Active Orders
“Active” orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, Missionaries of Charity, etc.) are those who tend to have more direct interaction with the world than contemplative orders. In addition to prayer, active orders may devote some of their “work” time to external apostolates (teaching, preaching, soup kitchens, missions, youth retreats, media apostolates, etc.) rather than to self-supportive ends (gardening, bee farming, candle making, etc.). In this sense, they tend to follow Scripture in a more literal way; to “feed the hungry”, “give drink to the thirsty”; to be in the world, but not of the world. Active orders tend to be less bound by the walls of a monastery, and may reassign its members to different locations abroad. Some of the most active orders, such as the Jesuits, may not even be required to live in community, and are thus the most “free” in terms of possible assignments within the Church. Just as a sparrow requires only a few moments of rest on a small branch before taking to flight again, so too are such members called to obediently go where they are told, be it a professor in a school, a spiritual director in a seminary, a manager of a retreat house, or a missionary in a far off land. Typically, active orders are also Mendicant orders, meaning; they live off of the charity of others, rather than trying to be self-supportive (note; Carmelites and Poor Clares are technically mendicants as well.”
