Priests are able to preach, perform baptisms, witness marriages, hear confessions and give absolutions, anoint the sick, and celebrate the Eucharist or the Mass. Some priests are later chosen to be bishops; bishops may ordain priests.
It is the absolution part that is most important to most human beings in the Catholic Church. Although in our family we like when they coming on golf outings, too.
Order is the appropriate disposition of things equal and unequal, by giving each its proper place (St. Augustine, City of God XIX.13). Order primarily means a relation. It is used to designate that on which the relation is founded and thus generally means rank (St. Thomas, Supplement 34.2 ad 4um). In this sense it was applied to clergy and laity (St. Jerome, "In Isaiam", XIX, 18; St. Gregory the Great, "Moral.", XXXII, xx). The meaning was restricted later to the hierarchy as a whole or to the various ranks of the clergy. Tertullian and some early writers had already used the word in that sense, but generally with a qualifying adjective (Tertullian, Exhortation to Chastity 7, ordo sacerdotalis, ordo ecclesiasticus; St. Gregory of Tours, "Vit. patr.", X, i, ordo clericorum).
Order is used to signify not only the particular rank or general status of the clergy, but also the outward action by which they are raised to that status, and thus stands for ordination. It also indicates what differentiates laity from clergy or the various ranks of the clergy, and thus means spiritual power. The Sacrament of Order is the sacrament by which grace and spiritual power for the discharge of ecclesiastical offices are conferred.
Holy Orders is not sainthood. I heard someone state the other day about wayward priests, "They never incorporated the definition of their lives that the church intended for them." That is by far the most decent statement I have heard.
I never had a bad experience with any priest, bishop or cardinal. Never met the Pope. Our local parishes were run by talented men dedicated to the people and carried out their responsibilities with dedication and grace. No lie. They were educated, worldly and rejoiced in the accomplishments of their flock. Basically, nice guys.
If there were relationships among them, no one had a clue. They were all wonderful men and women dedicated to their professions.
I don't doubt the church has a problem. They also need to mind their own business and seek to heal their flock in their day to day lives and leave national politics alone. The church hurts itself in many ways, including excluding men and women who could bring about favor to it; in exchange for power over the uterus. It is wrong and they need to stop playing god in the lives of an entire nation.
Priests sometimes fall out of love with their faith, no different than a man and woman falls out of love with each other. It happens. It is human.
