What is the role of a vicar?

Answer 1

A Vicar is a priest who substitutes for his bishop. The term is used in the Church of England (and some others) for the senior priest given "care of souls" in a particular parish his assistants are sometimes called curates or just assistant priests. In the Roman Catholic Church a Vicar is the agent of a prelate for example the Vicar General is the Bishop's chief assistant in a diocese.

Additional Comments:

The Pope uses the title Vicar of Christ (among others) as a symbol of the belief that he is a human substitute for Christ in the administration of His Church on Earth. As the subsequent answer shows this title has been hotly disputed by some and modern Popes tend to prefer the title "Servant of the Servants of God".

Another Answer:

A Vicar is a substitute, Jesus was our substitute. Jesus Christ was God in the flesh and he came to this earth and died on the cross of Calvary to pay for our sins. When Christ died he became our sin according to II Corinthians 5:21 then I PETER 2:20-25 says the he took our sin in his own body on the tree. So the scripture teaches that Christs death on Calvary was a substitution for me. He did not deserve to die but he took my sin upon his self and seeing that the wages of sin is death Christ died for my sin! After being dead for three days he raised from the dead and The Bible says that he was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. This is because he ever liveth to make intercession for us (see 1 Timothy 2:5 with term 'mediator' same as intercessor).

Additional Comment:

An official in a church.

Answer 2

Vicars are parish priests working in the Church of England or the worldwide Anglican Church. In the Church of England both men and women are able to become priests.

As to the priestly role, the vicar, as a priest, performs all the duties of a normal priest - to take sacramental worship (eg Holy Communion) to pronounce forgiveness of sins and God's blessing on people. The vicar preaches God's word, and takes a pastoral role for everyone under his charge. His or her duties include the performance of ceremonies and services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals. In fact, any normal offices that are conducted by a Roman Catholic priest are conducted by a vicar in his or her priestly role. Vicars obviously spend Sundays conducting services, but spend most of the rest of the week in prayr and study, pastoral care of parishioners, visiting, varios meetings and a great deal of administration. Usually vicars take a 'sabbath' day - a day of rest a stipulated in the Bible - but on a diifferent day. My wife is a vicar in the Church of England takes a day off on Mondays to ensure that batteries are recharged.

However, a vicar has another role as vicar. In the Church of England the church is split up into areas roughly county-sized called dioceses which are overseen pastorally by a bishop (or bishops in large dioceses). Each diocese is split iinto smaller areas known as archdeaconries and even smaller areas (usually town-sized) called deaneries which are administered by a local parish priest or vicar with the special role as a 'rural dean'. Finally, each deanery is split into areas called parishes each of which have their own church and vicar (although nowadays, in smaller parishes, one vicar might have responsibility for more than one parish). A vicar, by virtue of his or her role, is given, by the Bishop, what is called 'The cure of souls' of the parish - in other words he or she is responsible for the spiritual pastoral care of everyone in that parish, whether or not they come to church. This means that in the Church of England, everyone - whether a church goer or not, has the right to pastoral help via their local vicar

Answer 3

A vicar is the name given to a parish priest in the Anglican Church. Vicars have several roles: 1. Spiritual - they are responsible for leading services in the parish church Sunday by Sunday, and are expected to say the offices of Morning and Evening Prayer daily. They are there to pray for their parish, and to encourage others in prayer, church involvement and leadership. They are responsible for preaching the Word of God from the pulpit each week and therefore are expected to study the Bible and the Christian Faith and to pass on this to others. 2. Pastoral - Unlike other priests or ministers, vicars do not have the responsibility of the pastoral care of those in their church. Vicars, as priests in the Established Church, have the 'cure of souls' (as it is called) of the parish - so that they have the responsibility of pastoral and spiritual care of all their parishioners whether church members or not. Vicars, therefore, need to have an ear to the ground and to be on hand during high and low times in their parishioners' lives - births, baptisms, weddings, bereavements, funerals and so on. 3. Administrative - Vicars have a role to play in the administrative needs of their parish church - from chairing the church council, to acting as a registrar in weddings. 4. Evangelism - as evangelists vicars are called to spread the Word of God to those in their parish - and beyond where possible. 5. Social - Vicars are expected to take part in or at least have contact with, secular organisations within their parish (at least, appropriate ones) - such as the Women's Institute, clubs and societies, schools (sometimes as a governor), sheltered housing, and so on. All of these aspects need be surrounded in prayer. However, vicars are expected to work on a Sunday - the normal 'sabbath' of everyone else. To compensate, vicars are expected to take another day off instead (e.g. Monday or Tuesday) and this day is expected to be sacrosanct - as they work so incredibly hard during the rest of the week.

Answer 4

A vicar is the name given to the priests in the Church of England or Anglican denomination. Both men and women are allowed to be Anglican priests.