Ordination to the Permanent Diaconate | Credit: Catholic Courier

Article 6. The Sacrament of Holy Orders

In Brief (cont’d)

(1596) 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.

(1597) 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.

(1598) The Church confers the sacrament of Holy Orders only on baptized men (viri), whose suitability for the exercise of the ministry has been duly recognized. Church authority alone has the responsibility and right to call someone to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders.

Diaconate Ordination at the Altar of the Chair, Basilica of St. Peter, Rome | Credit: Pontifical North American College, Rome

Article 6. The Sacrament of Holy Orders

III. The Three Degrees of the Sacrament of Holy Orders

The ordination of priests—co-workers of the bishops (cont’d)

(1568) “All priests, who are constituted in the order of priesthood by the sacrament of Order, are bound together by an intimate sacramental brotherhood, but in a special way they form one priestly body in the diocese to which they are attached under their own bishop. . . .” The unity of the presbyterium finds liturgical expression in the custom of the presbyters’ imposing hands, after the bishop, during the rite of ordination.

The ordination of deacons—”in order to serve”

(1569) “At a lower level of the hierarchy are to be found deacons, who receive the imposition of hands ‘not unto the priesthood, but unto the ministry.’” At an ordination to the diaconate only the bishop lays hands on the candidate, thus signifying the deacon’s special attachment to the bishop in the tasks of his “diakonia.”

In the Chapel of St. Raphael at St. John Vianney College Seminary, there is mural on the wall directly behind the sanctuary that illustrates the missionary activity of the Catholic Church. The mural quotes Sacred Scripture by stating: “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” In the midst of the contemporary piece of art completed by Gabriel Loire, those who enter the chapel are reminded of their baptismal call of bringing the salvific message of Jesus Christ to the entire world.

Over the last several months of seminary formation, the mural in the seminary’s chapel has been speaking to me more and more each day. As many of you have read in my blog posts over the last couple of years, the discernment of the priesthood of Jesus Christ is not easy.

The Church asks a lot of someone who is in the discernment process of becoming a priest. We are asked to take a look at the deepest recesses of our hearts and examine who we are at our inner most cores. That journey can be very painful at times because all of us begin to open wounds and hurts that we have experienced throughout our lives. When we recall those events, we are asked to bring them to spiritual direction to find healing. Over the past couple of years, as I have taken this inward journey, I have begun to discover who I am and what the Lord is asking me to do with my life.