Understanding the ministerial priesthood

Understanding the ministerial priesthood according to the New Testament

by Paul Wess

Excerpted from his book EINMÜTIG. Gemeinsam entscheiden in Gemeinde und Kirche, Thaur in Austria 1998.

The essence of the ministerial priesthood within the common priesthood and the reasons for grouping it under three categories

As the common priesthood of all believers according to the New Testament also forms the basis for the ministerial priesthood, the latter, therefore, can only exist in the Church within the common priesthood. The difference must be given by a secondary (consecutive) characteristic element. Such a difference results from the necessity of grouping the Church in Congregations and Local Churches because they must be incorporated into the whole Church by connecting members functioning as signs and instruments for their community with the whole Church and, in this way, with Jesus Christ. This applies to all the various spheres of Church life and Her activities. The ministerial priests and bishops do not embody or personify Jesus Christ as against the Congregation or the Local Church in a permanent priority. It is rather that their status of being ordained indicates that the Church has Her leader in Jesus Christ. It is, therefore, their reserved duty to lead and conduct the rites of the sacraments which are of relevance to the whole Church and which promise Salvation in Jesus Christ. The ministerial priests do not bestow sacraments, they are rather the servants of the sacraments by asking God in the name of the Church – and thereby according to the order of Christ – to grant us His Salvation through the Holy Spirit. Viewing the ministerial priesthood in this way, one can equally categorise the deaconry as a specific order of it because the deacons are meant to care for the authentic proclamation of the Word and for certain sacraments which they have to administer in the name of the whole Church. To be able to do so they have to be given the necessary authorization.

2. The difference between internal Church guidance and the ministerial priesthood (even if they are carried out by one and the same person)

Internal leadership in a Congregation, Local Church, resp. the whole Church, can and must be distinguished from the ministerial priesthood (even when the two functions are held by one and the same person):

since the office of the Apostles as seen in the New Testament - first and foremost among the Twelve, and furthermore among all members of the original easterly community and also St. Paul – did not consist in leadership (even though some of them had been given this function) but rather consisted in being „witnesses of His resurrection" (Acts 1,22). This fundamental function of the Apostles being witnesses, cannot be renewed. They could, therefore, not appoint any successors in the actual sense of the word to carry on this same function. They, however, appointed some members in the new Congregations or Local Churches to deliver and interpret the Word, which they had received from the Apostles, in order to take care of the koinonia within the whole Church. Even if the Apostles understandably passed on this duty to the leaders or the elders, it is not identical with the duty of internal guidance within the existing Congregations and Local Churches;
since it would mean that the own responsibility of the Congregations and Local Churches was not taken seriously if an internal leader was placed upon them;
since the leaders themselves do not pass on their office to their successors by means of an ordination; this procedure would seem reasonable if the purpose of ordination were to be the passing on of power of internal guidance;
since the Church herself - in case of abbesses, of superiors also in male lay-orders and at times of insufficient numbers of priests, where lay(wo)men have been put in charge of the internal guidance of Congregations – separates the office of internal guidance from that of the ministerial priests (something which requires the mutual co-operation among the two officials).
since there is no ordination necessary for becoming Pope, even though it ought to exist and form an own stage of the ministerial priesthood, if the essence of this priesthood were the competence for internal guidance;
since a suffragan bishop, a curate and a deacon function as ministerial priests, but as a matter of fact do not have any leadership role (suffragan bishops cannot be taken as a counter-argument because they are leaders only in fictitious dioceses).

3. The mutual connections between the theology of the ministerial priesthood and the existence of Congregations composed of mutually obliged believers

According to the New Testament concept, the ministerial priest does not represent Christ, but the Congregation itself represents Him being the body of Christ just as the Church as a whole. This presupposes that there are Congregations of mutually obliged believers who have attained maturity in their faith, in a manner that such people should not previously have to be led to the faith by a ministerial priest who functions as their head and substitute for the mature Congregation as a whole. Baptism and confirmation at the age of children do not suffice in any way for it. That is why the understanding of the ministerial priesthood, as presented above, can become reality only, when Congregations come into existence complying with the demand for unanimity in their interior and with the whole Church and in this way with Jesus Christ. This will, on the one hand, help to fulfil the call of the „Kirchenvolks-Begehren" for a fraternal Church (as laid down in Mt 23,8 squ), on the other hand, it is a counter-demand on the members of the Church. Both sides involved in this conflict must give up the fiction that all the baptised are believing Christians and must rather get in the tedious task of renewing the Church through the formation of appropriate Congregations and – in reciprocal relationship – through the introduction of a renewal of baptism with a personal faith-decision after a post-baptismal catechumenate. It is only in this way that the fundamental nature of the common priesthood, in whose service the ministerial priesthood is at work, will become clear.

The ministerial priesthood within the structure of the Church

According to Vatican II:

The Church as an egalitarian community exists only at each of the levels given above, not among all believers.
The cohesion is given through a hierarchical rule on behalf of Christ or God (pyramidal structure).
The ministerial priesthood and the office of internal government within the whole Church, local churches and congregations are identified .
Ministerial priests represent Christ or God (according to CatCC 1589 Priests are deified deifiers).

According to the New Testament (Mt 23,8f):

The Church as a universally binding community of all believers [seen from above ].
Cohesion through unanimity (office-bearers functions as its sign and instrument) under God’s rule.
The office of internal government is not necessarily linked up with the ministerial priesthood [who are presented as little dots in the sketch above].
The ministerial priests function as the authentic connecting members between the congregations and the whole Church and through her with Jesus Christ.

Dr. Paul Weß,
A-6020 Innsbruck

References:

Paul Weß, Ihr alle seid Geschwister. Gemeinde und Priester. Mainz 1983.

Paul Weß, Gemeindekirche – Ort des Glaubens. Die Praxis als Fundament und als Konsequenz der Theologie. Graz 1989, 661–668.

Paul Weß, ‘Repräsentant Christi oder Repräsentant der Gemeinschaft mit Christus? Überlegungen zum Amtsverständnis des Priesters.’ In: Heiliger Dienst 45 (1991) 67–74; abgedruckt in Paul Weß, Und behaltet das Gute. Beiträge zur Praxis und Theorie des Glaubens. Mit einem Geleitwort von Kardinal Franz König. Thaur 1996, 279–286.

Paul Weß, Die Stellung der Gemeinde in der Meßfeier. Überlegungen zu AEM Nr. 62. In: Bewahren und Erneuern. Studien zur Meßliturgie Festschrift Hans Bernhard Meyer. Hg. R. Meßner – E. Nagel – R. Pacik. Innsbruck 1995 (Innsbrucker theol. Studien 42), 336–350; abgedruckt in Paul Weß, Und behaltet das Gute (above), 161–177.

Paul Weß, Einmütig. Gemeinsam entscheiden in Gemeinde und Kirche. Thaur 1998, 313–506.

Paul Weß, ‘Das Taufversprechen nachholen. Ein Diskussionsanstoß’. In: Gottesdienst 32 (1998) 12f.

For related online Libraries see:
The ORDINATION OF WOMEN in the Catholic Church	Catherine of Siena VIRTUAL COLLEGE
THE BODY IS SACRED	MYSTERY AND BEYOND

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