252 BISHOPS ARE THE TRANSMITTERS OF THE APOSTOLIC LINE

YOUCAT Lesson 252

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

 

252  What happens in episcopal ordination?

In episcopal ordination the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred upon a priest.  He is ordained a successor of the apostles and enters the college of bishops.  Together with the other bishops and the Pope, he is from now on responsible for the entire Church.  In particular the Church appoints him to the offices of teaching, sanctifying, and governing.  [1555-1559]

…..“The Pope, too, is a bishop, but the first among them and head of the college.” …..252

The episcopal ministry is the real pastoral ministry in the Church, for it goes back to the original witnesses to Jesus, the apostles, and continues the pastoral ministry of the apostles that was instituted by Christ.  The Pope, too, is a bishop, but the first among them and the head of the college.  92, 137

“If someone wants to destroy religion, he begins by attacking priests, for wherever there are no more priests, there is no sacrifice, either, and where there is no longer a sacrifice, there is no religion, either.”  St. John Vianney (1786-1859

Episcopal ordination - fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders

…….1555   "Amongst those various offices which have been exercised in the Church from the earliest times the chief place, according to the witness of tradition, is held by the function of those who, through their appointment to the dignity and responsibility of bishop, and in virtue consequently of the unbroken succession going back to the beginning, are regarded as transmitters of the apostolic line."(Lumen Gentium 20.)³⁴ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

…….1556   To fulfill their exalted mission, "the apostles were endowed by Christ with a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit coming upon them, and by the imposition of hands they passed on to their auxiliaries the gift of the Spirit, which is transmitted down to our day through episcopal consecration."(Lumen Gentium 21; compare Acts of the Apostles 1:8; Acts 1:24; John 20:22-23; 1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6-7.)³⁵ --CCC

…….1557   The Second Vatican Council "teaches . . . 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."(Lumen Gentium  21§ 2.)³⁶ --CCC

…….1558   "Episcopal consecration confers, together with the office of sanctifying, also the offices of teaching and ruling. . . . In fact . . . by the imposition of hands and through the words of the consecration, the grace of the Holy Spirit is given, and a sacred character is impressed in such wise that bishops, in an eminent and visible manner, take the place of Christ himself, teacher, shepherd, and priest, and act as his representative (in Eius persona agant)."(Lumen Gentium 21.)³⁷    "By virtue, therefore, of the Holy Spirit who has been given to them, bishops have been constituted true and authentic teachers of the faith and have been made pontiffs and pastors."(Chistus Dominus 2 § 2.)³⁸ –CCC

…….1559   "One is constituted a member of the episcopal body in virtue of the sacramental consecration and by the hierarchical communion with the head and members of the college."(Lumen Gentium 22.)³⁹    The character and collegial nature of the episcopal order are evidenced among other ways by the Church's ancient practice which calls for several bishops to participate in the consecration of a new bishop.(Compare Lumen Gentium 22.)⁴⁰    In our day, the lawful ordination of a bishop requires a special intervention of the Bishop of Rome, because he is the supreme visible bond of the communion of the particular Churches in the one Church and the guarantor of their freedom. --CCC