I somewhat agree with the position. Pastor is a scriptural church office but I believe there is a little more to the hierarchy of the church.
Oh, I . . . of course, I also believe there's more to it than just bishops-and-non-bishops, which is the only absolutely plain hierarchy in the Body of Christ. Acts shows us the beginning not only of bishops, but of deacons, who at first were the assistants to the bishops, and helped the bishops with things that weren't their primary duties, which is teaching and administrating the Church, including ensuring that Mass (Acts2:42KJV) was occurring validly/properly, especially the Eucharist (1Co11:26KJV), which was celebrated every Sunday, every Mass.
The deacons assisted the bishops with other things. Priests today are the assistants of the bishops in their teaching (Liturgy of the Word, RCIA, others) and priestly duties (Liturgy of the Eucharist, others). Bishops today now even have auxiliary bishops as assistants, in order to celebrate sacraments requiring a bishop, such as confirmation, in many different parishes throughout the year, without building a backlog.
A bishop must therefore ensure that the men that he has assisting him in the bishop's sacred/holy duty to administrate the Church, and to teach the Christian truth, are worthy of this sacred/holy duty. So priests are ordained by the imposition of hands, the hands of bishops, who ordain priests. An ordained priest must be in full communion with his bishop, he must teach what his bishop teaches, and never contrary to it, in a matter of faith and/or morals.
And each bishop must teach just the same as the guy who's currently holding Peter's Roman pastorate, called variously the Vatican, the Holy See, the See of Rome, the pope, the papacy, the popes, the patriarch of Rome, the bishop of Rome, the archbishop of Rome. And the current 'Catechism of the Catholic Church' is specifically written to all the bishops, and it was signed by the pope at that time John Paul II. He had it written and published, and signed it, and it's addressed to the bishops.
Text 11, 'Catechism of the Catholic Church' ('CCC')
| This catechism aims at presenting an organic synthesis of the essential and fundamental contents of Catholic doctrine, as regards both faith and morals, in the light of the Second Vatican Council and the whole of the Church's Tradition. |
Text 12,
ibid
| This work is intended primarily for those responsible for catechesis: first of all the bishops, as teachers of the faith and pastors of the Church. It is offered to them as an instrument in fulfilling their responsibility of teaching the People of God. |
All the papacy's infallible teachings are in the 'Catechism.' They are all in matters of faith and morals. And they are all Apostolic in their origin, either something one or more of the Apostles taught, by either word of mouth, or by writing, or by both; or something one or more of the Apostles approved of, that was said or written by somebody else, such as, for example, the Gospel of Luke, or of Mark.
The 'Catechism' is John Paul II's submission in doing his duty as Peter's successor, to ensure that everybody is all on the same page, wrt teaching matters of faith and morals. He had the bishops, the diocesan bishops (these are the biblical bishops), and all his auxiliary bishops (the diocesan bishops' assistants who are also bishops), in mind, when he presided over the construction of the 'Catechism.' He wanted every bishop to teach all of their priests the 'Catechism,' and for all clergy to assent to every infallible teaching on faith and morals, to effect a greater unity in the Church.
The papacy's infallible teachings are infallible because they are the Apostles' own teachings, they are guaranteed to be, and the Apostles' own teachings, are the very teachings of Christ Himself. That is why it is so important that the Church is 'Apostolic,' as is found in the ancient creeds.
