Ordination is perhaps the sacrament about which most Catholics have thought about least. Sure, we know that Father was \u201cordained.\u201d And maybe we can list the \u201cbishop, priest, and deacon\u201d as the kinds of people who are ordained. [Although, there are quite a few people in our pews, who confuse the Sacrament of Order (sometimes called \u201cHoly Orders\u201d) with religious orders (Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, Jesuits, etc.).]<\/p>\n
Probably very few Catholics have spent much time thinking about why \u201cordination\u201d is called that, or how the ways that we talk about it affect the ways that we speak about the church and its mission. Perhaps in the current situation, it\u2019s time to revisit these questions. Since I write on this sacrament, I will periodically offer a reflection on an aspect of thinking about it during this year. Today, I\u2019d like to start by thinking about why it\u2019s called what it is.<\/p>\n
Sacramentum Ordinis<\/em> translates as the \u201cSacrament of Order.\u201d For some reason, in English, it is often translated \u201cSacrament of Orders,\u201d but the difference matters. When we talk about \u201corders\u201d we are primed to think of the orders of deacons, of priests, and of bishops, which is<\/em> language that we use in describing the effects of the sacrament. But this can lead us in two different and problematic directions.<\/p>\n First, it can encourage us to think of the sacrament only in terms of a grace that is given to an individual. We do, in fact, talk about \u201cthe indelible mark\u201d of ordination, because it, like baptism and confirmation is an unrepeatable sacrament that permanently changes the person\u2019s place within the church.<\/p>\n Second, it can lead us to think of the ordained as belonging to a number of parallel clubs. \u201cHe was inducted into the order of deacons\u201d can make ordination seem to be the same kind of thing as becoming a member of the Moose or the Rotarians. Here, we can lose the connection not only of the orders to each other, but to the church.<\/p>\n And this is where I think the singularity of the name of the Sacrament of Order can cause us to think more carefully about these things. If there is, in fact, only one Order, then we cannot primarily think of that order as either a group (because there are different groups who are ordained) or a power. Because deacons are ordained \u201cnot to the priesthood, but to ministry\u201d (LG \u00a729), they are not \u201csemi-priests\u201d as we might think of them as if we think of the various ordinations as being the giving of more \u201cpowers\u201d each time.<\/p>\n Instead, it encourages us to remember that all of the sacraments have ecclesial effects. Baptism builds up the Body of Christ, Confirmation deputes the Baptized to the Eucharist, the Eucharist \u201cmakes the church\u201d (to quote Paul McPartlan).<\/p>\n Order, then, \u201corders\u201d the body of Christ. It places some of the baptized in particular and necessary ministries in a permanent way (the traditional language of an \u201cindelible mark\u201d). It gives them the rights, duties and abilities to serve the church in these ways (the traditional language of \u201cpowers\u201d). But it does so by giving order to the Body. In this way, deacons, priests, and bishops are different orders, but not in a way that endangers the unity of the Sacrament of Order (for there is only one order) or that divides the church (because the order that it creates is the structure of the church).<\/p>\n Finally, it lets us distinguish between those who have been ordained and the \u201ccommon priesthood of the baptized\u201d without dividing the church in half. Because, as Paul reminds us, a body is a body precisely because it is ordered in difference. If we consider how it is that we are able to hear, it is because our ears are ordered in a particular way such that different parts are ordered to each other in ways that make each necessary \u2014 remove any of them and the ear is not an ear that does what it is supposed to do well.<\/p>\n We are not always good at engaging questions of diversity and unity well, especially in the church. And there\u2019s certainly a temptation to think of the ministerial and the common priesthood as being in competition with each other. I\u2019ll talk more about that in the next of these columns.<\/p>\n Order is beautiful. But requires that we value difference. As Paul repeatedly reminds his churches, the Body is made up of many parts that have different callings, and none of which are the body without the others. We see the beauty of the Sacrament of Order best when the local church is gathered around the altar. In the Eucharist, we are gathered together with our Bishop whose thanksgiving to God is assisted by the priests, the deacons, and the baptized. Here is a new order that is to be an image of the Reign of God.<\/p>\n When, however, we forget that the order that is given is given for the sake of the whole, and not as a personal prerogative for those who are ordained, then we turn Order against the kingdom, and against Christ\u2019s body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first of a series on the Sacrament of Order. This piece begins to consider why the sacrament has that name and why the latin name is singular (“order”) and not plural (“orders”). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":44033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3117,19,25,31,32],"tags":[3284,703,3159],"class_list":["post-44031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-scholarship-new-ws","category-mass","category-ordained-ministry","category-sacramental-theology","category-vatican-ii","tag-church-structure","tag-ecclesiology","tag-sacrament-of-order"],"yoast_head":"\n