Priest, prophet and king. All the baptized share in these qualities, which Christ fully lived and which some, such as ordained priests, are called to live in particular ways, said Sister Esther Mary Nickel of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan.

In a Feb. 9 online presentation on “The Priesthood, (Both Baptized and Ordained),” offered by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Sister Nickel said God intends everyone to cooperate and serve one another as members of the body of Christ, united in a special way by baptism, the Eucharist and other sacraments.

Priests are called to a particular and difficult task: to serve their flocks. “The ordained priesthood is at the service of the priesthood of the baptized,” Sister Nickel said.

The 90-minute presentation and discussion on the priesthood was inspired by questions raised among the faithful in 30 prayer and listening events held across the archdiocese during fall 2019 and winter 2020 to prepare for an Archdiocesan Synod in 2022 on the pastoral needs of the archdiocese.

To address some of the most frequent questions, the archdiocese produced a four-part series that explored four topics: the sources of Catholic teaching; sexual morality and the family; the Church’s understanding on the dignity of women; and, finally, the priesthood, ordained and baptized.

Introducing the Feb. 9 session, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said the four installments provided an opportunity to discuss “some of the challenging topics that face the Church, as we live in a culture that is at times opposed to the teachings of Jesus.”

“It is my hope and prayer that this series has been informative and helpful in uniting us in faith as we enter the Synod consultation process next year, so that we can emerge eager and equipped to move vigorously and credibly proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ,” he said.

Archbishop Hebda introduced Sister Nickel as a liturgist and beloved seminary professor who has modeled her own baptismal calling and helped young men prepare for ordained ministry in the Church.

Sister Nickel noted that all of the baptized share in the ministry of Christ, but the ordained priest acts in the person of Christ in the Mass and other sacraments.

“He makes Christ’s sacrifice present on the altar (in the Eucharist) so that we can join the offering of our lives with his to Christ,” she said. “A priest could only say these words because he acts in the person of Christ, the head of the Church, the bridegroom whose bride is the Church.”

The Church holds fast in faith to the fact that the ordained priesthood is reserved for men, Sister Nickel said.

“Some ask why,” she said. “As the world goes toward gender neutrality, the Catholic Church adheres to the goodness of complementarity of each person, male and female, in the image and likeness of God.”

The Church holds to this teaching because it declares and describes the covenant relationship between God and his people as a marriage, she said. God is the bridegroom and the people of God are the bride.

“In the New Testament, when Jesus comes as the messiah, St. John the Baptist speaks about him as the bridegroom who comes in search of his bride,” she said. The ordained priest represents Christ, the bridegroom of the Church.

In addition, Jesus made a choice when he called men as his Apostles, Sister Nickel said.

Jesus respected women and related to them with great freedom, breaking cultural norms of his day, she said.

“No one could accuse Jesus of being discriminatory toward women,” she said. “Yet, Jesus did not choose women to be among his Twelve Apostles, whom he made his first priests when he established the priesthood and the Eucharist at the Last Supper.”

This choice should not be seen through the lens of political power, which today often is the case, Sister Nickel said.

“When Pope Francis affirmed that the priesthood was reserved only to men, in his first apostolic exhortation, he pointed out that there are different forms of power, and the true power in the Church is the power of holiness,” she said.

Questions also are raised about priestly celibacy and clericalism, Sister Nickel said.

“We might ask, why was Jesus celibate? Jesus was fully human and he could have had a wife and children. But he said himself — we find this in the Gospel of Matthew — that some have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven,” she said. “The point is that Jesus did and does have a bride. His bride is the Church, and he came to lay down his life for his bride. He renounced a physical marriage for the sake of his more important spiritual mission. He renounced a physical family to form a spiritual family.”

Clericalism, on the other hand, is an abuse of the ministerial priesthood, Sister Nickel said.

“Clericalism comes when the ordained minister usurps his role as servant and expects to be served,” she said. “Whenever a cleric exercises the power of his ministry for his own good and not the good of the Church and the salvation of souls, that is clericalism. The worst abuse of this has been seen in the abuse of children, but it can also be seen in other abuses of power.”

Sister Nickel’s presentation was followed by testimony from Father Leonard Andrie, pastor of St. Therese in Deephaven, who said his years as a priest have been the happiest of his life. A second testimony was shared by Sharon D’Agostino, a mother of four young adults and a parishioner with her husband, Mike, of St. Ambrose in Woodbury. The panelists and Archbishop Hebda also took several questions from Catholics participating in the live session.

Father Andrie said he treasures accompanying parishioners through difficult and joyful times, and working cooperatively to build up the Church.

“As a priest, the Lord challenges me to bring his sacred heart to every person that I meet each and every day,” Father Andrie said. “Maybe we could say that the priesthood is where two hearts meet — the heart of Jesus and the heart of his people, whom he loves very much.”

D’Agostino said her faith guides her professional and personal life, and she has been enriched by priests who have brought their own gifts to their vocation, including visionaries, community builders and social justice advocates, all committed to bringing parishioners into a deeper relationship with Jesus. Her children attended Catholic schools, were involved in Boy Scouts and other community outreach opportunities. She participates in two women’s prayer groups, “and one group I’ve been a part of for 40 years.”

“My faith journey has been enriched by engaging in my parish, city and the broader community,” she said. “The opportunities in this diocese to serve are endless.”

Videos from all four sessions are archived at archspm.org.synod.