The nitty gritty can get pretty complicated when it comes to different kinds of vocations, and organizations, institutes, etc. To be honest, I don’t completely understand it all myself, but I’ll try to address it somewhat.
There are several forms of “consecrated life”
- Religious institutes (monks, friars, nuns, etc…Benedictines, 1st and 2nd order Franciscans, Dominicans, Poor Clares, Jesuits, etc). Religious make the Evangelical Councils, i.e. Vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience. There are Religious “Orders” and Religious “Congregations”. Franciscans are an Order (actually several Orders), Jesuits i believe are a Congregation…the difference has to do with the kind of vows professed (solemn vs simple), and is really not that important, in my opinion since its amounts the pretty much the same thing.
- Secular Institutes (Lay Missionaries of the Passion, Voluntas Dei Institute, Company of St. Paul, and more). I think they also make the evangelical councils, but unlike religious, they live on their own, living and working in the world. i.e. they work as bankers, store managers, paramedics, physicians, etc and have to support themselves just like anyone else in society. But they go through formations with whatever institute they belong to, living out that charism all the while.
- Hermits.
- Consecrated Virgins. I don’t know much about either Hermits of Virgins.
Societies of Apostolic Life are different. They are usually secular priests, like diocesan priests (not Religious…do not make the evangelical council as vows), but they are members of a society, such as FSSP and Paulists.
The simplified way I’d look at it is Religious live as part of a community, some more than others, and make the Vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience. Secular Institutes make the vows, but do not life in a community like Religious. Apostolic Societies live in community like religious, but do not make the vows. Although they can adhere to them and make other promises, like diocesan priests.
Opus Dei is a
Personal Prelature. It is the only one. I’m not entirely sure what that means off hand. I think they would be more similar to a Secular Institute but with it’s own bishop. I believe that depending on the type of membership with Opus Dei, you may be married with children, or celibate.
Third Orders are made up of secular people who do not make the vows. But they are often affiliated or attached to a religious institute. (maybe also a society of apostolic life? I’m not sure). There are third order Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans. Probably more as well. Benedictine Monks have what they call “Oblates”, which is a similar idea, although a very different history than third orders. Members of third orders live the charism of the order in everyday life. Also, I say they are “Secular”, not “Lay”, because they are not vowed religious, but they can have priests. A diocesan priest can become a member of a third order.
What does make things confusing though, is the Franciscan Family. What most orders refer to as a Third order, we call “Secular Franciscans”. So I can certainly see where Third Order vs Secular confusion comes in. In the Franciscan world “Third Order” refers to any group that does not fit into the First Order (OFM, OFM Cap, OFM Conv) or the Second Order (Poor Clares). This includes those that follow the Third Order Rule (Secular Franciscans, Third Order Regulars), franciscan sisters who are not Poor Clare nuns, or friars that follow the First rule, but are not not part of one of the 3 Friars Minor communities ( CFR’s, Primitive Observance). Third Order Regular friars follow the Third Order rule of St. Francis, but are in fact vowed religious. There are also groups like the Confraternity of Penitents which are similar to Secular Franciscans, but follow an earlier version of the Rule, and have a different canonical status. Long story short, “third order Franciscans” can mean any number of communities, religious and secular/non-religious
I don’t know why we don’t talk more about Third orders when discussing vocations. They are wonderful vocations and the members are a true blessing to the Church.
