vicar

327. What is the office confided to a Bishop in a particular Church?
1560-1561
The bishop to whom the care of a particular Church is entrusted is the visible head and foundation of unity for that Church. For the sake of that Church, as vicar of Christ, he fulfills the office of shepherd and is assisted by his own priests and deacons.

successor

326. What is the effect of episcopal ordination?
1557-1558
Episcopal ordination confers the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders. It makes the bishop a legitimate successor of the apostles and integrates him into the episcopal college to share with the Pope and the other bishops care for all the churches. It confers on him the offices of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling.

degrees

325. What are the degrees that make up the sacrament of Holy Orders?
1554
1593
The sacrament of Holy Orders is composed of three degrees which are irreplaceable for the organic structure of the Church: the episcopate, the presbyterate and the diaconate.

ministers

324. What place does the sacrament of Holy Orders have in the divine plan of salvation?
1539-1546
1590-1591
This sacrament was prefigured in the Old Covenant in the service of the Levites, in the priesthood of Aaron, and in the institution of the seventy “Elders” (Numbers 11:25). These prefigurations find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus who by the sacrifice of the cross is the “one mediator between God and man” (1 Timothy 2:5), the “High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews5:10). The one priesthood of Christ is made present in the ministerial priesthood.

“Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers.” (Saint Thomas Aquinas)

special

323. Why is this sacrament called Holy Orders?
1537-1538
Orders designates an ecclesial body into which one enters by means of a special consecration (ordination). Through a special gift of the Holy Spirit, this sacrament enables the ordained to exercise a sacred power in the name and with the authority of Christ for the service of the People of God.

apostles

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS

322. What is the sacrament of Holy Orders?
1536
It 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.

mission

CHAPTER THREE

The Sacraments at the Service of Communion and Mission

321. What are the sacraments at the service of communion and mission?
1533-1535
Two sacraments, Holy Orders and Matrimony, confer a special grace for a particular mission in the Church to serve and build up the People of God. These sacraments contribute in a special way to ecclesial communion and to the salvation of others.