Thank you. These are even more restricted to the "priesthood" than I suspected making them all the more special. As a side note, doesn't the performance of each sacrament by the standard non-Priest RC get grace for him?
In our bible study last night, it was noted that the Lord did not have a "special formula" for raising the dead. In one case, He touched the dead person. In another, He touched the bier (coffin). In yet another, He simply gave a verbal command.
I found that at least mildly interesting.
I am only aware of the permissibility of Baptism performed by a lay man, and even non-Christian in an emergency. The example is a Jewish doctor delivering a baby of Christian parents, who is about to die. The doctor can baptize then and the baptism will be valid. I don't know if a partucular grace goes to the celebrant in this case. He would be, of course, doing work of great charity by bringing a soul to Christ.
Other sacraments have a detailed rite associated with them. That would include prayers that the priest says, some of them are said silently. I would assume that among these are prayers for the special grace to effect the sacrament, but I don't know for sure, and I don't have the missal (where rites are described) handy.
A special permission is required for an ordained priest to preach and to hear confessions. On occasion, a priest is allowed to say a private mass only. Padre Pio, when miracles attributed to him were investigated by the Vatican, was forbidden to hear confessions as people flocked to him in great numbers.
If you followed any Catholic threads here dealing with the effects of the Second Vatican Council on the ecclesiology, you probably noticed that among the complaints that the traditionalists have is that the new order of Mass diluted the role of the priest. More prayers formerly said by the priest alone are now said by the congregation; Latin (in which the Priest is more likely to be fluent than the congregation) is rarely used; extraordinary ministers of the Holy Communion (who take the Eucharist consecrated by the priest to the congregation to speed up the communion) are used liberally; the communicants don't kneel, often take Communion in their hands rather than letting the priest put it in their mouth; the communion rail is gone; the priest's vestments are simpler. On the other hand, in the new order the priest faces away from the Crucifix and toward the congregation, which has the effect of separating him from the laity. I mention these things to illustrate the brackets between which Catholicism is willing to go in the degree of separation between the priest and the congregation; as you can see, despite the innovations, priesthood is indeed very special.