Does the church have a leadership hierarchy? What are all those bishops, cardinals and popes for?

Answer 1

The roman catholic leadership hierarchy was established by Constantine in the 4th century to give all of his buddies a position of power over people who worshipped. It just grew from there.

Answer 2

Per the Roman Catholic Church (I don't know about the Eastern Orthodox): The pope is called "a first among equals." As I understand it (a lifelong Roman Catholic for what that's worth), it means all members of the body of Christ, the Church, are theoretically equal, but the Pope is at the front.

That is kinda cryptic, and how I've heard it interpreted was that even though the pope has authority that other people don't, he is still just a man like the rest of us. This flies in the faces of the critics who love to scream about how we "worship the pope" instead of Jesus.

Priests, bishops, archbishops, cardinals (the heads of various Church administrative departments)*, and the pope are all part of the hierarchy of the Church, with each level having a little more ecclesiastic authority than the last. Of course he gets this authority from papal progression all the way back to St. Peter and Jesus Himself.

But they all start off with Holy Orders as ordained priests.

*A new pope is elected by the college of Cardinals, or at least the ones who are under 80 yrs old at the time of the old pope's death.


PS -- I will defer to Pope me the 1st about deacons. No churches I have ever gone to have used deacons.

Answer 3

The hierarchy of ordained ministers in the Catholic Church mirrors how Jesus and the Apostles set up the original Christian Church.

There are three levels of Holy Orders, Deacon, Priest, and Bishop.

Bishops are the Apostles of today. Each one leads a diocese. Special types of bishop are archbishop, cardinal, and pope (who leads the whole Church).

Priests are co-workers of the bishops and can lead a parish. A special title for a priest is monsignor. Priests are called presbyters in the Bible.

Deacons assist the bishop and priests in the celebration of the Eucharist, in the distribution of Holy Communion, in assisting at and blessing marriages, in the proclamation of the Gospel and preaching, in presiding over funerals, and in dedicating themselves to the various ministries of charity.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt3.htm#iii

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

Deacon (greek - diakonos / dιάκονος - from the Bible)
Priest (greek - presbyteros / pρesßυteρος - from the Bible)
Bishop (greek - episkopos / epίsκοpος - from the Bible)

This is the hierarchy already described in "Acts" in the Bible. Other titles are honorary. For example, Cardinals are just bishops, but they can vote in a conclave. The pope is actually a bishop too, but since his diocese is Rome, where Peter last ministered, he is the successor of Peter, and therefore "pope". An arch-bishop is just a bishop of a large diocese. But it comes back down to the main three (above). The Catholic Church today is hierarchical, just like the Church began in the Bible.

Jesus promised, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The heretical protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing. The list of popes can be traced back to Peter himself, the first pope. Here is a list:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm

Jesus’ Church is called catholic ("universal" in Greek) because it is his gift to all people. He told his apostles to go throughout the world and make disciples of "all nations" (Matt. 28:19–20). For 2,000 years the Catholic Church has carried out this mission, preaching the good news that Christ died for all men and that he wants all of us to be members of his universal family (Gal. 3:28). Learn m ore at this link:
http://www.catholic.com/library/Pillar.asp

Answer 5

I think that Catholic church has a creepy hierarchy and the Pope is on the top of it.

I think it is a good thing to have different level leaders in a church for different assignments.

Jesus is my highest leader.

Answer 6

Leadership is important in any institution, and that includes the Catholic Church.

When Christ ascended to Heaven He left a promise with us "Lo, I will be with you, even until the end of time." He fulfilled this promise by leaving in place a physical Church with a visible hierarchy, very similar to the Old Testament model.

This new model is based upon Jesus as High Priest, the Pope as His vicar or representative on Earth, the cardinals as shepherds of large geographical areas, the bishops as shepherds of dioceses/towns, and the priests and deacons as shepherds of individual parishes.

The hierarchy is important not only for leadership and stability but for doctrinal integrity.

Many issues came up in the early Church (and still do today) and Jesus is not here "in the flesh" to speak to us personally and give us a definitive answer in such matters. Yes, He left us the Scriptures, but the Scriptures need an interpretor. In fact, most of the disagreements arise from Scripture!

The Church Christ established provides the final word from Heaven in matters of dispute so that the faithful may know when the Church speaks....God has spoken.

How can we trust the Church hierarchy in matters of faith and morals? Jesus Christ promised it in Scripture:

1. Matt. 16:18 - Jesus promises the gates of Hades would never prevail against the Church.

2. Matt. 10:20; Luke 12:12 - Jesus tells His apostles it is not they who speak, but the Spirit of their Father speaking through them. If the Spirit is the one speaking and leading the Church, the Church cannot err on matters of faith and morals.

3. Matt. 18:17-18 - the Church (not Scripture) is the final authority on questions of the faith. This demands infallibility when teaching the faith. She must be prevented from teaching error in order to lead her members to the fullness of salvation.

4. Matt. 28:20 - Jesus promises that He will be with the Church always. Jesus' presence in the Church assures infallible teaching on faith and morals. With Jesus present, we can never be deceived.

5. Luke 10:16 - "Whoever hears you, hears me." Whoever rejects you, rejects me. Jesus is very clear that the bishops of the Church speak with Christ's infallible authority.

6. John 11:51-52 - This passage shows that God allows sinners to teach infallibly, just as He allows sinners to become saints. In the Church hierarchy, all are sinners, but when they make dogmatic pronouncements, we can be sure that at those crucial times they are speaking without error.

PAX VOBISCUM+

Answer 7

According to Catholicism the Pope is the “Vicar of Christ” (a vicar is a substitute), and takes the place of Jesus as the visible head of the Church. As such he has the ability to speak “ex cathedra” (with authority on matters of faith and practice), and when he does so his teachings are considered infallible and binding upon all Christians. On the other hand, Protestants believe that no human being is infallible, and that Christ alone is the head of the church. Catholics rely on apostolic succession as a way of trying to establishing the Pope’s authority. But Protestants believe that the church’s authority does not come from apostolic succession, but instead is derived from the Word of God. Spiritual power and authority does not rest in the hands of a mere man, but in the very Word of God recorded in Scripture. While Catholicism teaches that only the Catholic Church can properly and correctly interpret the Bible, Protestants believe that the Bible teaches that God sent the Holy Spirit to indwell all born again believers, enabling all believers to understand the message of the Bible.

Answer 8

All organizations need leaders, the Pope is similar to a president or CEO.

Without leadership we would have a hard time in our dirrection to the kingdom of God.

Answer 9

Somebody has to buy those funny hats.