clerical hierarchy
Religious authority structure
A clerical hierarchy is the ranked structure of clergy within a religious organization, from parish priests up through bishops, archbishops, and cardinals to the pope in Catholicism, or similar arrangements in other traditions.
The term often carries critical overtones, suggesting rigid authority or institutional bureaucracy: She chafed against the clerical hierarchy's slow response to reform.
- vicarClergy substitute for bishop
- parish priestLocal church leader
- bishopDiocesan clergy head
- deaconJunior clergy member
- cardinalOf foremost importance
prelate · priest · diocese · curate · secretary · pope · College of Cardinals · canon law · registrar · patriarchate · clerk · monsignor · episcopacy · ecclesiastical · seminary · altar boy · church fathers · bureaucracy
clerical hierarchycorporate hierarchy
Organizational chain of command
secular authority · civil authority · civil government · state apparatus