[wideawake]

I thought that was decided in Japan. When the priests there died out, there was no bishop and the Japanese Catholics sustained themselves solely through baptism without a clergy for generations until the Church was able to provide them with pastors again.

[GCC Catholic]

I know that's what was done in that situation in Japan, but the issue was never actually settled. It didn't answer the question concerning the power of the priesthood as it exists in bishops and as it exists in priests and whether the difference between them is ontological, or if it is a matter of permission to exercise a power that both have.

I just happened to be discussing it this past weekend with a priest who is a canon lawyer. It sounds as though it's a fairly obscure issue within the Church. I had never given it thought before that point.