Program of Priestly Formation (Ascension)

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Program of Priestly Formation

with the Church. His participation in Christ’s priesthood is called “ministerial” precisely for its service to the members of the Body.

Pastores Dabo Vobis expands our understanding of the ecclesiological scope of the ministerial priesthood by noting that it “is ordered not only to the particular Church but also to the universal Church, in communion with the bishop, with Peter and under Peter. Through the priesthood of the bishop, the priesthood of the second order is incorporated in the apostolic structure of the Church. In this way priests, like the Apostles, act as ambassadors of Christ (cf. 2 Cor 5:20). This is the basis of the missionary character of every priest.” 46 PRIESTHOOD IN PRESBYTERAL COMMUNION These Trinitarian, Christological, and ecclesiological dimensions give us a sense of the nature, mission, and ministry of priests. It is important, however, to add that these dimensions only become real and operative in a presbyterate, one that is in communion with its bishop. “By its very nature, the ordained ministry can be carried out only to the extent that the priest is united to Christ through sacramental participation in the priestly order, and thus to the extent that he is in hierarchical communion with his own bishop. The ordained ministry has a radical ‘communitarian form’ and can only be carried out as a ‘collective work.’” 47 This “communitarian form” also means that priests are to develop and foster bonds of fraternity and cooperation among themselves, so that the reality of the presbyterate may take hold of their lives. 48 Furthermore, seminaries and houses of initial formation are encouraged to foster mutual relations among members of institutes of consecrated life, societies of apostolic life, and seminarians in formation for the diocesan priesthood, so as to lay the foundation for a spirit of unity among future priests and ministers of the Church.

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46 47 48

Pastores Dabo Vobis , no. 16. Pastores Dabo Vobis , no. 17.

See Presbyterorum Ordinis , no. 8; CIC, c. 275 §1; CCEO, c. 379.

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