Monday, August 6, 2018

138. The structure of the Catholic Church


The structure of the Catholic Church
YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 138
Ave Maria series

138  How is the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church structured?

In the Church there are the laity and clerics (clergy).  As children of God, they are of equal dignity.  They have equally important but different tasks.  The mission of the laity is to direct the whole world toward the kingdom of God.  In addition, there are the ordained ministers (clerics), who have the duties of ecclesiastical governance, teaching, and sanctification.  In both states of life, there are Christians who place themselves at God’s disposal in a special way through celibacy, poverty, and obedience (for example, consecrated religious).  [871-876, 934, 935]








A bishop invokes Holy Spirit on a new priest while praying silently. .....138 ..... 251

Every Christian has the duty to bear witness to the Gospel by his own life.  But God walks a special path with each person.  Some he sends as laymen, so that they might build up the kingdom of God by their family and occupation in the midst of the world.  For this purpose, he bestows on them in Baptism and Confirmation all the necessary gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Others he entrusts with the pastoral ministry; they are to govern, teach, and sanctify his people.  No one can take this duty upon himself; the Lord himself must send him on his way with his divine power through Holy Orders, so that he can act in the place of Christ and administer the sacraments.  259

[871-876, 934, 935]

Christ's Faithful - Hierarchy, Laity, Consecrated Life
871 "The Christian faithful are those who, inasmuch as they have been incorporated in Christ through Baptism, have been constituted as the people of God; for this reason, since they have become sharers in Christ's priestly, prophetic, and royal office in their own manner, they are called to exercise the mission which God has entrusted to the Church to fulfill in the world, in accord with the condition proper to each one."(Codex Iuris Canonici, Can. 204 para 1; compare  Lumen gentium 31)385 –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

872 "In virtue of their rebirth in Christ there exists among all the Christian faithful a true equality with regard to dignity and the activity whereby all cooperate in the building up of the Body of Christ in accord with each one's own condition and function."(Codex Iuris Canonici, Can. 208; compare Lumen gentium 32)386 –CCC

873 The very differences which the Lord has willed to put between the members of his body serve its unity and mission. For "in the Church there is diversity of ministry but unity of mission. To the apostles and their successors Christ has entrusted the office of teaching, sanctifying and governing in his name and by his power. But the laity are made to share in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly office of Christ; they have therefore, in the Church and in the world, their own assignment in the mission of the whole People of God."(Apostolicam actuositatem 2)387 Finally, "from both groups [hierarchy and laity] there exist Christian faithful who are consecrated to God in their own special manner and serve the salvific mission of the Church through the profession of the evangelical counsels."(Codex Iuris Canonici, Can. 207 § 2)388 –CCC

THE HIERARCHICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH

Why the ecclesial ministry?
874 Christ is himself the source of ministry in the Church. He instituted the Church. He gave her authority and mission, orientation and goal:

In order to shepherd the People of God and to increase its numbers without cease, Christ the Lord set up in his Church a variety of offices which aim at the good of the whole body. The holders of office, who are invested with a sacred power, are, in fact, dedicated to promoting the interests of their brethren, so that all who belong to the People of God . . . may attain to salvation.(Lumen gentium 18)389 B

875  How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent?"(Romans 10:14:15)390  No one - no individual and no community - can proclaim the Gospel to himself: "Faith comes from what is heard."(Romans 10:17)391 No one can give himself the mandate and the mission to proclaim the Gospel. The one sent by the Lord does not speak and act on his own authority, but by virtue of Christ's authority; not as a member of the community, but speaking to it in the name of Christ. No one can bestow grace on himself; it must be given and offered. This fact presupposes ministers of grace, authorized and empowered by Christ. From him, bishops and priests receive the mission and faculty ("the sacred power") to act in persona Christi Capitis; deacons receive the strength to serve the people of God in the diaconia of liturgy, word and charity, in communion with the bishop and his presbyterate. The ministry in which Christ's emissaries do and give by God's grace what they cannot do and give by their own powers, is called a "sacrament" by the Church's tradition. Indeed, the ministry of the Church is conferred by a special sacrament.—CCC

876 Intrinsically linked to the sacramental nature of ecclesial ministry is its character as service. Entirely dependent on Christ who gives mission and authority, ministers are truly "slaves of Christ,"(compare Romans 1:1)392 in the image of him who freely took "the form of a slave" for us.(Philippians 2:7)393 Because the word and grace of which they are ministers are not their own, but are given to them by Christ for the sake of others, they must freely become the slaves of all.(compare 1 Corinthians 9:19)394 –CCC

IN BRIEF
934 "Among the Christian faithful by divine institution there exist in the Church sacred ministers, who are also called clerics in law, and other Christian faithful who are also called laity." In both groups there are those Christian faithful who, professing the evangelical counsels, are consecrated to God and so serve the Church's saving mission (compare Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 207 § 1, 2).—CCC

935 To proclaim the faith and to plant his reign, Christ sends his apostles and their successors. He gives them a share in his own mission. From him they receive the power to act in his person.—CCC

Holy Orders  The



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