A long, long list of vocabulary (5)

Holy Orders

Vicar- A representative or deputy of a bishop

Ecumenical Council- one of seven gatherings of bishops from around the known world under the presidency of the Pope to regulate matters of faith and morals and discipline

Infallibility- The doctrine that the pope is incapable of error in pronouncing dogma

Dalmatic- wide-sleeved overgarment with slit sides worn by a deacon or prelate

Bishops- “Bishops are the successors to the Apostles in an ‘unbroken succession going back to the beginning’” (“Holy Orders and Anointing of the Sick”, Peter Kreeft)

Pope- the Bishop of Rome, successor of the Apostle, Peter, leader of the Catholic Church

Priest- “co-workers of the Episcopal order for the proper fulfillment of the apostolic mission” (CCC 1562)

Deacon- assist priest, ordained unto the ministry

Cardinal- A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and making themselves available individually or in groups to the pope if he requests their counsel. Most cardinals have additional duties, such as leading a diocese or archdiocese or running a department of the Roman Curia. (Wikipedia)

Three Degrees of Holy Orders-

1554 "The divinely instituted ecclesiastical ministry is exercised in different degrees by those who even from ancient times have been called bishops, priests, and deacons."³² Catholic doctrine, expressed in the liturgy, the Magisterium, and the constant practice of the Church, recognizes that there are two degrees of ministerial participation in the priesthood of Christ: the episcopacy and the presbyterate . The diaconate is intended to help and serve them. For this reason the term sacerdos in current usage denotes bishops and priests but not deacons. Yet Catholic doctrine teaches that the degrees of priestly participation (episcopate and presbyterate) and the degree of service (diaconate) are all three conferred by a sacramental act called "ordination," that is, by the sacrament of Holy Orders:

Let everyone revere the deacons as Jesus Christ, the bishop as the image of the Father, and the presbyters as the senate of God and the assembly of the apostles. For without them one cannot speak of the Church.³³ (CCC)