Holy Orders and Religious Life

Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time: thus it is the sacrament of apostolic ministry. It includes three degrees: episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate.

The word order in Roman antiquity designated an established civil body, especially a governing body. Ordination means incorporation into an ordo. In the Church there are established bodies which Tradition, not without a basis in Sacred Scripture, has since ancient times called taxeis (Greek) or ordines. And so the liturgy speaks of the ordo episcoporum, the ordo presyterorum, the ordo diaconorum. Other groups also receive this name of ordo: catechumens, virgins, spouses, widows, ....

Integration into one of these bodies in the Church was accomplished by a rite called ordinatio, a religious and liturgical act which was a consecration, a blessing or a sacrament. Today the word "ordination" is reserved for the sacramental act which integrates a man into the order of bishops, presbyters, or deacons, and goes beyond a simple election, designation, delegation, or institution by the community, for it confers a gift of the Holy Spirit that permits the exercise of a "sacred power" (sacra potestas) which can come only from Christ himself through his Church. Ordination is also called consecratio, for it is a setting apart and an investiture by Christ himself for his Church. The laying on of hands by the bishop, with the consecratory prayer, constitutes the visible sign of this ordination. (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1536 - 1538. For more information see 1539 - 1600)

To meet the needs of our world and the Reign of God, our Catholic Church offers a wide spectrum of short-term or lifetime contemplative or active, domestic or missionary vocations as lay volunteers or members of secular institutes, as brother or sister, or a married or celibate deacon, as priest of a diocese or of a religious community. Printed resource materials (available at the Rectory or at St. Joseph Seminary), regional days of discernment and contact with people from these different groups will help find one's way among all the options possible.

"Christ has no body now but yours, no hands no feet on earth but yours." (St. Teresa of Avila)