There have been many aspects of the Catholic Church, that has always fascinated me ever since I was a boy. The decades of reading and research have opened up for me treasure troves upon treasure troves of information about the history, practices and peoples in the Church. It has informed my insights on the wide and deep wealth of traditions in the Church and how, as a human institution, she has developed squarely within the context of human history and human society. Much of this knowledge has been transmitted to children during my ministry as I discovered that I have been blessed with the gift of explaining complicated stuff in simple terms. So in this series, I hope to share what the good Lord has granted that I learn, and in sharing I seek His pleasure.
This is the second in the series and it is on priests.
Priests
We all know priests as the guy who says mass. They are the cornerstone of Catholic life in most parishes. Priests in the technical sense also include all the bishops. There are currently over 400,000 Catholic priests throughout the world, a ratio of one priest to every 3,000 Catholics.
Priests, as a separate order, are a later addition to the Catholic hierarchy, after bishops and deacons. In the beginning, only the bishop says mass and he does this in the main town of the area. As the communities grows, more people comes from the countryside for mass. Eventually, it gets too big and the bishop sends priests out to the countryside to say mass on Sundays. It is therefore not a coincidence that pastors and pastoral (countryside) are similar words.
Priests differ from pastors in many of the other Christian denominations who have pastors but not priests. Only priests offer sacrifices, and that distinction exists in other religions as well (Jews have rabbis but no longer have priests because sacrifices can only be offered in the Temple and the Temple does not exist anymore). The other Christian denominations who do not have priests do not believe in reliving the sacrifice of Jesus in their Sunday service but they celebrate Jesus' words in a different way.
In the Western Catholic Church, priests are not married although there are exceptions. For instance, we recently have had married former Anglican priests who are accepted into the Catholic Church and ordained as married Catholic priests. Eastern Catholic priests may be married but they generally are not allowed to remarry if their wives die. Catholic bishops, whether Eastern or Western, are always unmarried (having said that, the first Pope was married).
Duties and training
The main duties of the priest centres around the sacraments. They say mass, perform baptism, anointing of the sick, marriages and hear confessions. In addition to that, they also counsel and help Catholics grow in faith.
Those who are pastors have the responsibility of administering a parish. Some of the larger parishes may also have one or more assistant parish pastors.
Priests are trained in a seminary and the length of their training differs the world over but are typically seven to eight years. In most places, priests are required to obtain a degree in Catholic philosophy and/or theology before they can be ordained. In addition, there is a lot of spiritual formation, as well as training in people, social, counselling and practical skills.
At the end of their training, they are ordained to the priesthood by a bishop, who lays his hands on him.
Parishes
Parishes are that community of Catholics whose care have been entrusted to a pastor. Most parishes are territorial in nature and all Catholics will belong to one territorial parish. There is nothing in Catholic law, however, that require us to only attend mass in the parish where we reside. Parishes, however, often have rules on territoriality for such administrative matters as where people can go to Sunday School, get married, etc.
The largest Catholic parish in the world is in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where there are 300,000 Catholics administered by 10 priests in a single parish. This resulted from the authorities' refusal to allow the opening of more parishes to accommodate the exclusively expatriate Catholic community.
In addition, there are also parishes for specific ethnic groups, colleges or the military. The pastors for such parishes are normally called chaplains.
What a priest wear
The priest wears a plain loose-fitting ankle-length robe called a cassock, either white (in tropical countries) or black (in temperate climates). In the Roman Empire, men were dressed in robes while trousers were only introduced with the barbarian invasions. Many religious orders have their own 'uniform' called a habit, which the priest may then wear at mass. Those of Franciscans, for instance, are very distinct and are brown in colour.
Every priest at mass wears a stole, which is a broad piece of cloth wrapped around his shoulders and down the front of his chest. It symbolises the cross which Jesus had to carry across his shoulders and is normally decorated with crosses or the fish and bread symbols of the Eucharist. The colour changes with the liturgical seasons. Deacons wear the stole like a sash, over his left shoulder
The garment that we see a priest wearing at mass is an outer garment called a chasuble, worn only at mass. It is an oval shaped cloth with a hole in the middle through which the head goes. It is in liturgical colours and not intended to be too elaborate in decoration. It goes over the cassock and stole. In simpler masses outside the church, say, during camps or at a house mass where space is limited, the chasuble is sometimes dispensed with.
The cassock may be belted at the waist with a sash, normally black, called a fascia. Otherwise, a cincture is used, which is a small rope that symbolises the bonds with which Jesus was bound when arrested. The stole is normally tucked under the cincture. Underneath the cassock, priests normally wear his daily clothes but if it is too hot, he makes do with just a tunic.
The vesting of priests and bishops before they say mass is an elaborate affair and the vestments are required to be put on in a specified order. With each vestment put on, the priest or bishop says a prescribed prayer.
At some liturgical celebrations other than mass, like the Benediction, the priest or bishop may wear an elaborate cape called a cope. Elaborate celebrations and processions also call for the cope.
A Roman collar is a white detachable collar, made of linen or cotton and buttoned to the priest's shirt or black cassock worn as part of his daily clothing. If the priest is wearing a white cassock, a Roman collar is of course not necessary. It just denotes that he is a priest and despite its name, is Anglican in origin. An interesting fact that I found out.
Deacons
Deacons are the junior tier of the Holy Orders, which also includes priests and bishops. They assist at mass with the tasks of reading the Gospel, and if delegated, delivering the homily and dismissing the congregation at the end of mass. They can also administer baptisms and preside at funerals that do not involve a mass but cannot hear confessions, celebrate mass, marry people or anoint the sick as a priest does.
All priests are ordained as deacons as the final step before the priesthood. As such, their diaconate are called a transitory diaconate. You address a deacon formally as "Rev Mr". or "Deacon". In conversation, you never refer to a deacon as Father but Deacon. Many people, though, will call a deacon, Brother.
Some dioceses have permanent deacons, who are men who chose not to be ordained priests. They assist in parishes or other work as directed by the bishops. Some of them may have another job outside the Church and are therefore, part-time deacons. Married men can be ordained to be a permanent deacon but may not marry if their wives die. Wives of such permanent deacons sometimes undergo similar training to a deacon and are often considered a partner in his ministry.
The Bible tells us that deacons were originally appointed to assist the first bishops, the Apostles, to distribute alms to the poor and free up the Apostles to concentrate on preaching. They included St Stephen, who was the first martyr. The Bible also refers to women deaconesses and named one of them as Phoebe but there remains today much debate over the actual roles of these deaconesses.
Types of priests
Diocesan and religious priests
Some priests, about a third of all priests, belong to a religious order. They normally do not engage in parish work, but work in areas that their order specialises in, called an apostolate.
Members of an order are often required to live in a community set up by their order. At least three members are needed before a community can be established but some can grow to several dozens. Dining halls in such communities remind me of a college cafeteria.
Religious priests take three vows on joining their orders: (i) the vow of chastity - they are to remain celibate and may not marry; (ii) the vow of poverty - they do not possess anything or draw a salary but will get everything they need to live on from their orders; (iii) the vow of obedience - to the Church and to their superiors. Simple vows can sometimes be for a period, but more often, vows are perpetual.
The other priests, about two thirds of them, are diocesan priests who are responsible to the bishops for the running of parishes. They normally do not get sent outside their dioceses. They take the vows of chastity and obedience to their bishops.
Vicars-General, Monsignors
A Vicar-General is a priest who is appointed by the bishop as his deputy, normally for administrative purposes. There must be at least one but there may be more than one Vicars-General. None of them would have episcopal powers, for instance to ordain, if they are not bishops themselves.
An Episcopal Vicar is like a Vicar-General but with authority over only a geographical area or a specific group of people as determined by the bishop. All auxiliary bishops are at least episcopal vicars. Vicars-general and episcopal vicars hold office for a specific period or until the diocese falls vacant or if replaced by the bishop.
Monsignor
Some priests have the honorary title of a Monsignor, which literally means My Lord, as in a lordship, not Jesus. There is no authority attached to this title and is given by the Pope in recognition of services rendered, normally as recommended by the bishop. As such, they are considered members of the Papal Household. Vicars-general in dioceses were normally made Monsignori (pl of Monsignor). They are referred to as Rev Monsignor and you call them Monsignor. Lately, though, Pope Francis has stopped the practice of naming priests outside of Rome as monsignors and so, the title is limited now to those actually serving the Pope directly. Those previously made Monsignori retain their title.
Religious institutes
All religious priests mentioned above belong to a religious institute. These religious institutes normally focus on a single apostolate, which is what their area of specialism is called. Apostolates are normally in areas of prayer, missionary work, preaching, education, health or media, for instance. Most institutes are international in scope and so their members can be sent anywhere in the world.
There are some 750,000 female religious in the world together with some 220,000 men, of whom 55,000 are brothers who are not ordained as priests.
Orders and Congregations
Religious institutes can be orders or congregations. Those in religious orders takes solemn vows while those in congregations takes simple vows. The vow of poverty, for one, differ in that the person (can we call him or her a vower?) may not own anything under solemn vows while those under simple vows may not possess anything - subtle distinction between own and possess. Thus, before taking solemn vows, the vower has to sign a will to pass on all his or her possessions to someone else, whereas under simple vows, he can still own but cannot hold it or enjoy it.
The largest order is the Jesuits, the same order to Pope Francis belongs. There are some 17,000 Jesuits in the Church today. Their motto is for the Greater Glory of God and as such, are engaged in any work anywhere that the Pope deems necessary. They are often the most well trained priests in the Church, requiring up to 13 years training before they can get ordained.
Some orders have developed their own very distinct form of spirituality. The Jesuit spirituality, for instance, known as Ignatian spirituality, was developed by their founder, St Ignatius of Loyola. Every Jesuit is to undergo a silent retreat of eight days at least once a year, with a 30-day retreat conducted at key points in his life.
Monks
Monks and friars are priests who live in monasteries. They are normally shut away from the rest of the world and some of the more remote ones can be rather self-sustaining. Their charisma (religious term for their area of specialisation) is to pray for the Church.
Women monks are called nuns. Orders of nuns that are offshoots of male orders, are said to be the Second Orders, the first being the male order. For instance, the Poor Claires are the second order of Franciscans, St Claire being a close friend of St Francis.
Monks and nuns are said to lead cloistered lives because they are enclosed within their own world. A cloister is an open space surrounded on all four sides by rooms and walls, an apt description of a monastery.
There are also orders known as discalced orders, who goes about their business barefoot or in sandals (discalced means without shoes).
Brothers
Some male religious orders partly or wholly comprise men who chose not to be priests. These men are referred to as brothers. They often stay as brothers so as to focus on their apostolates and not be encumbered with having to run a parish or prepare for mass, for instance.
There are male religious orders who do not ordain priests at all. An example is the de La Salle brothers, whose apostolate is in boy's education.
Nuns and sisters
Members of female religious institutes are referred to as sisters. Strictly speaking, most of them who we encounter are not nuns. Nuns stay in a monastery, as do monks, and are normally cut off from the world to spend their lives in prayers. Sisters on the other hand, live in convents and have regular work within their apostolate such as education, health, etc.
With this, I hope that you have an appreciation about what who a Catholic priest is. If you have any queries, or would like to suggest topics you think I should touch on, please do not hesitate to drop me a line.
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