These are somewhat flexible
terms; popularly they are
all understood to involve a
life of sacrifice and poverty.
But while all variation of priesthoods
may be equivalent, their vocations
are not exactly alike, except in that
they are meant to live their lives in
service. A priest may be monastic,
or religious, or “secular” (also called
“diocesan”), but they are all clergy.
A priest in the Catholic Church is a
man who has received the sacrament
of Holy Orders and has therefore
undertaken the duties of celebrating
the Sacrifice of the Mass, hear-
ing confession, giving absolution
and other sacraments “in persona
Christi” and to perform other duties
of pastoral ministry and, sometimes,
administration.
Advertising
A priest may be connected to a
diocese or to a religious order, or to a
monastic house (an abbey or priory/
convent). All priests, whether dioce-
san or religious, address celibacy and
obedience to their superiors:
A diocesan priest promises solemn
obedience to his bishop.
A religious priest (like a Domini-
can or Franciscan) vows obedience
to his superior, usually called a
“provincial.”
A monastic priest vows obedience
to his abbot (if living in an abbey) or
prior (in a priory).
Diocesan priests do not take vows
(or promises) to poverty and may
possess and inherit property.
Priests vowed to a religious order
(like the Franciscans, Dominicans,
etc) or a monastic community (like
the Benedictines or Cistercians) do
make vows of poverty, surrendering
any income they generate through
their works to their superiors. So a
Dominican writer earning profits
from his books will turn those
royalty checks over to the Order of
Preachers. A Trappist writer will
turn his earnings over to his abbot
or prior, for the benefit of the whole
community.
The word “friar” is from fraire
(from the Middle Ages — the fraire
Provençal), which means “brother.”
The word arose with the creation of
the mendicant (traveling/preaching)
orders in the late Middle Ages, most
predominantly by Saint Francis
(Franciscans) of Assisi and Saint
Dominic (Order of Preachers, or
“Dominicans”). These “new reli-
gious” were no longer tied to mon-
asteries and convents but went out
among the people, to preach and to
pray, to educate and to serve the sick.
A priest who is part of a mendi-
cant religious order is also a friar; a
priest who is part of a conventual/
monastic community (contempla-
tive/stationary) is also a monk. But
monks and friars need not be priests.
Some monks and friars discern their
vocations as religious, content to
simply be brothers within their order
or community; they do not pursue
the priesthood.
The word “monk” comes from the
Latin monachus, a word for hermits,
rooted in a meaning of “solitude.”
It is related to the emergence of the
first experiences of contemplative
men and women, such as the Desert
Fathers and Mothers. Saint Benedict
of Nursia (480-547) is considered the
founder of Western Monasticism.
Finally, it is possible for a priest
to be neither “secular”, nor “friar”,
nor “monk” but still be a religious.
A Jesuit priest (Society of Jesus),
or a Pauline priest (Society of Saint
Paul), or a Salesian priest (Society
of St. Francis de Sales, aka Salesians
of Don Bosco) is fully a priest and
will make the same vows of poverty,
chastity and obedience to their reli-
gious superiors, just like friars and
monks, but they are simply priests of
their respective communities
