From Pope Benedict’s declaration of the Year of the Priest:

“The centrality of Christ leads to a correct valuation of ordained ministry,” he said, adding that, without priestly ministry, there would be no Eucharist, no mission and even no church.

Therefore, he said, it is crucial to make sure that new bodies or pastoral organizations are not set up “for a time in which one might have to ‘dispense with’ ordained ministry based on an erroneous interpretation of the rightful promotion of the laity.”

“This would lay the foundations for further diluting the priestly ministry, and any supposed ’solutions’ would dramatically coincide with the real causes of the problems currently connected with the ministry,” he said.

I wonder what Pope Benedict would think of the DOR’s recent “installation ceremonies” for Joan Sobala and Nancy DeRycke? It would be hard to find a more egregious example of “diluting the priestly ministry”.