is based on the tradition that Christ's apostles were all men.
The priest acts in persona Christi (in the person of Christ), therefore having physical resemblance to Christ is desired.
Though gender inequality is recognized as unjust, the Church views it as a different issue from the sacraments.
Women are considered equals in the Church, exemplified by the veneration of Mary - Mother of God.
The late Pope Francis appointed women to important consultatory roles and is changing the traditional viewpoint on women in the church.

Holy Orders confers a character, a permanent and unrepeatable mark.
This character results in a charism, a spiritual power appropriate to each office.
Each order has its special character.
A bishop's character provides the strength for care of the faithful.
A priest's character enables the worthy celebration of the sacraments.
A deacon's character grants strength for service.
The orders are hierarchical: diaconate, priesthood, and episcopate.
The character is permanent and cannot be revoked.

Vatican II recognized that holy orders should not become elevated offices of power.
These are different modes of the priesthood.
Laypeople have an important role and are actively involved in the Church - all are involved in the church.
Lay people do the readings.
Extraordinary Eucharist ministers distribute the communion.
Bringing communion to the infirm.
They participate in the catechist financial council.
Participants in perish councils that helps the priests run the perish.
It emphasized a recovery of the early Church - everyone was involved in some way.