Made to Be a Kingdom
Holy Things for the Holy: Offices, Fatherhood, and the Shared Vocation of the Faithful
Recorded in person during a seminary week at South Bound Brook, Fr. Anthony Perkins and Fr.
Harry Linsenbigler reflect on two passages from In Every Church (p. 78) to clarify how Christ
“fills” every ministry in the Church—from the faithful to readers, deacons, presbyters, and
bishops—without making ordination a ladder of personal holiness. They challenge a common
misreading (including selective appeals to Pseudo-Dionysius) that treats ecclesial rank as a
holiness metric, instead, grounding the Church’s true unity in the liturgy’s confession that “One
is holy” and in the equal reception of Christ in Holy Communion. Finally, they frame clerical
fatherhood as a derivative grace rather than a personal possession, urging vigilance against pride
and despondency, and calling parishes to a shared culture of mutual support so that every
vocation—ordained or lay—can be exercised as service within the royal priesthood of the faithful.
Thursday, December 18, 2025
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