Dictionary:
cler·gy (klûr'jē)  |
The body of people ordained for religious service. See Usage Note at collective noun.
[Middle English clergie, from Old French (from Vulgar Latin *clercīa , from Late Latin clēricus; see clerk) and from Old French clergié, body of clerks (from Vulgar Latin *clercātus , from Late Latin clēricātus , from clēricus, clerk, cleric).]
| Antonyms: clergy |
| French Literature Companion: Clergy |
During the Middle Ages and the ancien régime, the Catholic clergy formed the First Estate in the French society of orders. Its members and institutions were privileged, exempt from military service and from most taxes, such as the taille, octrois, aides, on the grounds that the Church's true function was to pray to God. In processions the clergy usually came first. Clerical justice existed alongside royal justice, and although the Gallican Church was inextricably bound up with the monarchy, it was also a fully distinct institution with representation. From the 1580s a Grande Assemblée du Clergé met every ten years with a petite assemblée taking place five years later, and a number of special assemblies were called; all of these might discuss questions of finance and theology.
The order was divided into secular clergy—archbishops, bishops, abbés, canons, curés, vicaires, deacons—and the regular clergy of the religious orders. A further distinction was made between the upper clergy of bishops and abbots, and the lower clergy of monks, curés, and canons (but note that the term abbé was commonly used to mean any priest having taken orders, not just wealthy abbots). This clerical divide was both social and economic: the upper clergy was recruited overwhelmingly (about 85 per cent from 1600 to 1789) from the nobility, with an increasing tendency towards the older and sword nobility; the lower clergy came from the bourgeoisie, the artisanal class, and the richer peasantry, with a decided decline in social origins taking place from the mid-18th c. The regular clergy of Benedictines, Cistercians, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Augustines had been founded chiefly from the 10th to the 13th centuries, the Minims in 1440. As the nature of piety altered so too did the nature of vocations, and the foundations of the 17th c. were rarely for mendicants but rather for more active orders. The two decades before the Revolution saw a rapid decline in the number of regulars, by about one-third.
The Catholic Church was immensely wealthy; its many separate institutions owned together about 10-20 per cent of France, with consequent seigneurial dues and rents. Half of its revenue came from the clerical tithe, the dîme, paid by Catholics and representing about 7 per cent (an average from wide local variations) of the crop, levied usually in kind. However, although the clergy avoided taxation by paying a ‘free gift’ (don gratuit) to the king, the crown siphoned off some wealth in the form of loans secured upon the Church which were never in fact repaid. The lower clergy was poor. Incomes were very low, a portion congrue for a curé being 200-300 livres in the 17th c., rising to 500 livres after 1768, while vicaires received sometimes less than 100 livres. Differences of wealth and the evident misuse of the riches of the Church fuelled the hostility of the lower clergy to the episcopal establishment. The revenues of the upper clergy were large—episcopal incomes averaged 30, 000-40, 000 livres in the 18th c., with many sees bringing in twice that amount or more—and this wealth enabled younger sons of the nobility to live in a truly noble style. The Concordat of Bologna (1519) had seen the papacy recognize clerical sees as an important element in the royal system of appointments and therefore of patronage, with a portion of revenues often being diverted to non-clerical candidates through the ‘commendatory’ benefice. Benefices were conferred on suitable candidates by the king's confessor and some influential councillors; under Louis XIV the feuille des bénéfices was held by the Jesuit Pères La Chaise and Le Tellier successively.
In the Middle Ages neither the secular clergy nor the laity was always ‘Christian’ according to the definition inculcated after the 16th-c. Catholic reformation associated with the Council of Trent [see Counter-Reformation]. Before this, clerics were frequently uneducated, absent from their sees, of dissolute habits, and unable to fulfil their pastoral duties, while Catholicism was a mixture of animism, popular religion, ‘pagan’ rituals, and often ill-understood received theology. A reform was long overdue [see also Reformation]. The great age of religious renewal was the 17th c., ‘the century of saints’, the first half of which witnessed the wider establishment of the Jesuits in France and the foundation of numerous new orders by devoted Christians such as Bérulle (the Oratorians), St François de Sales (the Visitandines), St Vincent de Paul (the Lazarists, the Sisters of Charity), and Angélique Arnauld, who reformed the convent of Port-Royal. Around the mid-century seminaries were founded to train priests, and by the end of Louis XIV's reign almost every diocese had one. Congrégations specialized in charitable care, teaching, and missionary work, with the numerous female orders offering opportunities for active participation by daughters of the bourgeoisie and nobility. The result was a better-trained, active, and missionary clergy able to persuade and pressurize the population to adopt the more interior and hierarchical vision of the Church.
With education of the priesthood, theological differences developed wider constituencies—for example, on the question of grace debated between Jansenists and Jesuits—and the lower clergy began to assert its rights vis-à-vis the episcopate according to the arguments of Edmond Richer. In the 18th c. the clergy was divided by Jansenism and under assault from the Enlightenment. Although many curés welcomed the Revolution at first, it was to bring turmoil to the clergy, nationalizing Church property, abolishing the religious orders, and requiring a divisive oath to the Constitution Civile in 1791; poverty, strife, and persecution was the lot of bishops and priests as anticlericalism took root, together with a renewal of popular and superstitious religious practices in many areas.
The 19th c. brought recovery and renewal for the clergy, whose numbers had drastically fallen. From 1796 to 1880 nearly 400 new congrégations were founded, and the number of nuns increased tenfold to 130, 000. A feminization of piety occurred as women in a male-dominated society responded to the opportunity for self-fulfilment as sisters, and the Marian cult flourished. The parish priesthood expanded rapidly under the Second Empire to 56, 000 priests in 1869 for 42, 000 parishes; they were now better educated but, under the anticlerical Third Republic, poor and beleaguered village notables of the Right, often subservient to the local élite. Recruitment was mainly from rural areas in what have, since the Revolution, remained traditionally Catholic and conservative regions: the west, Brittany, the Massif Central, and Lorraine.
The 1880s marked a high point for vocations, followed by stabilization and, since World War II, drastic decline. Society was becoming increasingly secular, with only nominal Catholicism for rites of passage being practised by more than 50 per cent in 1986. Diocesan priests fell in number from 46, 000 in 1960 to 28, 695 in 1985, of whom only 10 per cent were under 40, and ordinations have fallen back to the low level of the era of the Revolution, only 100 a year. The Church responded to the crisis of declining numbers and increasing age of the clergy by ending its hostile relationship to the State and muting the harsher approach of the lay Action Catholique movement with its emphasis on authority, in the face of more ‘popular’ religious opinions among the laity. [For more recent developments, see Catholicism in 20th-Century France.]
[Peter Campbell]
Bibliography
| History 1450-1789: Clergy |
This entry includes three subentries:
| Word Tutor: clergy |
The clergy are often held to a higher standard than other people.
| Wikipedia: Clergy |
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term ultimately comes from the Greek κλῆρος - klēros, "a lot", "that which is assigned by lot" (allotment) or metaphorically, "inheritence".[1]
Depending on the religion, clergy usually take care of the ritual aspects of the religious life, teach or otherwise help in spreading the religion's doctrine and practices. They often deal with life-cycle events such as childbirth, baptism, circumcision, coming of age ceremonies and death.
A priesthood is a body of priests, shamans, or oracles who have special religious authority or function. The term priest is derived from the Greek presbyter (πρεσβύτερος, presbýteros, elder or senior), but is often used in the sense of sacerdos in particular, i.e., for clergy performing ritual within the sphere of the sacred or numinous (ta hiera) communicating with the gods on behalf of the community.
There is a significant difference between clergy and theologians; clergy have the above-mentioned duties while theologians are scholars of religion and theology, and are not necessarily clergy. A lay person can be a theologian.
In Christianity there is a wide range of formal and informal clergy positions, including deacons, priests, bishops, and ministers. In Shiaa Islam, religious leaders are usually known as imams or ayatollahs.
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Historical polytheistic (pagan) religions typically combine religious authority and political power. The dual function of political leader and high priest in some instances is even sublimed in deification (imperial cult), as e.g. in the case of the Egyptian Pharaohs. The sacred king combines the offices of kingship and priesthood. Historical Vedic priesthood is an early example of a structured body of clergy organized as a separate and hereditary caste.
Rabbi Hazzan or Cantor (Jewish)
Judaism does not have clergy as such, although in the religion as given to Moses by God, there is a formal Priestly tribe known as the Kohanim who were leaders of the religion up to the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70AD when most Sadducees were wiped out; each member of the tribe, a Kohen had priestly duties, many of which centered around the sacrificial duties, atonement and blessings of the Israelite nation. Today, Jewish Kohanim know their status by family tradition and DNA, and still offer the priestly blessing during certain services in the synagogue and perform the Pidyon Ha-ben (redemption of the first-born son) ceremony.
Since the time of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, the religious leaders of Judaism have been the rabbis, who are technically scholars in Jewish law empowered to act as judges in a rabbinical court. The leadership of a Jewish congregation is, in fact, in the hands of the laity: the president of a synagogue is its actual leader and any adult Jew (or at least any male in Orthodox congregations) can lead prayer services. Rabbis are not intermediaries between God and man: the word "rabbi" means "teacher", and the rabbi functions as advisor to the congregation and counselor. The rabbi is not an occupation found in the Torah (Five books of Moses); the first time this word is mentioned is in the Mishnah. The modern form of the rabbi developed in the Talmudic era. Rabbis are given authority to make interpretations of Jewish law and custom. Traditionally, a man obtains one of three levels of Semicha (rabbinic ordination) after the completion of an arduous learning program in Torah, Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), Mishnah and Talmud, Midrash, Jewish ethics and lore, the codes of Jewish law and responsa, theology and philosophy.
Since the early medieval era an additional communal role, the Hazzan (cantor) has existed as well. Cantors have sometimes been the only functionaries of a synagogue, empowered to undertake religio-civil functions like witnessing marriages. Cantors do provide leadership of actual services, primarily because of their training and expertise in the music and prayer rituals pertaining to them, rather than because of any spiritual or "sacramental" distinction between them and the laity. Cantors as much as rabbis have been recognized by civil authorities in the United States as clergy for legal purposes, mostly for awarding education degrees and their ability to perform weddings, and certify births and deaths.
Additionally, Jewish authorities license mohels, men specially trained by experts in Jewish law and usually also by medical professionals to perform the ritual of circumcision. In many places, mohels are also licensed by civil authorities, as circumcision is technically a surgical procedure. Kohanim, who must avoid contact with dead human body parts (such as the removed foreskin) for ritual purity, cannot act as mohels, but some mohels are also either rabbis or cantors.
Another licensed cleric in Judaism is the shochet, who are trained and licensed by religious authorities for kosher slaughter according to ritual law. A Kohen may be a shochet. Most shochetim are ordained rabbis.
Only Orthodox Judaism maintains all of these traditional, fundamental requirements. Women are forbidden from becoming rabbis or cantors in the Orthodox world largely for halakhic reasons, primarily because this would affect many aspects of communal observances and practices. Most Orthodox rabbinical seminaries or Yeshiva's also require dedication of many years to education, but few require a formal degree from a civil education institutions that often define Christian clergy. The training in Jewish Law can be rigorous and extensive depending on the Teacher and School quality which varies widely, but critical thinking is encouraged. Some Orthodox Yeshiva's forbid secular education diue to the perceived negative influence on the individual, though professional education is not discouraged. However, there are many schools (yeshivas) that call themselves "modern" that function as colleges or universities, and which do offer formal, accredited degrees, including master's degrees in Music, Mathematics, Science, History in Religious Education, in Hebrew Letters and similar studies for cantors and rabbis. An example of this would be the Yeshiva University.
In Hasidic Judaism, generally understood as a branch of Orthodox Judaism, there are dynastic spiritual leaders known as Rebbes, often translated in English as "Grand Rabbi". The office of Rebbe is generally a hereditary one, may may also be passed from Rebbe to student, or recognized by a congregation conferring a sort of coronation to their new Rebbe. Although one does not need to be an ordained Rabbi to be a Rebbe, most Rebbes today are ordained Rabbis. Since one does not need to be an ordained Rabbi to be a Rebbe, some points in history there were female Rebbes as well, particularly the Maiden of Ludmir.
Conservative Judaism maintains all of these traditional requirements. Yet, women are allowed to become rabbis and cantors in the Conservative movement, and, as of late, homosexuals. Conservative Judaism differs with Orthodoxy in that it believes in Halakha Jewish Law as evolving with History and binding. However, the academic requirements are rigorous, as Conservative Judaism adds the following subjects as requirements for rabbinic ordination: one must first earn a bachelor's degree before entering the rabbinate. In addition studies are mandated in pastoral care and psychology, the historical development of Judaism and most importantly the academic study of Bible, Talmud and Rabbinic Literature, Philosophy and Theology, Liturgy, Jewish History, and Hebrew Literature of all periods.
Reconstructionist Judaism and Reform Judaism do not maintain the traditional requirements for study as rooted in Jewish Law and traditionalist text. Both men and women may be rabbis or cantors. The level of Jewish law, Talmud and responsa studied in five years of these denominations is similar to that learned in the first year of the more traditional Jewish seminaries. The rabbinical seminaries of these movements hold that one must first earn a bachelor's degree before entering the rabbinate. In addition studies are mandated in pastoral care and psychology, the historical development of Judaism; and academic biblical criticism. Emphasis is placed not on Jewish law, but rather on sociology, modern Jewish philosophy, Theology and Pastoral Care. Hebrew Union College is the seminary of the Reform Movement.
The Buddhist clergy is often referred to as the Sangha, and consists of the order of monks (bhikshus) and nuns (bhikshunis) founded by Gautama Buddha during the 5th century BC, as well as lay priests and ngagpas. According to scriptural records, these monks and nuns lived an austere life of meditation, living as wandering beggars for nine months out of the year. In modern times, however, the role of Buddhist clergy can vary greatly across different countries. For instance, some sects in Korea, Japan, Buddhist clergy do not take the ordination of a monk or nun but take alternate ordination which allows them to marry. Likewise, there are some lamas who are ngagpas, who do not receive monastic ordination. On the other hand, countries practicing Theravada Buddhism, such as Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka, tend to take a much more conservative view of monastic life, and continue to observe precepts that forbid monks from touching women or working in certain secular roles.
While female monastic (bhikkhuni) lineages existed in most Buddhist countries at one time, the Theravada lineages of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka died out during the 14th-15th Century AD. The status and future of female Buddhist clergy in these countries continues to be a subject of debate. In countries without a formal female monastic lineage, women may take other religious roles, but they are generally not granted the same rights and privileges as recognized male monastics.
The diversity of Buddhist traditions makes it difficult to generalize about Buddhist clergy. In the United States, Pure Land priests of the Japanese diaspora serve a role very similar to Protestant ministers of the Christian tradition. Meanwhile, reclusive Theravada forest monks in Thailand live a life devoted to meditation and the practice of austerities in small communities in rural Thailand- a very different life from even their city-dwelling counterparts, who may be involved primarily in teaching, the study of scripture, and the administration of the nationally organized (and government sponsored) Sangha. In the Zen tradition, manual labor is an important part of religious discipline; meanwhile, in the Theravada tradition, prohibitions against monks working as laborers and farmers continue to be generally observed.
In general, Christian clergy are ordained; that is, they are set apart for specific ministry in religious rites. Others who have definite roles in worship but who are not ordained (e.g. laypeople acting as acolytes) are generally not considered clergy, even though they may require some sort of official approval to exercise these ministries.
Types of clerics are distinguished from offices, even when the latter are commonly or exclusively occupied by clerics. A Roman Catholic cardinal, for instance, is almost without exception a cleric, but a cardinal is not a type of cleric. An archbishop is not a distinct type of cleric, but is simply a bishop who occupies a particular position with special authority. Conversely, a youth minister at a parish may or may not be a cleric.
Different churches have different systems of clergy, though churches with similar polity have similar systems.
Ordained Catholic clergymen are deacons, priests, or bishops, i.e., they belong to the diaconate, the presbyterate, or the episcopate. Among bishops, some are metropolitans, archbishops, or patriarchs, and the Pope is the Bishop of Rome. With rare exceptions, cardinals are bishops, although it was not always so; formerly, some cardinals were unordained laymen and not clergymen. The Holy See supports the activity of its clergy by the Congregation for the Clergy ([4]), a dicastery of Roman curia.
Canon Law indicates (canon 107) that "by divine institution, there are in the Church [Latin: Ecclesia] clergy [Latin: clerices] distinguished from laics". This distinction of a separate class was formed in the early times of Christianity; one early source reflecting this distinction is the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch. The original clerics were the bishops (the Twelve Apostles) and the deacons (their seventy appointed assistants); the presbyterate actually developed as a sort of semi-bishop (cf. the disused chorepiskopos, "rural bishop"). In the Catholic Church, only men are allowed to be members of the clergy.
Catholic clerical organization is hierarchical in nature: before the reforms after the Second Vatican Council, the tonsure admitted a man to the clerical state, after which he could receive the four minor orders (ostiary, lectorate, order of exorcists, order of acolytes) and then the major orders of subdiaconate, diaconate, presbyterate, and finally the episcopate, which is defined in Catholic doctrine as "the fullness of Holy Orders". Today the minor orders and the subdiaconate have been replaced by lay ministries and the tonsure no longer takes place, the clerical state being tied to reception of Holy Orders rather than being symbolically part of a bishop's household.
The exceptions are certain papally-approved Indult Catholic societies[citation needed] as well as Eastern Catholic churches. In the Eastern Churches, clergy status is extended to all holders of minor orders[citation needed] (which are retained in these traditions) and seminarians. Thus, in eastern Churches, deacons, priests, bishops, etc... are all called "Father," while those not in Holy Orders are addressed most often as "Brother," despite the monastic implications of the title (in the Western or Latin Church, only priests are addressed as "Father," deacons are addressed as "Deacon", and bishops by various titles such as "Your Excellency," "Bishop," or "Most Reverend Father in God"). This distinction can lead to some inter-Ritual issues, such as the wearing of clerical apparel and the signing of one's name, especially if attending, living, or working in a mostly Roman Rite institution.
Monks and other religious are not necessarily part of the clergy, unless they have received Holy Orders. Thus, the unordained monks, nuns, friars, and religious brothers and sisters should not be considered part of the clergy. Holy Orders is one of the Seven Sacraments considered to be of Divine institution in Catholic doctrine.
As many colleges at Medieval universities were restricted to members of the clergy, the term also survives in students' organizations at some ancient universities, such as Goliardia. These are echoes of the Medieval Goliards, the clerici vagantes. The term clerici vagantes , or "wandering clerics," comes from the Medieval phenomenon of clergy who had either abandoned their diocese or otherwise lost their incardination, and so sometimes took to wandering as bands of entertainers particularly through university towns. The Council of Trent tried to abolish this use, and only in recent times the rule was restored that a clericus has a perpetual and absolute obligation to serve the diocese or the Order to which he is assigned; only with a special authorization he can be accepted in the jurisdiction of another diocese or of another Order.
Current canon law prescribes that to be ordained a priest, an education is required of two years of scholastic philosophy study, and 4 years of theology; dogmatic and moral theology, the Holy Scriptures, and canon law have to be studied within a seminary or an ecclesiastical faculty at a university. This reflects the scholastic and intellectual traditions of the Latin Church.
Promises of celibacy and obedience are required as a condition for ordination to the diaconate and priesthood in the Latin Rite (celibacy is not required, however, for permanent deacons who are already married, but they are forbidden from remarrying should their wife die); this is a disciplinary and administrative rule rather than a dogmatic and doctrinal one. Celibacy has taken many forms in different times and places. The Council in Trullo (Quinisextum Concilium) in 692 barred bishops from marrying, but did not prevent married men from becoming priests and excommunicated those deacons who divorced their spouses in order to become ordained. This rule is still followed for ordained deacons in the Latin Rite, as well as for priests in the Eastern Catholic Churches. Married men are not ordained priests in the Latin Rite, although married priests do exist who were ordained in the Anglican church and later received into the Roman Catholic Church.[2] Also Eastern Rite Catholics such as the Melkites follow Orthodox practice in allowing married men to the ranks of deacon and priest. See also Presbyterorum Ordinis for a modern statement of the nature of the Catholic priesthood.
Clergy have four classical rights:
The extent to which these rights are recognized under civil law varies dramatically from country to country, with traditionally Catholic countries being more inclined to respect these rights.
The clergy of the Orthodox Church are the bishops, priests, and deacons; the same offices identified in the New Testament and found in the early church. Bishops include archbishops, metropolitans, and patriarchs, all of which are considered honorifics. Priests (also called presbyters or elders) include archpriests, protopresbyters (protopriests), hieromonks (priest-monks) and archimandrites (senior hieromonks). Deacons also include hierodeacons (deacon-monks) archdeacons and protodeacons; subdeacons, however, are not deacons, and comprise a separate office that is not among the major clergy, as do readers, cantors, acolytes and others. In practice, ordination to deacon, priest or bishop is carried out by a sacramental ordination (cheirotonia) but ordination to subdeacon, reader or cantor is by lesser ordination (cheirothesia). Ordination to bishop, priest, deacon or subdeacon must be conferred during the Eucharist and no more than a single individual can be ordained to a particular rank in any one service. Bishops are usually drawn from the ranks of the archimandrites, and are required to be celibate; however, a non-monastic priest may be ordained to the episcopate if he no longer lives with his wife (following Canon XII of the Quinisext Council)[3]. In contemporary usage such a non-monastic priest is usually tonsured to the monastic state at some point prior to his consecration to the episcopacy. Although not a formal or canonical prerequisite, nowadays bishops are normally required to have attained a University degree, usually but not necessarily in theology.
Usual titles are Your Holiness for a patriarch (with Your All-Holiness for the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople), Your Beatitude for an archbishop in charge of an autocephalous church, Your Eminence for an archbishop, Master or Your Grace for a bishop and Father for priests, deacons and monks[4] though there are variations between the various Orthodox Churches.
Orthodox priests, deacons, and subdeacons may not marry after ordination, but a married man may be ordained. Remarriage of clergy following divorce or widowhood is forbidden. Married clergy are considered as best-suited to staff parishes, as a priest with a family is thought better qualified to counsel his flock.[5]
In Anglicanism clergy consist of the orders of deacons, priests (presbyters) and bishops in ascending order of seniority. Canon, archdeacon, archbishop and the like are specific positions within these orders. Bishops are typically overseers, presiding over a diocese composed of many parishes, with an archbishops presiding over a province, which is a group of dioceses. A parish (generally a single church) is looked after by one or more priests, although one priest may be responsible for several parishes. New clergy are ordained deacons. Those seeking to become priests are usually ordained priest after a year. Since the 1960s some Anglican churches have reinstituted the diaconate as a permanent, rather than transitional, order of ministry focused on ministry that bridges the church and the world, especially ministry to those on the margins of society.
For the forms of address for Anglican clergy, see Forms of Address in the United Kingdom.
Before the ordination of women as deacons, priests and bishops began within Anglicanism they could be ordained as 'deaconesses'. Although they were usually considered having a ministry distinct from deacons they often had similar ministerial responsibilities.
In Anglican churches all clergy are permitted to marry. In most national churches women may become deacons or priests, but while fifteen out of 38 national churches allow for women bishops, only four have ordained any. Celebration of the Eucharist is reserved for priests and bishops.
National Anglican churches are presided over by one or more primates or metropolitans (archbishops or presiding bishops). The senior archbishop of the Anglican Communion is the Archbishop of Canterbury, who acts as leader of the Church of England and 'first among equals' of the primates of all Anglican churches.
Being a deacon, priest or bishop is considered a function of the person and not a job. When priests retire they are still priests even if they no longer have any active ministry. However, they only hold the basic rank after retirement. Thus a retired archbishop can only be considered a bishop (though it is possible to refer to 'Bishop John Smith, the former Archbishop of York'), a canon or archdeacon is a priest on retirement and does not hold any additional honorifics.
Clergy in Protestantism fill a wide variety of roles and functions. In many denominations, such as Methodism, Presbyterianism, and Lutheranism, the roles of clergy are similar to Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, in that they hold an ordained pastoral or priestly office, administer the sacraments, proclaim the word, lead a local church or parish, and so forth. The Baptist tradition only recognizes two ordained positions in the church as being the elders (pastors) and deacons as outlined in the third chapter of I Timothy in the Bible. The Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) ordains pastors as a public vow of confirmation rather than a rite. The title of Pastor is used but officially the position is considered an elder. Within the denomination there are two types of elders, teaching (pastor) and leading (leaders of the congregation, a council of sorts).
The process of being designated as a member of the Protestant clergy, as well as that of being assigned to a particular office, varies with the denomination or faith group. Some Protestant denominations, such as Methodism, Presbyterianism, and Lutheranism, are hierarchical in nature; and ordination and assignment to individual pastorates or other ministries are made by the parent denominations. In other traditions, such as the Baptist and other Congregational groups, local churches are free to hire (and often ordain) their own clergy, although the parent denominations typically maintain lists of suitable candidates seeking appointment to local church ministries and encourage local churches to consider these individuals when filling available positions.
Some Protestant denominations require that candidates for ordination be "licensed" to the ministry for a period of time (typically one to three years) prior to being ordained. This period typically is spent performing the duties of ministry under the guidance, supervision, and evaluation of a more senior, ordained minister. In some denominations, however, licensure is a permanent, rather than a transitional state for ministers assigned to certain specialized ministries, such as music ministry or youth ministry.
All Protestant denominations reject the idea (following Luther) that the clergy are a separate category of people, but rather stress the priesthood of all believers. Based on this theological approach, Protestants do not have a sacrament of ordination like the pre-Reformation churches. Protestant ordination, therefore, can be viewed more as a public statement by the ordaining body that an individual possesses the theological knowledge, moral fitness, and practical skills required for service in that faith group's ministry.
Some Protestant denominations dislike the word clergy and do not use it of their own leaders. Often they refer to their leaders as pastors or ministers, titles that, if used, sometimes apply to the person only as long as he or she holds a particular office.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a lay clergy of unpaid priesthood holders. No formal theological training is required. All clergy members are called by revelation and the laying on of hands by one who holds authority.
Jesus Christ stands at the head of the church and leads the church through revelation given to a living prophet and Twelve Apostles. The Prophet and Apostles lead over the quorums of the seventy which are assigned geographically over several "stakes" within the church. Each stake has a stake president who has two counselors and a high council which preside over the stake. The stake is made up of several congregations called "wards" or "branches." Individual congregations ("wards") are led by a Bishop or branch president who was called to his position by the church's hierarchical leadership, and he serves until released from the position.[6]
Generally, all worthy males at (or above) the age of 12 are ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood as deacons, teachers or priests, authorizing them to perform certain ordinances and sacraments, and adult males are ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood, as elders, seventies, or high priests in that priesthood, which is concerned with spiritual leadership of the church. Although the term "clergy" is not typically used in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it would most appropriately apply to ward bishops and stake presidents. Merely holding an office in the priesthood does not imply authority over other church members or agency to act on behalf of the church.
Sunni Islam is non-clerical. The term "imam" is generically used to refer to various forms of religious leadership, ranging from the leader of a small group prayer to a scholar of religion, none of which involve any sort of religious ordination. In Shia Islam, the term "imam" has more specific meanings. The Ulema are the class of Muslim scholars primarily devoted to the study of and, in some governments, the implementation of the Shari'a, or Islamic Law.
Sikhism strongly recognizes the Guru of Sikhism as its Supreme Authority on Earth. But in events of a need of a more of physical authority then the five Jathedars of the five holy Takhts are to be approached. As they are considered as the Supreme Temporal authority of Sikhism.
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"Priesthood". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Priesthood.This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| Translations: Clergy |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - gejstlighed
Nederlands (Dutch)
geestelijkheid, geestelijken
Deutsch (German)
n. - Geistlichkeit, Klerus
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (θρησκ.) κλήρος, ιερατείο
Português (Portuguese)
n. - clero (m)
Español (Spanish)
n. - clero, clerecía
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - prästerskap
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
圣职者, 僧侣, 牧师
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 聖職者, 僧侶, 牧師
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) الكهنه
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - כמרים, כמורה
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Antonyms. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| French Literature Companion. The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Copyright © 1995, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| History 1450-1789. Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved. eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; free trial. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Clergy". Read more |
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| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
