The Gift of the Priesthood: Unity in Christ and His Church

by Fr. John Granato  |  09/28/2025  |  Words from Fr. John

My Dear Friends,

Today we are blessed to have Archbishop Christopher Coyne join us at the 9:30 Mass in Harwinton with a light reception to follow. Archbishop Coyne has been making the rounds to all of the parishes. As we welcome the archbishop to our beautiful parish of Our Lady of Hope, we are cognizant of the fact that a bishop is a successor of the apostles and receives the fullness of the priesthood of Jesus Christ upon ordination to the bishopric.

Priests fall into two categories, diocesan and religious. A religious priest is a priest who is ordained within a religious order, e.g. Augustinian, Dominican, Jesuit, Franciscan, Vincentian, Marist, Salesian, Montfort, Marian, Carmelite, Benedictine, etc. They are apostolic, mendicant or cloistered. An apostolic priest (Marist, Salesian) means that they can be assigned anywhere the religious order asks them to be, as long as the diocesan bishop agrees to allow the priest to serve within the diocese. A mendicant priest (Augustinian, Carmelite, Franciscan, Dominican) follows the same pattern, but they take a stricter rule of poverty. A cloistered priest (Benedictine) usually stays within the monastery of which he belongs and can help out at a neighboring parish of necessary. Diocesan priests are ordained by the bishop for assignments within the local diocese.

The Hartford Archdiocese (archdiocese as opposed to diocese just means that it is a more important geographical area that oversees in charity other smaller dioceses, for example Hartford oversees Bridgeport, Norwich and Providence), consists of the Litchfield, Hartford and New Haven counties. Unless there is a need for a priest to serve outside parish boundaries (e.g. seminary professor), priests will be assigned to an assignment at the bishop's request. The priest, on the day of his ordination, promises obedience to the bishop and his successors.

A religious priest vows obedience to his superior of the religious community as well as a form of obedience to the bishop in the diocese of which he serves. Both religious and diocesan priests are celibate (a religious making a vow of chastity upon the taking of vows in the religious order and a diocesan making a promise of celibacy). They both pretty much mean the same thing when it comes to being a celibate man, for all people, men and women, are called to chastity in their vocation. Religious priests also take a vow of poverty, but a diocesan priest can make money and keep it if he desires, but all men and women are also called to be prudent in their financial endeavors and to have only the money that they need to make a living.

All priests, when they celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, are allowed to only because the bishop has given the priest the faculties to do so. Priests are called to be in communion with the local bishop, and the local bishop is called to be in communion with the pope. Thank you, Archbishop Coyne, for the being the visible sign of communion with our little parish and the greater archdiocese and with the Holy Father in Rome.

God bless!