Why does the Church have bishops and priests?
The short answer
The Church has bishops and priests because Jesus chose to keep serving his people through human beings, not around them. He commissioned the apostles to teach, forgive sins, and offer the Eucharist in his name, and that commission has been handed on through ordination ever since. A priest acts not on his own authority but as an instrument through whom Christ himself continues to shepherd and feed his Church.
Full explanation
Jesus could have arranged things so that every believer dealt with God in complete isolation, with no human go-betweens. Instead he did something more personal and more communal: he chose particular men, lived with them, formed them, and then sent them out with real authority — "as the Father has sent me, so I send you." He told them to baptize, to teach everything he had commanded, to do the Eucharist "in memory" of him, and he breathed on them the power to forgive sins. The ordained ministry of the Church grows directly out of that sending.
It helps to think of ordination as a commission that gets handed on, like a flame passed from candle to candle. The apostles laid hands on successors — Scripture shows them appointing leaders in each town — and those successors did the same, in an unbroken line down to today's bishops. A bishop holds the fullness of this ministry; priests share in it as his close co-workers, and deacons assist in service. This is what "apostolic succession" means: today's bishops are linked, through that long chain of laying-on of hands, to the very men Jesus chose.
The key thing to grasp is that a priest is a channel, not a source. When he absolves a sinner in confession or speaks the words of consecration at Mass, the forgiveness and the gift are not his own to manufacture; Christ is the one acting, using the priest as his hands and voice. The Church captures this by saying the priest acts in the person of Christ the head — Christ shepherds his flock through him. That is also why the validity of a sacrament doesn't hang on the holiness of the particular minister: a weak or sinful priest can still be a genuine conduit of Christ's grace, because the grace was never coming from him in the first place.
This ordained ministry exists for the sake of everyone else, not above them. Bishops and priests are given so that the whole people of God can be taught reliably, fed at the altar, reconciled when they sin, and led as a community rather than a crowd. Their authority is real, but it is the authority of a servant entrusted with someone else's house — answerable to Christ, the true shepherd and high priest.
Seen this way, the priesthood is less a privileged caste and more a guarantee: it ensures that the things Jesus established — his teaching, his forgiveness, his Eucharist — keep being available to ordinary people, in every generation and every place, with a clear line back to him.
Why this matters
Because of the ordained ministry, you don't have to wonder whether the sacraments you receive are valid or whether the faith you're taught is the real thing. There is a visible, traceable connection back to the apostles and to Christ himself. It also means the Church can never shrink to a private project: there will always be shepherds charged with feeding and guarding the flock, precisely so that grace is offered to all and not hoarded by a few.
Myth Common misunderstanding
A frequent objection is that priests set themselves up as a barrier between believers and God. In fact the priesthood exists to do the opposite — to make Christ's forgiveness and his Eucharist physically available to people, rather than leaving them out of reach. The priest is not a wall between you and God but a doorway Christ chose to open; the grace passing through him is entirely God's.
Scripture connections
- John 20:21-23 — the risen Jesus sends the apostles as the Father sent him and gives them authority to forgive sins.
- Luke 22:19 — at the Last Supper, Jesus commands "do this in memory of me," entrusting the Eucharist to the apostles.
- Acts 14:23 — Paul and Barnabas appoint leaders (presbyters) in each church, showing ministry being handed on.
- 2 Timothy 1:6 — Paul speaks of a gift given through the laying on of hands, language echoed in ordination.
- Hebrews 5:1 — every high priest is taken from among the people to act on their behalf in the things of God.
Church teaching references
Reflect
When you receive a sacrament from a priest, can you look past the man to the Christ who is acting through him — and how might that change the way you approach confession or the Eucharist?