What is the difference between lay and ordained

What our conversation brought home to me was the ongoing confusion, even in seminaries, regarding the specific identity of and relationship between lay and ordained ministries. There are many factors that prevent clarity in this area.

Chief among them is a failure to observe that while ordained ministry is general and comprehensive, lay ministry is always specific and limited.

The ministry of the bishop, for instance, is not focused on any particular area of the life of his diocese. Rather it ranges widely over the whole spectrum of diocesan activity. In the same way, the parish priest is called to carry on a comprehensive and wide-ranging ministry of oversight in his parish.

The role of the lay person, on the other hand, is more specific—even if the same person carries on a number of ministerial activities at the same time. In the liturgy, the lay person is a reader, or an extraordinary ministry of Communion, or a musician.

In the parish at large, men and women may be participants in one of the many ministries that build up the parish community: a catechist, a servant of charity, a visitor to the sick. For this reason, a generalized lay ministry should be regarded as something of an anomaly.

This is not to say that a lay person may not perform the more general task of coordinating and directing a group of lay ministers. A director of religious education is a good example here. Yet, even then there remains a clear focus on a definite grouping of ecclesial ministries. When, however, the function of lay coordination and direction loses it focus, it becomes blurred and begins to take on the character proper to the ordained.

In this perspective, we can see that, properly defined, lay ministry is no threat to the ministry of the ordained. Indeed, the opposite is the case. Each type of ministry is directed to the other. Without the existence of ordained ministry, the ministerial role of lay persons would never come to be. By the same token, the vocation of the ordained is to generate and promote the ministries of all the baptized.

Indeed, one can say that the measure of effective ordained ministry is the extent to which it brings forth and activates the gifts and particular vocations of the laity. This explanation satisfied my seminarian friend—to some extent.

However, he thought that this casts the role of the ordained priest into no more that a purely functional manager or moderator of parish ministries.

Accordingly, I had to expand my explanation by pointing out that the priest is more than a managerial functionary. Indeed, they do—but within the specific ministries to which they are assigned.

But some of it is wack. It points out two substantial missed opportunities for reform and renewal. And it fails to mention one key distinction in the lay apostolate as realized in ecclesial ministry.

First, we Catholics have an impoverishment in a practical and pastoral understanding of the vocation of baptism. If every believer were strongly formed as baptized disciples, with the understanding this is undergirded by serious discernment, a bit more would be cleared up for this unfortunate and confused seminarian.

The second missed opportunity is that a substantial portion of seminarians and ordained clergy lack the development of their baptismal vocation. They lack a foundation absolutely necessary to their ministry. And I think one would be hard-pressed to find such a ridiculous notion supported in mainstream tradition. We frustrate lay people who order and are ordered because there is no recognition for what has been in many circumstances practically discerned as a ministerial reality.

The difference between a minister and a doer is that the former is unafraid of delegating, forming, and training another to take his or her place. This touches on the Cardinal Muller nonsense as well. Not bad men, certainly, They sense something is wrong or off or out-of-joint. Thanks, Todd — excellent analysis. To reinforce your first point….. But, the key definition is that we are all church it does not start with clerical or hierarchical first or even separate from laity.

Many of the images — people of God, pilgrim people, journey, mission, ministry, etc. The logic of this essay escapes me entirely. What of a priest who is not the parish priest pastor but is responsible for Christian education in the parish, or music, or youth ministry?

Some priests are fine teachers, some are not. A parish priest, or the superior of a religious house, may need the overall and comprehensive role that Mgr Mannion describes. What, then, is the role of the laity?

What do the laity contribute to one priesthood of Christ that the ordained do not? If the Instruction has a weakness, it is because it is, in a sense, incomplete. In its defense, we should point out that it is not the purpose of the document to give an exhaustive treatment of the one priesthood of Christ, but only to clarify the role of the ordained.

We should also remember that the Instruction presupposes everything that has already been said on the subject. In other words, to understand the Instruction, we cannot read it in isolation; it must be read in the light of all of the magisterial statements concerning the laity and the ordained.

The lay office is secular in character: it is primarily directed to presenting the risen Christ beyond the Christian community to the world. What the ordained will never accomplish alone is that Christ be brought into all of the families, businesses and societies that comprise the world. The essential difference between the lay and the ordained pertains only within the Christian community when Christ, the shepherd and high priest, gathers his people to teach and to sanctify them.

When Christ sends us forth to announce the Good News, there is no essential difference between the laity and the ordained. Moreover, when we are sent forth the laity can accomplish things for Christ and his Church that are impossible for the ordained. This is because the laity have access to the neighborhoods of the world that the ordained do not.

We might add one more consideration for our reflection. When a lay man or woman assists the ministerial priest in teaching, sanctifying, or governing within the community, he or she does so as a lay person. Something is signified that is different from the office of the ordained: the lay person brings the world to the assistance of Christ the shepherd. Just as the ministerial priest never ceases to represent Christ the Shepherd, the lay man or woman never ceases to represent Christ the carpenter, Christ at work in the neighborhoods of the world.

When the community gathers, both dimensions of the one priesthood of Christ are represented: Christ the high priest, and Christ the layman. The Church insists that these two facets of the one priesthood of Christ must never be lost: the essential distinction between lay and ordained guarantees that Christ the layman will not be overlooked in favor of Christ the shepherd and high priest.

While I am not Catholic, this does give a good idea of what the roles are. Sep 15, Sep 15, 6. That was a really good post, DeaconDean. The explanation of the difference is easy to understand in that piece of writing.

Thank you so much for finding and posting it. Sep 15, 7. This is expressed most fully in the priest's unique role in the celebration of the Eucharist, where he acts "in the person of Christ" in an irreplaceable manner signified by priestly ordination. But, my friend asked again, do not all Christians act "in the person of Christ" in carrying out their baptismal vocations? Indeed, they do — but within the specific ministries to which they are assigned.

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We won't rent or sell your information, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Your monthly donation will help our team continue reporting the truth, with fairness, integrity, and fidelity to Jesus Christ and his Church. Viewpoint Lay ministry and ordained ministry complement each other. This explanation satisfied my friend — "for the moment," he added. Subscribe to our daily newsletter At Catholic News Agency, our team is committed to reporting the truth with courage, integrity, and fidelity to our faith.

This document was worked on by many important offices in the Vatican, such as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for the Clergy, the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and others.

It was specifically addressed to diocesan bishops because of the confusion and abuses which have developed, such as allowing members of the laity to perform functions which are specifically reserved to bishops, priests, and deacons. The instructions recognize the active role of the faithful in the mission of the Church, for example, their participation in the Liturgy, teaching in catechesis, and their association with groups and movements which contribute to the spiritual mission of the Church.

However, these activities together with the laity's work in the secular world are to be considered as "complementary activity" to the "more restricted area" of the ordained clergy. One must be "mindful of the boundaries established by the nature of the sacraments and of the diversity of charisms and ecclesiastical functions. The next section explains the theological principles distinguishing the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial priesthood. The priest has received from Christ a "particular gift" to serve the People of God in carrying out their task of a common priesthood, which itself is the "unfolding of baptismal grace" in each individual and the life of faith, hope, and charity which each is called to lead.