Why the Catholic Church Has Priests – Fr. Dominic Langevin, O.P.

Fr. Dominic Langevin defends the Catholic priesthood as a divinely willed, sacramental system of mediation in which ordained men, configured to Christ the High Priest, bestow God’s gifts on the faithful and offer their prayers and sins to God, thereby promoting both God’s glory and the sanctification and dignity of the Church.

This lecture was given on November 10th, 2025, at West Virginia University.

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About the Speakers:

Fr. Dominic Langevin, O.P., is the dean and an assistant professor of dogmatic theology at the Dominican House of Studies, where he teaches courses principally about the sacraments and the liturgy. He did his undergraduate degree at Yale University. He entered the Dominican Order in 1998 and was ordained a priest in 2005. He earned his doctorate from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He is the author of the book From Passion to Paschal Mystery, has been editor of the journal The Thomist, and has been the secretary/treasurer of the Academy of Catholic Theology.

Keywords: Christ the High Priest, Hierarchy, Holy Orders, Mediation and Sacraments, Ministerial Priesthood, In Persona Christi, Sacramental System, Why the Church Has Priests