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Priests
Priest is a title given to individuals that have devoted themselves to the religious practice that has called them to service. Most require advanced education and ordination by their church. Priests are found in many branches of Christianity, Buddhism and Shintoism.
740 Questions
How did Medieval priests train others to become priests?
A young man would first attend a Church school in order to gain the right education, particularly in the Latin language. He would then work his way up through the minor clerical orders until he became an "acolyte" to an existing priest. This was the fourth and highest grade of minor Holy orders.
An acolyte would assist in services and act as "sidesman" while learning all the work done by the priest. He was responsible for lighting candles on the altar, carrying the cross in procession, preparing wine and water for Mass and so on. When he had served a period as acolyte and the priest considered him to be ready, he would then be made a sub-deacon, the lowest of the major Holy orders of the Church.
He would then rise to the grade of deacon before being ordained as a priest.
The experience as an acolyte would be very much like that of an apprentice in ordinary life, learning the work, the services, the items of dress, prayers and everything else just as an apprentice carpenter would learn about the different types of wood, the carpenter's tools and how to use them.
Why should women be Catholic priests?
Some people would say why not.
The arguments against are divided into two sections.
The first is that Jesus didn't choose any women to be his apostles and so, by example we should have men as priests.
Another is that it is tradition - we have never had women priests so why start now?
As the question is about Catholic priests (not other Christian traditions) it might be useful to see whether the church is consistent with its handling of other situations - married priests for example.
Several of the men Jesus chose to follow him were married.
Currently the church will accept married men who, as priests, convert from another church and allow them to continue as priests.
The church will not allow an unmarried priest to marry.
The basic question here is would God call a woman to be a priest? If it is God's will then how can the church deny it? The difficulty here is who decides whether it is God's will or not and what would be the outcome if things changed?
As only men can be priests and the hierarchy of the church is made up of priests the leadership is, by definition, men. So, the decision about who should be priests is made by men. There is always a fear that changes in the church would cause division and weaken the position of the church - however with some countries having a very low Catholic church attending population the power of the church has already been significantly eroded.
Some would say that having women priests could even strengthen the church.
No. The leader of a baptist church is called a preacher or pastor.
Why are priests necessary for the mission of the catolic church?
priests help us celebrate the 7 sacraments and are part of the hierarchy or basic structure of the Church
Are we going to need an old priest and a young priest?
Seeing how the possession has made you forget the rest of the question then probably yes.
Yes, priests drink and smoke as do many people. Drinking and smoking, in and of themselves, are neither evil nor prohibited.
Nowhere in the Bible is the use of alcohol prohibited. However, drunkenness or misuse of alcohol is condemned, but not the moderate use of drink (1 Corinthians 6:10).
Would Jesus have changed water into wine if he found its use morally objectionable or prohibited by the Bible? I think not. Jesus apparently drank, as his enemies falsely accused him of being a drunkard (see Matthew 11:19).
Who were the 3 Filipino priests associated with Gomburza?
The three Filipino priests are:
- Gom - Mariano Gomez
- Bur - Jose Burgos
- Za - Jacinto Zamora
What do Catholic priests have with ancient Egypt's priests?
Nothing, really, other than the name "priest", and the fact that they both offer sacrifice. In the ancient world a priest was a priest because he offered sacrifice to the Gods. In the modern world, a priest still offers sacrifice, but in this case, he offers the sacrifice of the Son to the Father, a perpetual sacrifice. See the book of Daniel where God prophecies the perpetual sacrifice to be offered in His Name, which is prophesying the Christian period, the "end times."
In the Bible what is the difference between a chief priest and a high priest?
It's a matter of hierarchy, like the Catholic Church has a high priest, the Pope, then under him the Cardinals who are chief priests, then other priests below them.
Ancient Jews had their High Priest position, usually father succeeded by son within one family with direct lineage to Aaron. If the High Priest had brothers, those filled in as alternates, often holding high office in the Sanhedrin supreme court, or were assigned among the Chief Priests to rule the Levite tribe.
Roman Catholic and certain Orthodox priests are expected to be celibate, although priests and ministers in other denominations (eg Anglican, Episcopalian, Methodist, URC etc) are allowed to marry and have families of their own. However, open sexual activity outside marriage or before marriage would be frowned upon by most denominations as not the sort of behaviour that becomes a priest, and therefore in almost all denominations apart from those where total celibacy is the rule, clergy are expected to be celibate before marriage and faithful to their spouses sexually and relationship-wise afterwards. In many Baptist and certain conservative congregations, there is the belief in the priesthood of all believers, taking the Old Testament priest as the picture of the type of qualities to expect. 1 Peter 2:5 says speaking of even new Christians: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." Verse 9 says: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." In Revelation 1:6 it says that Jesus Christ who "washed us from our sins in His own blood" (v, 5), " hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father..." The Old Testament priest was to be pure and holy (separate from sin) as he seved in the Temple. The New Testament Christian is told: "know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Corinthians 6:19,20. Therefore, as the fleshly temple of God, they are to be holy. "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation (behavior); Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:15,16. Yet as the Old Testament priest was expected to be married generally, so it is natural for Christians to be married, but they need to be godly and pure. Even the Pastor of a Church is to be "the husband of one wife." 1 Timothy 3:2. There is no requirement to be celibate in the Scriptures, but Paul the Apostle chose to be so to have more time to minister. But even he did not suggest that this was the norm for anyone. Yet purity and holiness was the norm. Note that scripture says: "This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication (any type of sexual immorality)." 1 Thessalonians 4:3.
What type of duties does a priest have to perform in order to become a monsignor?
Monsignor is an honorary title given to some priests by the pope through recommendation of the local bishop. It is based on merit and years of service to the Church. There are no special duties other the the normal pastoral duties to receive the title.
Why do you guess that Friar Laurence is a Franciscan?
He exhibits a deep admiration for the natural world.
A Priest is to the Kingdom of Heaven what a public servant is to the State. He is there to provide the benefits of the Kingdom of heaven to those authorised to receive them. They still feel that a person needs an intercessor between themselves and God. The protestant faith feels that when Jesus was crucified and died and the curtain in the temple was ripped that we have direct contact with God and do not need an intercessor. But the Catholics and the protestants both see the need for a spiritual leader to teach us and help to explain the word of God to us otherwise we would be stumbling around like so many people do. Too many people are trying to find God on their own and are looking in the wrong places. There are a lot of people out there that take advantage of them by leading them astray.
The second kind of priest, diocesan, is the one that most people are familiar with, as this is the kind of priest who usually staff parishes in the world. They do NOT take a vow of poverty. However, by their very ordination, they become an "alter Christus", another Christ, and thus are to model Jesus Christ in their lives. Thus they should especially be doing this when it comes to how they live with material things.
We can not know, nor are we permitted to judge whether they are living a live of true poverty. Bishops, in particular, are "rich" on paper, at least in the United States, as all the land in a diocese, whether it is a church, rectory, school, convent, etc. is in the bishop's name as corporate sole, i.e. he personally owns every tangible asset in the diocese due to the way the laws are set up in the United States. Some individual priests may look like they are living as "rich" but, in truth they probably aren't. They do not make all that much money and they have a lot of expenses, not to mention they are usually very charitable.
What is the differences between a Diocesan Priest and a Priest who belongs to Religious orders?
in terms of ministry and function, there is no difference. Diocesan priests and religious priests perform the exact same ministries of the priesthood such as working in a parish, high school, university, retreat, social outreach, etc. The only true difference between a religious priest and a diocesan priest is that religious priests take the 3 evangelical counsels: the vow of obedience to their superior (they don't need to swear allegiance to and obey any diocesan bishop unless the order specifies that they do if the work in a certain diocese, but they are required to be obedient to the Bishop of Rome), the vow of poverty (which doesn't necessarily mean poor, just have less things and share everything in community that are not materialistic and distracting), and the vow of chastity. Diocesan priests on the other hand are required to obey the diocesan bishop of the diocese they exercise their ministries, and generally do not take the 3 vows (counsels), but instead promises their bishop of their obedience and celibacy, possibly even some form of poverty as well.
Yes, prior to the 16th century, there were various rules and during certain time periods marriage was allowed. However, the Council of Trent in the 1500's abolished marriage for priests.
Roman Catholic AnswerContemporary opinion, mostly among Protestants, attribute many changes to the Council of Trent, of which nearly all are unjustified. The council of Trent, in the sixteenth century was a very conservative council, coming up with almost no new definitions on any subject. They did nothing more than explain, in great detail, what the Church has always believed, and taught, including the discipline of clergy celibacy (the fact that priests can not get married). Lay celibacy was practiced already in the early Church. Religious life developed in the fourth century under St. Pachomius, and since then celibacy has been legislated to one degree or another frequently by the Church - up through and including Vatican Council II.from A Catholic Dictionary, edited by Donald Attwater, Second edition, revised 1957
Celibacy of the Clergy. In the Western church marriage is prohibited to all clergy of the rank of subdeacon and upwards (deacon since Vatican Council II). This is a matter of discipline which rests on a positive enactment of ecclesiastical law, which is never dispensed, except in the case of a subdeacon or deacon who relinguishes his orders; all who are ordained subdeacon by that very fact take a solemn vow of perfect chastity. It is grounded in the doctrine of the superior excellence of virginity and has been reinforced by the spiritual and temporal experience of many centuries: by it the clergy are left free for the things of God (cf., 1 Cor. Vii, 32-3), and on countless occasions have been enabled to carry on under circumstances wherein wife and children would have made it impossible. At the beginning of the 4th century the Spanish Synod of Elvira ordered marrried clergy to live in continence, and this discipline spread throughout the Latin church: by the first Council of the Lateran (1123) marriage of the higher clergy was declared not only unlawful but invalid...
Why does the priest consecrate the statue or idol?
Priests do not 'consecrate' statues or idols. A statue may be blessed by the priest but these are not idols any more than an image or photo of a loved one is an idol. Statues are not worshiped.
Under certain conditions, yes:
1.) If the man was married and had children and his wife died and he then becomes a priest the children are still his.
2.) If a priest from another religion (eg: Orthodox, Anglican) is married with children and then converts to Catholicism and becomes a Catholic priest, he may remain married and keep his children.
