Do catholics hold to the priesthood of all believers ?

[Yeshua1]

Or is it JUST assigned to the "priestly" order within their church?

 

[SolaSaint]

I'm no expert but if they did believe in Priesthood of the believer then what would be the purpose of confessing to a Priest?

 

[Yeshua1]

I'm no expert but if they did believe in Priesthood of the believer then what would be the purpose of confessing to a Priest?

guess that would mean they deny another biblical truth!

 

[Thinkingstuff]

Or is it JUST assigned to the "priestly" order within their church?

Yes they do. this is what the Catachism says

1546 Christ, high priest and unique mediator, has made of the Church "a kingdom, priests for his God and Father."20 The whole community of believers is, as such, priestly. The faithful exercise their baptismal priesthood through their participation, each according to his own vocation, in Christ's mission as priest, prophet, and king.

 

[Yeshua1]

Yes they do. this is what the Catachism says

So what priestly function/order are the catholic priests themselves? what special rights that other priests do not have?

 

[Thinkingstuff]

So what priestly function/order are the catholic priests themselves? what special rights that other priests do not have?

The modern term priest as used today is a development from the term Presbyter. The Catachism explains it this way

The divinely instituted ecclesiastical ministry is exercised in different degrees by those who even from ancient times have been called bishops, priests, and deacons...Yet Catholic doctrine teaches that the degrees of priestly participation (episcopate and presbyterate) and the degree of service (diaconate) are all three conferred by a sacramental act called "ordination," that is, by the sacrament of Holy Orders

They play a special administrative roll for this New Testiment priesthood of all believers. Just like in the New Testament.

 

[Yeshua1]

The modern term priest as used today is a development from the term Presbyter. The Catachism explains it this way They play a special administrative roll for this New Testiment priesthood of all believers. Just like in the New Testament.

weren't the bishops/Elders/oversees basically all referring to same person in the NT, the pastor of each local church..

the Apostles had special roles/functions, NOT the pastors , other then shepherds over their assigned flocks, responsible to god for their spiritual upbringing...

Those "special rights/authority" NONE have today, those were exclusive to the Apostles of christ themselves!

 

[Thinkingstuff]

weren't the bishops/Elders/oversees basically all referring to same person in the NT, the pastor of each local church..

the Apostles had special roles/functions, NOT the pastors , other then shepherds over their assigned flocks, responsible to god for their spiritual upbringing...

Those "special rights/authority" NONE have today, those were exclusive to the Apostles of christ themselves!

I think in the NT the Episcopate and the Presbyters were used pretty much interchangably. But pretty quickly as the number of Christians grew the the administrative functions escallated. In the New Testament we see that the Apostles could not perform all the functions themselves and started the Deaconate. And as more people joined the christian community further need to deligate and seperate duties became necissary. The the episcopate to the lead as the primary overseers and the Presbyters dealt with the more daily pastoral duties. Eventually Christians were so numerous in the Metropolis that the episcopate became the over seer for a much larger region. Note the Authority hasn't changed. The Authority stayed the same. Their functions by necessity of larger communities became more specific. By the way I don't know what rights you are speaking of. They all have the same rights as anyone else. Their functions are just different.