May 21, 2012 – Catechism 1533 – 1538

Here is a link to an article talking about the hierarchy of holy orders.  I pulled one of the quotes to illustrate the very clear distinction in the roles and hierarchy from as early as 325, but there are quotes from earlier.  When you are dealing with issues of life and death, your eternal soul, I would think you would want someone teaching you.  But above that, you would want someone above him keeping track of what he was saying to make sure he was speaking truthfully.  And just to be safe, wouldn’t you want someone above that person to make sure that this one was also doing things correctly according to the Truth.  I think many people find the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to be a burden and a stumbling block.  I think it is because many have ignored the hierarchy that the Church is in the state it is in.  I am reassured by the hierarchy and take confidence in it.  Far from a burden, it is what keeps it strong and what holds it together.  Many will say that because of the hierarchy, the Church takes too long to make changes and is behind the times.  I think because the hierarchy is there, the Church takes its time in making decisions and is not reactionary in its response like the rest of the world.  I have heard many say that it is between God and me, I can go straight to God and I don’t need a religion or authority to tell me what to believe.  That is not Biblical.  When there were issues in the early Church, they went to the leaders to figure out what to do.  Christ says if you have an issue with your brother, take it to the Church.  There is nothing that says we need to do it on our own.  We are called to be community, to go along together.  A community needs leaders, rules, authority, or it will not move together, but fall apart.  Do non-denominational Christians really believe that there would still be Christianity around if everyone had gone off and done their own thing from the beginning.  It is hard for me to believe that someone can really believe that when they truly and honestly reflect on the question.  Without the Church’s hierarchy and authority, there would not have been a Catholic Church for all of you to break away from.  And for all your talk of “man made church rules”, the same basic hierarchy and authority haven’t changed since very early in the Church’s life.  If God set up a system that worked in 325 and changed the known world from pagan to Christian, why do you feel your “no authority relativistic Christianity” is going to change anything.  The world will not follow you if you yourselves do not have a leader.  And Christ cannot be your leader if you are all going in different directions.   

http://www.catholic.com/tracts/bishop-priest-and-deacon

Council of Nicaea I

"It has come to the knowledge of the holy and great synod that, in some districts and cities, the deacons administer the Eucharist to the presbyters [i.e., priests], whereas neither canon nor custom permits that they who have no right to offer [the Eucharistic sacrifice] should give the Body of Christ to them that do offer [it]. And this also has been made known, that certain deacons now touch the Eucharist even before the bishops. Let all such practices be utterly done away, and let the deacons remain within their own bounds, knowing that they are the ministers of the bishop and the inferiors of the presbyters. Let them receive the Eucharist according to their order, after the presbyters, and let either the bishop or the presbyter administer to them" (Canon 18 [A.D. 325]).