Rev. Kenneth Brighenti - Catholicism For Dummies

St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi both founded the first group of friars in the Church. Friars bridged the gap between the urban parish and the monastery, and they aren’t as cloistered or semi-cloistered as their monk and nun counterparts. How cloistered the group is depends on the religious order or community and the founder who started it.

You can find hundreds of different religious orders, communities, and congregations in the world today. Each community and order bases its spirituality on the founder of its congregation; for example, St. Francis founded the Franciscans, St. Clare founded the Poor Clares, St. Lucy Filippini founded the Religious Sisters Filippini, and Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity. Some communities specialize in teaching and others in hospital work. Some engage in several active apostolates, and a few devote themselves to a cloistered life of contemplative prayer.

For example, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Sisters of Mercy, Religious Sisters Filippini, Dominican Sisters, Daughters of Charity, and Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius often work in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes. But Carmelite, Dominican, Poor Clare, and other nuns stay in the monastery and pray, fast, and work for the sanctification of souls. You may have seen Mother Angelica and the other Poor Clare nuns on television from time to time and noticed that even while they’re in the chapel, they’re separated (cloistered) from the general public. Cloistered nuns live and stay in the monastery, whereas religious sisters work outside the convent.

In contrast, the sisters in parochial schools aren’t nuns but religious sisters; they don’t live in a cloistered monastery but in a convent, and they teach in the parish school.

You can tell the order of the monk, nun, sister, or friar by their habit (religious garb). The Franciscans typically wear brown, the Dominicans wear white, the Benedictines wear black, and the Missionaries of Charity wear white with blue stripes. Some communities of women no longer wear a veil on their head but wear a pin that identifies them with their order instead. The style, size, and color of the women’s veils also designate their community.

Religious brothers and sisters aren’t members of the clergy, but they aren’t members of the lay faithful, either. They’re called consecrated religious, which means that they’ve taken sacred vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They share all meals together and try to work together, pray together, and recreate together. Because they take a vow of poverty, they don’t own their own cars (no insurance, loan payments, or gasoline to buy, either), and they have no personal savings or checking accounts. The religious order provides all these things, and they must ask their superiors when they need or want something. This is where that vow of obedience kicks in.

Part 2

IN THIS PART …

See why and how the whole person — body and soul — gets into the act during Catholic worship.

Go deep inside the sacraments of Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation.

Look at the sacraments of Marriage, Holy Orders, Penance, and Anointing of the Sick.

Discover the connection between what’s believed and how that belief is expressed in worship, especially during the most central and sacred act of worship in Catholicism: the Mass.

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