Second Vatican Priesthood

and sacrament. The Council issued a second decree on Instructions and Sacrament, in line with Scholastic (Thomist) understanding of this relationship; it taught that the Eucharist forms the center of priestly activity, and preaching is only a remote preparation for this. Regarding the individual major and minor orders, the Council Fathers in Canon two reaffirmed these orders by anathemizing anyone who says that besides the priesthood there are in the Catholic Church no other Orders, major and minor, by which one advances towards priesthood. In chapter two of its doctrinal and pastoral decree on Orders, the Council states as follows:

But since the ministry of so holy a priesthood is something divine, that it might be exercised in a more worthy

Rather, it deemed scholastic understanding of priesthood as narrow, in need of modification, and enrichment. The Council gave a new perspective to the views of Trent on the priesthood. A new perspective that helped to give a more balanced picture of presbyteral ministry that we have in the church today. The main document of the Second Vatican Council that deals with ministerial priesthood is the decree Presbyterorum Ordinis, on the ministry and life of priests, which was approved on December 7th 1965. Understanding this document means situating it within the context of two other great documents that deal directly with the mission and ministry of the church. The documents are: The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium, Nov. 21, 1964) and the Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes, Dec. 7, 1965). In Lumen Gentium, which deals with the inner nature of the church, the Council Fathers stated that the church exists as a mystery of communion. This view of the church challenges the hierarchical model in the ecclesiology of the Counter-Reformation and prepares the ground for an enlarged theology of the priesthood witnessed at the Second Vatican Council. This constitution brought about a change in ecclesiological conception. It placed emphasis on understanding the church as a people of God, an understanding that brought about a revision of the

One group is represented by some traditional theologians who proposed an understanding of the church according to the Counter-Reformation theological principles and practices. The other group is represented by theologians who adopted a more progressive stand in terms of understanding the church from a more historical perspective with emphasis on local church, collegiality and dialogue with the modern world. When the Council ended, the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church reflected the views of these two groups of theologians. As stated above, the council fathers articulated the ecclesiological basis of ministry, first by applying its reflection of the tria munera on the whole people of God, and then by applying it to the specific ministry of the ordained. This model of church structure laid the foundation for ministry in today's church. It also represents Vatican II`s understanding of ecclesial structure, as well as the relationship between ordained and lay ministry.

2.7.3. The Church as the People of