Lay brother is a canonical term used for every male religious who is not ordained. A lay brother can be a monk, a friar, or belong to a congregation. Lay brothers all make vows of obedience, poverty and chastity. Normally, people simply call us brother, though the proper term is lay brother, because the ordained members of the community are clerical brothers.
Lay brothers engage in different ministries, depending on the charism of our community. The formation is different also. For example, I work in Respect Life Ministry. I give talks, preach retreats, do counseling, train counselors, teach priests what to do and say in the confessional when someone comes in with a life issue (abortion or euthanasia), I teach courses on the Gospel of Life to seminarians, lay people, religious, priests, deacons and catechists. I travel from parish to parish giving talks at masses to different people on the Gospel of Life. I raise funds for the ministry. Sometimes I babysit with the children of new parents who don’t have enough money to pay for childcare. This allows them to work or go to classes that we provide at our pregnancy centers. I also teach theology to seminarians, youth and religious.
Formation of a brother has two dimensions. The first part is to prepare you to be a religious. This is typical of all religious communities. You don’t join religious life to do a particular ministry. You can do ministry without being a religious. The idea is to prepare yourself to consecrate your life to Christ. You prepare yourself to offer your total obedience to God’s will by vowing obedience to the rule of your community and to your superior. During the years of formation you prepare yourself to consecrate your masculinity to Christ by surrendering your right to be a father to become a brother to every member of the Church. You become a brother as Christ was the first-born of many brothers and sisters. This is the vow of chastity. Finally, you give up ownership of all material things to focus completely on Christ and to be like him.
Normally formation has several stages: aspirant, postulant, novice, simple profession and solemn profession. We’re talking anywhere from 6 to 10 years of formation. During that time your study philosophy, theology, liturgy, scripture, the rule or constitutions of your community, its history, Church history, mysticism, prayer and you also work on your education to prepare for whatever ministry you will be doing. If you’re going to be a teacher, you go to teachers’ college. If you’re going to be a cook, you learn to cook. If you’re going into pastoral care you study theology. For example, my community wanted me to work in the area of Life Issues. I first went on to get a Doctorate in Theology and then was sent to school for a PhD in psychology. Your academic education is going to depend on the ministry that you are called to do.
Some communities have a very specific ministry. For example, the Christian Brothers are completely dedicated to education. Every brother gets at least a Master’s degree in some field related to education. Other religious communities do not have a specific ministry. They have diverse ministries. The brothers are trained according to their gifts and the needs of the community. Monastic brothers usually learn a trade. Their ministry is to support their community. They learn something technical such as baking, making wine, farming, art, communications and media.
The most important part of a brother’s life is not what we do, but who we are. We are brothers to each other and to the Church. Our life is centered on prayer. Several times a day, we stop what we’re doing and come together to pray the Liturgy of the Hours or for silent prayer. We spend time before the Blessed Sacrament and in lectio divina. Second, our community life is important to us. Therefore, no ministry is ever allowed to come between the brother and his community. Our community life is a foretaste of life in the Kingdom of God which awaits us. We come together every day for community recreation and community meals. We share the responsibilities of maintaining our houses, just like any other family. Loving our brothers is the most important ministry for us. Anything that we do outside of the house is an extension of our love for our brothers. We grow very close to each other and we watch over each other to make sure that every brother is growing spiritually.
When I say every brother, this means that the lay brother not only shares his life with other lay brothers, but also with the clerical brothers in his community. All the brothers make up the family. Some lay brothers serve their communities as the superior of the house, vocation director, formation director, spiritual director. It does not make a difference that he is a lay brother. Because he is a member of the religious community he has an obligation to take his turn serving his community. Sometimes, serving means governing. In my community we have superiors who are clerical brothers (priests) and others who are lay brothers. It makes no difference; we love them and obey them with the same respect as we would our Holy Father Francis. The superior is the successor of St. Francis.
There’s a lot more. But I can’t fit it into this post. You can feel free to go to our webpage or PM me.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
