This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church's very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope.Ĩ82. "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head" (LG 22 # 2). He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock (Cf. The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. Peter and the rest of the apostles constitute a single apostolic college, so in like fashion the Roman Pontiff, Peter's successor, and the bishops, the successors of the apostles, are related with and united to one another" (LG 22 cf. When Christ instituted the Twelve, "he constituted in the form of a college or permanent assembly, at the head of which he placed Peter, chosen from among them" (LG 19 cf. The episcopal college and its head, the PopeĨ80. Peter, and in the relationship between the bishop's pastoral responsibility for his particular church and the common solicitude of the episcopal college for the universal Church. This is evidenced by the bonds between the episcopal college and its head, the successor of St. Sacramental ministry in the Church, then, is at once a collegial and a personal service, exercised in the name of Christ. Mt 4:19-21 Jn 1:4) in order to be a personal witness within the common mission, to bear personal responsibility before him who gives the mission, acting "in his person" and for other persons: "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Each one is called personally: "You, follow me" (Jn 21:22 Cf. Although Christ's ministers act in communion with one another, they also always act in a personal way. Finally, it belongs to the sacramental nature of ecclesial ministry that it have a personal character. So also priests exercise their ministry from within the presbyterium of the diocese, under the direction of their bishop.Ĩ78. For this reason every bishop exercises his ministry from within the episcopal college, in communion with the bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Chosen together, they were also sent out together, and their fraternal unity would be at the service of the fraternal communion of all the faithful: they would reflect and witness to the communion of the divine persons (Cf. In fact, from the beginning of his ministry, the Lord Jesus instituted the Twelve as "the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy" (AG 5). Likewise, it belongs to the sacramental nature of ecclesial ministry that it have a collegial character. Because the word and grace of which they are ministers are not their own, but are given to them by Christ for the sake of others, they must freely become the slaves of all (Cf.
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Rom 1:1), in the image of him who freely took "the form of a slave" for us (Phil 2:7). Entirely dependent on Christ who gives mission and authority, ministers are truly "slaves of Christ" (Cf. Intrinsically linked to the sacramental nature of ecclesial ministry is its character as service. Indeed, the ministry of the Church is conferred by a special sacrament.Ĩ76. The ministry in which Christ's emissaries do and give by God's grace what they cannot do and give by their own powers, is called a "sacrament" by the Church's tradition. From him, they receive the mission and faculty ("the sacred power") to act in persona Christi Capitis.
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This fact presupposes ministers of grace, authorized and empowered by Christ.
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No one can bestow grace on himself it must be given and offered. The one sent by the Lord does not speak and act on his own authority, but by virtue of Christ's authority not as a member of the community, but speaking to it in the name of Christ. No one can give himself the mandate and the mission to proclaim the Gospel. No one - no individual and no community - can proclaim the Gospel to himself: "Faith comes from what is heard" (Rom 10:17). "How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? and how are they to hear without a preacher? and how can men preach unless they are sent?" (Rom 10:14:15). The holders of office, who are invested with a sacred power, are, in fact, dedicated to promoting the interests of their brethren, so that all who belong to the People of God. “In order to shepherd the People of God and to increase its numbers without cease, Christ the Lord set up in his Church a variety of offices which aim at the good of the whole body. He gave her authority and mission, orientation and goal: Christ is himself the source of ministry in the Church. The Hierarchical Constitution of the Church Why the ecclesial ministry?Ĩ74.