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Religious or Diocesan?
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 A Diocesan Priest
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A diocesan priest makes three promises to the church
standing before his bishop:

 to pray daily the Liturgy of the Hours, which include

passages from the psalms and Scripture.

 to obey and be loyal to his bishop. His bishop guides the

priest and the priest ministers where the bishop asks him
to serve.

 to live a celibate life so that he can completely give his

own life to Christ, the church–the people whom he has
been called to serve.
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 A Diocesan Priest

 The diocesan priest lives and works in a certain
geographical area called a diocese. Most often, a
diocesan priest is assigned to a parish by the bishop,
and he lives and works in that area.

 He does not make a promise of poverty, and usually

owns a car and other possessions in order to fulfill
his duties and live independently.

 He is focused on the needs of those in his parish.

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 A Religious Priest
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 A religious priest makes three solemn vows even before he is
ordained.

 He vows poverty. He owns nothing or very little, and shares

things in common with others in his community–such as a place
to live and a car.

 He vows obedience to his religious superior who may ask him

to minister far away or have a particular role in the community.

 Finally, the religious priest vows chastity, which, like the

diocesan priest, means he will not get married.
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A Religious Priest
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 These three vows–poverty,
chastity and obedience–are
called the “evangelical
counsels.” Interestingly, the
Catechism teaches that every
Christian is called to live the
counsels to some degree, though
religious priests live them in a
“more intimate” way. (CCC
#916)
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 A Religious Priest
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 The superior of the Order tells the religious priest where he will
live to carry out his ministry.

 The religious priest chooses a religious community based on its

lifestyle or charism and mission. Some communities live very
austerely while others do not.

 Some have missions with the elderly, youth or the poor. Some
serve as teachers in schools or evangelists in other countries.
Some are contemplatives or silent. Most often they live in
community with each other instead of among people in a parish.
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 
A Sister or a Nun?
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 God does speak to our hearts as He has

spoken to so many young men and
women before us. He does call, and He
calls in a way that you, and only you,
can understand. 
 A Contemplative Nun

 A nun takes solemn and public perpetual vows of
chastity, poverty and obedience (evangelical
counsels), and typically spends her life in prayer and
work and silence in a cloistered convent.

 This is the contemplative life.

 A nun will renounce all ownership of property so

she can devote herself entirely to the service of God.
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 A Contemplative Nun
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 She has committed herself according to the laws of
enclosure to live behind the walls of a monastery for
the rest of her life. She may leave for a doctor’s visit
or for a parent’s funeral, but she is a soul hidden
from the world in order to pray for all of its many
needs.

 Her prayer is her work: begging God to help the

suffering, lonely, helpless, sinners, the whole world.
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 A Contemplative Nun

 Their main task is to pray and adore God in contemplation and offer
the prayer of the Church (Divine Liturgy) in community to the glory
and honor of God. Men and women members of religious orders wear
the habit particular to their order.

 In the contemplative life, the concept of a cloister, a place reserved for

the nuns alone, is expanded and deepened. Often the entire monastery
is cloistered, and may even be surrounded by a cloister wall.

 The choir where the nuns sit in the chapel is sometimes hidden from

the public who come to pray. And, depending on what form of cloister
each monastery professes, the nuns may practice enclosure, which
means they vow never to pass beyond the bounds of the cloister. 
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 A Contemplative Nun
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 They are assigned duties during their work time
throughout the day. They are laundresses, gardeners,
cooks, seamstresses, musicians, infirmary nurses for
their older sisters, and more.
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 A Religious Sister

 Also called an “Active Sister”

 A sister takes simple perpetual vows of chastity, poverty and

obedience (evangelical counsels), and may or may not live in
community, and lives an active life typically serving in health
care or educational institutions. Sisters renounce all
ownership to property except inheritances and trusts. They
may retain ownership of those assets but are not allowed to
use the income from those assets.(depending on the rule of
life of their congregation)

 Sisters may or may not wear habits, according to the rules of

their community and the spirit of their founder.
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 A Religious Sister

 The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism (1995)
defines as "congregations of sisters institutes of
women who profess the simple vows of poverty,
chastity, and obedience, live a common life, and are
engaged in ministering to the needs of society.“
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 A Religious Sister

 The 1917 Code of Canon Law reserved the term "nun
" (Latin: monialis) for women religious who took
solemn vows or who, while being allowed in some
places to take simple vows, belonged to institutes
whose vows were normally solemn.

 The bishops at Vatican II, in their document Perfectae

Caritatis on the religious life, asked all religious to
examine their charism as defined by their rule and
founder, in light of the needs of the modern world.
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Indeed, I wish everyone to be as I am, but

each has a particular gift from God,* one of
one kind and one of another.
1 Corinthians 7:7
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St. Rita College-Manila

AR Motherrhouse
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