The Theology of the Priesthood

Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P.

The Theology of the Priesthood
By Blackfriars Staff
All Photos by George Goss

Three Dominican friars participated in a one-day symposium, Toward a Fundamental Theology of the Priesthood, recently held at The Catholic University of America. The conference, whose audience was primarily priests, bishops, and seminarians, was organized by the Thomistic Institute, the Centre de Recherche et d’Anthropologie des Vocations, the Institute for Human Ecology, and Theological College.

Fr. Thomas Petri, O.P.

Fr. Thomas Petri, O.P., President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies; Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., Associate Professor of Patristics and Director of the doctoral program; and Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P., Director of the Thomistic Institute and Associate Professor of Dogmatic Theology were among the speakers for this conference, which also included presentations by Archbishop Timothy Broglio, President of the USCCB, and Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect Emeritus of the Dicastery of Bishops.

In the United States today, we can’t talk enough about the wonderful riches of the priesthood, as instituted by Christ in its two forms – the priesthood of all believers and the ministerial priesthood. Jesus established his apostles as the first bishops and priests, and commanded them to preach, to teach, and to sanctify all of the faithful. As his ministers, that’s the goal of this conference: to reflect on how we can continue that mission in the 21st century.
—Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P.

The impetus for the conference was to continue, in an American context, the conversation begun by the International Theological Symposium on the Priesthood, which was organized by Cardinal Ouellet and held at the Vatican in February 2022. The aim of the conference is to find the horizon of the priesthood in its two forms of participation, baptismal and ministerial, and to elaborate the dignity and complementarity of each sacramental vocation—marriage, ministerial priesthood, and consecrated life—within the Church and civil society.