Why Catholics Have Priests
The question
If Jesus is our one high priest, why do Catholics still have a ministerial priesthood?
Scripture · Hebrews 5:1
For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
A short answer
This one trips people up, and reasonably so. Hebrews calls Jesus our great high priest, the once-for-all offering. So why the collar and the title "Father"? Doesn't that compete with Christ?
It doesn't, and Scripture shows why. A priest's job is to offer sacrifice and stand between God and people (Hebrews 5:1). Jesus is that priest perfectly and forever. But he chose to extend his priesthood through men, not replace it with a free-for-all. Paul describes himself as "a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God" (Romans 15:16). That's priestly language, on purpose. Jesus told the apostles, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19), handing them an action to repeat. He breathed on them and said, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven" (John 20:23). Those aren't ordinary instructions.
The Catechism explains that the ministerial priesthood doesn't add a second mediator; it makes Christ's one priesthood present. "The ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood" (CCC 1547). The priest acts *in persona Christi*, in the person of Christ, so it's still Jesus offering, Jesus forgiving. Think of it like a current running through a wire. The power is all Christ's; the priest is the conductor. So no, the priesthood doesn't elbow Jesus aside. It's exactly how he chose to keep reaching us.