Catechism of the Catholic Church
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1554 "The divinely instituted ecclesiastical ministry is exercised in different degrees by those who even from ancient times have been called bishops, priests, and deacons." 32 Catholic doctrine, expressed in the liturgy, the Magisterium, and the constant practice of the Church, recognizes that there are two degrees of ministerial participation in the priesthood of Christ: the episcopacy and the presbyterate . The diaconate is intended to help and serve them. For this reason the term sacerdos in current usage denotes bishops and priests but not deacons. Yet Catholic doctrine teaches that the degrees of priestly participation (episcopate and presbyterate) and the degree of service (diaconate) are all three conferred by a sacramental act called "ordination," that is, by the sacrament of Holy Orders:
Let everyone revere the deacons as Jesus Christ, the bishop as the image of the Father, and the presbyters as the senate of God and the assembly of the apostles. For without them one cannot speak of the Church. 33
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY |
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SECTION TWO: THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH |
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CHAPTER THREE: THE SACRAMENTS AT THE SERVICE OF COMMUNION |
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ARTICLE 6: THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS |
Notes for the above paragraph:
32 LG 28.33 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Trall. 3,1: SCh 10, 96.
English Translation of the Cathechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America © 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.
