"To Be Ministers of Christ Among the People": Recovering Priestly Identity as Outlined in Presbyterorum Ordinis

Author

• Christopher D. Labadie, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University

Date of Award

12-16-2014

Document Type

Graduate Paper

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Theology

Department

School of Theology and Seminary

First Advisor

Shawn Colberg

Subject Categories

Religion

Abstract

This paper is an analysis of Presbyterorum Ordinis, The Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, of the Second Vatican Council. After a brief history on the development of the document, the bulk of the first half of the paper describes the contents of the document in two sections: the role of priests and the spirituality of priests. The paper argues that the purpose of Presbyterorum Ordinis was to establish a proper understanding of priestly identity: servant leadership, conformed to the priesthood of Christ and nourished through prayer, the Eucharist, and virtuous living. The paper then discusses the implementation of the decree in the years following the Council, arguing that the ecclesial and societal situation in the post-Conciliar years did not allow for a proper implementation of the document. This in turn led to a skewed understanding of priestly identity and contributed to the numbers of men leaving the priesthood as well as the falling number of seminarians. The final section of the paper details a few examples of recent attempts to re-discover the priestly identity as described in the decree and lays out a vision for priestly identity in the Church.

Recommended Citation

Labadie, Christopher D., ""To Be Ministers of Christ Among the People": Recovering Priestly Identity as Outlined in Presbyterorum Ordinis" (2014). School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses. 1978.
https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/sot_papers/1978