Totally non-troll question about the Roman Catholic hierarchy?

There are basically three orders of clergy: Deacons, priests and bishops.

Ignore deacons for the moment.

Priests are given the power to celebrate Mass. Priests can be in charge of a church congregation. In poor areas, a priest may be shared among neighboring congregations.

Once a priest, a person is always a priest. A priest may be called to become a bishop.

The bishop is a priest who now is set over other priests. Often, the bishop presides over all churches in a geographical area, generally referred to as a diocese. A diocese generally is a large piece of real estate. In the USA, an entire state may be one diocese. In populous states like New York and Pennsylvania, the state may be broken down into several dioceses.

The bishop has the power to ordain (initiate) a priest or deacon, and a group of bishops is required in order to ordain or consecrate a new bishop.

The archbishop is just a bishop who has been given supervisory responsibility over a larger area, perhaps with other bishops within it.

Titles such as monsignor, cardinal, pope, etc. are intended to show that this individual has more power than another, but in terms of ordination, they mean nothing. A priest with more seniority gains respectability when he becomes a monsignor, but he is no more a priest than any other.

An archbishop or cardinal or pope may have greater power due to their title, but they are still bishops, just like any other bishop.

People who enter holy orders generally enter monastery or convent. They are called nuns or monks. However, if a man also is an ordained priest in addition to being in holy orders, he is known as a friar. A monk can lead lay services, but cannot celebrate the Eucharist; a friar can and does.

Right now, women in the RCC cannot be priests, so there is no equivalent to a friar among women just yet. However, in the Episcopal Church (TEC), they do most of the customs around holy orders about the same, and some nuns are priests. In general in TEC today, any woman who has become a priest is accorded the title Mother.

I really think that if you would put up each of your queries separately people might read them a bit more. I know I gave up after a couple of items. Anyway, it seemed that the first part of your commentary/questions constituted more than enough to generate a more than full response.

Hope this is helpful to you.

Hello there! :)

1. To become a Bishop, you are chosen by the Pope, and then ordained by any member of the clergy, bishop or higher. You must also have been a priest already

2. A Monsignor, if I am correct, is a highly respected bishop. A cardinal is actually the one who gets to be pope. But one of the pope's titles is "Bishop of Rome" a monk is different than a priest. A monk might live out his days praying and doing missionary work, even teaching. It all depends on what order they belong to.

3. To become a monk, you need to have some college education. I don't know all the details, but you spend time as a novice, mainly to make sure that you really want to do this. Whether or not you become a priest or monk all depends on what you feel you are called to do. Monks spend most of their time living reflective, prayerful lives.

4. You lost me here lol!

5. Huh. That's an interesting observation. But I doubt it's true. When it comes to priests and bishops, all bishops are priests, but not all priests are bishops. It's like all officers are soldiers, but not all soldiers are officers.

6. I think I kind of answered this one with question 5...

7. I answered this first part. Monks, as mentioned are the ones who are praying for the priests and the Church. They life a prayerful life. They might also live a monastic life, or work for the monastery. A friar is like a cross between the two, a priest and a monk. They have all the abilities of a priest. (ie. celebrating the Mass, hearing confessions, administering sacraments) friars might live on a monastery. They wear the clothing a monk would wear, if they are Capuchin friars (one of the orders) they would wear brown robes with a white rope around their waist with 3 knots in it to symbolize the 3 vows they make; poverty, chastity, and obedience. Or going where the bishop etc tells them to go.

8. Happy to :)

I hope this clears things up!

God bless,

ROMVLVS

1 bishops are chosen from the ranks of priests

2 Technically, any Catholic male who has reached the age of reason, can be elected pope — . It might even be technically possible for them to elect a non-Catholic male, if they had reason to believe that he would advance Catholicism

.If the person elected lacks episcopal character, however, he is to be ordained a bishop immediately.

i guess that means he would have to become catholic

3 To become a monk, one first must become a postulant, during which time the man lives at the monastery to evaluate whether he is called to become a monk. As a postulant, the man is not bound by any vows, and is free to leave the monastery at any time. If the postulant and the community agree that the postulant should become a monk, the man is received as a novice, at which time he is given his religious habit, and begins to participate more fully in the life of the monastery. Following a period as a novice, usually six months to a year, the novice is given the option to take the solemn vows, which can be renewed annually for a period of years. After a few years, the monk can make permanent vows, which are binding for life.

4 see 2

5 see 2 there is only one ..branch? it is called the priesthood, from there piety ,good works, seniority takes you up the ranks. monk is not a branch.. it is for those men that do not believe they are capable or worthy of administering to others, but for various reasons want a religious vocation

6- there are not 3 branches

7 A monk is a member of a monastic order.( live together work, grow their own food, sell to live, vegatables,crafts etc.)

A friar is a member of a mendicant order. (friar who lives by begging: a member of a religious order such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, or Augustinians that forbids the ownership of property and encourages working or begging for a living) or live by donations alone

Monks live in a monastery.

Friars live in a friary or alone .

Monks are usually cloistered.

Friars are usually active.

i just read all the other answers, none are correct, evchrny@yahoo.com

1. Bishops are chosen fronm the ranks of priests. It takes a lot of priest-school but you must first be a priest to be a bishop

2. Only cardinals are eligible to be the pope (cardinals are the step after bishop) there are only about 180 cardinals in the world currently.

3. Monks usually join convents (a community of monks). The main difference between them and priests is that monks and nuns usually don't preach

4. The tradition of cardinal-only popes goes back about 1500 years. I'm not exactly sure why but I think it's because cardinals have more preaching and people experience then monseignors.

5. All three branches serve the alleged three persons in one god. They don't see the trinity as three different people, but rather a package deal.

6. Not one branch serves one aspect of the trinity.

7. It is very similar to officer vs enlisted. I already answered the difference between preiests and monks. friars are like the bishops of monks

8. You will have to be more specific for there are many questions about the church.

1: Bishops are chosen from the ranks of priests. There are 3 levels of ordination: deacon, priest, and bishop. Monsignors and cardinals are priests.

2. Bishops can be promoted to cardinals, and only cardinals are eligible to be Pope. Monsignor is a rank higher than priest but lower than bishop. Cardinal is a higher rank of bishop. So the path is:

Go to seminary, get ordained as deacon (sort of a trainee priest) Some remain deacons; they can marry, or

Get ordained a priest (no marriage allowed)

Senior priests can be promoted to Monsignor

Senior priests or monsignors can be ordained bishop. Bishops lead a diocese (multiple churches).

Bishops can be promoted to Cardinals

Cardinals can be elected Pope

3. Monks (technically "brothers") are the male equivalent of nuns ("sisters".) They are not ordained, but take vows to their orders. They aren't priests and can't say Mass. (Though brothers can become priests.)

4. As above, monsignor is a lower rank than bishop. Only Cardinals are eligible to be Pope and vote for Pope.

5. I don't believe in the Trinity, but Catholics do. The three branches of in the Catholic Church are lay people (neither priests or religious), the religious (brothers and sisters) and priests (including monsignors, bishops, cardinals, and the Pope.) I am not aware that those divisions are aligned to the Trinity.

6. N/A. The branches are not equal, the priest branch, led by the Pope, runs the show.

7. No. A better analogy would be priests as Lieutenants, bishops as Colonels, Cardinals as Generals. Brothers/sisters are more like enlisted. Monk is to brother as nun is to sister; the terms imply stricter vows and more of a life of sacrifice, e.g. poverty. Friars are brothers who depend on charity.

Well Toby, that's something I've also contemplated 1. Bishops are chosen fronm the ranks of priests. It takes a lot of priest-school but you must first be a priest to be a bishop I hope this answers your question.

Semper Fi,

Actually any male can be elected Pope but upon election he must become Catholic and will immediately be ordained a bishop. There are age requirements and it would not be possible for a heretic or someone of detestable character to be elected.

God bless!

In Christ

Fr. Joseph

Nowadays, to be a priest will require more than 8 years o studies. The requirements are strict, e.g. psychological test, background etc...

Google Salesian sisters, as there are strict requirements to be a nun.

Well Toby, that's something I've also considered Hello there! :) Hope you find the answer you're looking for Toby!

Righteousness and purity of Soul has no hierarchy. If such hierarchies were to be trusted and infalliable, surely the priest appointed to teach and watch over children would not become guilty of molesting them. One person and God make the majority.