San Francisco Vocations
The Priesthood
What is a priest?
A priest is inseparably one with Christ and with the Church. By baptism he shares in the priesthood of all believers. By ordination he is given a new relationship to Christ and to the community - he becomes configured to Christ, shepherd, head, and high priest, and represents Christ to the Church and to the world. He also represents the Church in her mission to be the sacrament of salvation to the world. The priest reminds the entire community of the baptized of its call to service in the name of Christ prophet, priest, and servant of the kingdom of God. A priest is a servant leader in the Catholic Christian community; he is called to minister in the manner of Christ who "came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).
A priest represents the Church's teaching and tradition, sensitive to God's presence in his people and his movement in their history. A priest serves the local community for which he is ordained and the universal Church of Christ, one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.
How do you become a priest?
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.
Episcopate
The bishop receives the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders. As successors of the apostles and members of the episcopal college, the bishops share in the apostolic responsibility and mission of the whole Church under the authority of the Pope, successor of St. Peter.
Presbyterate
Priests are called to be the bishops' prudent co-workers. They form around their bishop the presbyterium which bears responsibility with him for the particular Church. They receive from the bishop the charge of a parish community or a determinate ecclesial office.
Diaconate
Deacons are ministers ordained for tasks of service of the Church; they do not receive the ministerial priesthood, but ordination confers on them important functions in the ministry of the word, divine worship, pastoral governance, and the service of charity, tasks which they must carry out under the pastoral authority of their bishop.
Laying on of hands
The sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by the laying on of hands followed by a solemn prayer of consecration asking God to grant the ordinand the graces of the Holy Spirit required for his ministry. Ordination imprints an indelible sacramental character. It is bishops who confer the sacrament of Holy Orders in the three degrees.
