A layman can be validly elected to the
office, since the power of jurisdiction can be exercised without the power of
Orders. In such a case, the person elected would receive the power of
jurisdiction immediately upon his election, but the power of Orders would come
only through the Sacrament of Orders, which he would be obliged to receive,
since Christ evidently intended that His Church be governed by
bishops,--bishops by the power of Orders as well as by the power of
jurisdiction. (E. Sylvester Berry, The Church of Christ: An Apologetic and
Dogmatic Treatise [Frederick County, Md.: Mount Saint Mary's Seminary,
1955; repr., Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf and Stock, 2009], 227-28)
