ordenes Sagradas

and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)

"Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time…It includes three degrees of order: episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate" (CCC 1536). Deacons, priest and bishops are essential to the Catholic Church because we believe that they continue the work begun by the apostles.

Since the beginning, the ordained ministry has been conferred and exercised in three degrees: that of bishops, that of presbyters, and that of deacons. The ministries conferred by ordination are irreplaceable for the organic structure of the Church: without the bishop, presbyters, and deacons, one cannot speak of the Church. (CCC 1593)

La ordenación es el rito en el que se otorga el sacramento del orden sagrado. El obispo confiere el sacramento del orden sagrado mediante la imposición de manos que confiere al hombre la gracia y el poder espiritual para celebrar los sacramentos de la Iglesia.

El sacramento del Orden Sagrado se confiere mediante la imposición de manos seguida de una solemne oración de consagración pidiendo a Dios que conceda a los ordenados las gracias del Espíritu Santo necesarias para su ministerio. La ordenación imprime un carácter sacramental indeleble. (CCC 1597)

Who Receives Holy Orders?

La Iglesia confiere el sacramento del Orden únicamente a los bautizados (viri), cuya idoneidad para el ejercicio del ministerio ha sido debidamente reconocida. Solo la autoridad de la Iglesia tiene la responsabilidad y el derecho de llamar a alguien para recibir el sacramento del Orden Sagrado. (CCC 1598) En la Iglesia latina, el sacramento del orden sagrado para el presbiterio normalmente se confiere solo a los candidatos que están dispuestos a abrazar el celibato libremente y que manifiestan públicamente su intención de permanecer célibes por amor al reino de Dios y al servicio de los hombres. (CCC 1599)

The Second Vatican Council reminds us that the mission of ordained clergy, while unique, is interrelated to the mission of the lay faithful:

Though they differ from one another in essence and not only in degree, the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood are nonetheless interrelated: each of them in its own special way is a participation in the one priesthood of Christ. The ministerial priest, by the sacred power he enjoys, teaches and rules the priestly people; acting in the person of Christ, he makes present the eucharistic sacrifice, and offers it to God in the name of all the people. But the faithful, in virtue of their royal priesthood, join in the offering of the Eucharist. They likewise exercise that priesthood in receiving the sacraments, in prayer and thanksgiving, in the witness of a holy life, and by self-denial and active charity. (Lumen Gentium 10)