NAME: MUOGBO
MICHAEL
COURSE: CANON
LAW
LECTURER: FR.
JOSEPH IYAMA
DATE: 2/12/2019
TOPIC: BISHOP THE
FULLNESS OF PRIESTHOOD
INTRODUCTION
The
priesthood was instituted by Christ. Every single priest shares in the
priesthood of Christ because Christ is the universal divine high priest. At the
Last Supper Jesus made known his desire to have the Apostles share in his
priesthood, expressed as consecration and mission. This participation became a
reality at different moments throughout our Lord’s ministry, which can be
thought of a successive steps leading to the institution of Holy Orders: when
he calls the apostles and forms them into a college.
Firstly Christ shared his priesthood with the
apostles and consequently to their successors. Every ministerial priest acts
and functions not of his own accord but in the person of Christ, in persona Christi. Through the
sacrament of Holy Orders a participation in the priesthood of Christ is
conferred, stemming from the apostolic succession. However in the church, there
are three hierarchies of those in orders. These include the diaconate,
presbyterate and the episcopate. The diaconate, the priesthood and the
episcopate are intimately related as grades of the one sacrament of Holy
Orders, received successively and inclusively. At the same time they are
distinguished according to the sacramental reality conferred and their
corresponding functions in the Church. Thus the episcopate is the highest rank
in the holy orders.
EPISCOPACY
AS THE FULLNESS OF PRIESTHOOD
The
fullness of the sacrament of holy orders as instituted by Christ is found in
the order of Bishop, whose members are successors to the Apostles in a ministry
of teaching, sanctification, and leadership. The Catechism of the Catholic
Church says “that the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by
Episcopal consecration, that fullness namely which, both in the liturgical
tradition of the Church and the language of the Fathers of the Church, is
called the high priesthood, the acme (summa) of the sacred ministry.”(LG 21 # 2).[1] The
bishop receives the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders, which integrates
him into the Episcopal college and makes him the visible head of the particular
Church entrusted to him.[2]
According
to the theory of apostolic succession held by the Roman, Orthodox, and Anglican
Churches, the order of Bishop was instituted in apostolic times; when the
apostles appointed successors, they transmitted to them the apostolic authority
and priority of rank. These churches claim an unbroken succession of bishops
from apostolic times. They consider holy orders a sacrament through which the
bishop is endowed with certain sacred powers beyond those enjoyed by the
priest.[3]
The
episcopate is “the fullness of the sacrament of Orders,” called “in the
Church’s liturgical practice and in the language of the Fathers ‘the high
priesthood’ or the supreme power of the sacred ministry.”[4]
The bishops are the vicars and ambassadors of Christ, which they govern by
their counsel, exhortations and example, and over and above all by their
authority and sacred power.[5]
They are preachers of the faith, who lead new disciples to Christ, and they are
authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ.
Thus within the episcopate lies the administration of the grace of supreme
priesthood. The administration of all three grades of Holy Orders is reserved
exclusively to the bishop. The bishops sustain the role of Christ himself. The
Episcopal ordination confers the grace to sanctify others, as well as the
authority to teach the faithful and to bind their consciences.
“The
bishop is to be considered as the high priest of his flock, from whom the life
in Christ of his faithful is in some way derived and dependent.”[6]
The order of bishops is the fullness of orders, which Christ has given to the
apostles, and therefore is properly a rank of the sacrament of orders. The
bishop’s commission comes from Christ alone. It is communicated to the bishop
through this sacrament, enabling him to be an effective sign of the continuity
of the apostolic faith. The bishop makes Christ present through a ministry of
service in announcing the word of God, celebrating the sacraments, and caring
for the unity of the body of Christ. Only by exercising his ministry as service
does the bishop represent Christ as the shepherd and head of the church: ‘That
office, however, which the Lord committed to the pastors of his people, is, in
the strict sense of the term, a service, which is called very expressively in
the sacred scripture a diakonia or
ministry (cf. Acts 1:17 and 25; 21:19; Rom 11:13; 1 Tim 1:12)’ (LG 24). The
Council teaches that ‘by divine institution the bishops have succeeded to the
place of the apostles’ (LG 20). The apostles’ mission continues, according to
God’s will, in the ministry of the bishop: the twelve were appointed to join
Jesus in preaching the Reign of God (Mark 3:13-19); they shared in Jesus’ power
to enable all to become his disciples; and this divine mission, which was
committed by Christ to the Apostles, is destined to last until the end of the
world (Matt 28:20).[7]
CONCLUSION
The
bishop receives the fullness of the priesthood because he is a first hand and
direct successor of the apostles who received the commission directly from
Christ himself. In the Bishop lies the fullness of the grace, power and
authority of the priesthood and instituted by Christ without any form of
limitations. They are the vicars and ambassadors of Christ; within the
episcopate lies the administration of the grace of supreme priesthood. The
administration of all three grades of Holy Orders is reserved exclusively to
the bishop. They sustain the role of Christ himself.
[1] CCC 1557
[2] CCC 1594
[3] Bishop (ecclesiastic), Microsoft Encarta 2009 [DVD], Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
[4] Second Vatican Council, Const. Lumen Gentium, no. 21
[5] Ibid., 27.
[6] Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, no. 41
[7] The Ministry Of Oversight: The Office of Bishop and President In The Church 2000-2007 no. 49-51
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