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There is no need to abolish the priesthood. Just restore the first two century practice of laypersons celebrating Eucharist without clergy. Ordination and priesthood were third century innovations as a way of establishing in the Roman empire that Christianity was an actual religion.
ReplyDeleteA variation of the most ancient practice might include:
1. Recognizing that the “mark” incurred at ordination was invented as an incidental theological hypothesis in the fourth century by Augustine as a rationalization for why baptism and ordination could not be repeated. Over centuries his statement was indiscriminantly cited as if it were dogma.
2. As with Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist, the bishop could appoint suitable laity, say 3 to 10, in each parish as Extraordinary Ministers of baptism, eucharist, extreme unction, and matrimony for a term, say 4 years, subject to renewal. Requirements would include: recommendation by parish council and pastor, background check, and professional psychological testing. Training could consist of, say 44 day-long Saturday sessions in the sacramentary ritual and theology of each sacrament.
3. More extensive training would be required for laypersons appointed as parish administrator or to provide the sacrament of penance or to be Preachers.
Ordained clergy could continue to provide the sacrament of confirmation, to be deanery resource persons, to represent the bishop to local communities, provide parish on-going training, and occasional deanery-wide eucharistic celebrations.
The benefits of this approach include retention of the historically valuable sacramental system, diminish the temptation of clericalism, recognizing the valuable charisms existing throughout the church (people), and functionally recognizing the priestly character of baptism in all the faithful.
Raymond Spatti
Payson, Arizona 85541