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Laymen
In religious organizations, the laity () — individually a layperson, layman or laywoman — consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In secular usage, by extension, a layperson is a person who is not qualified in a given profession or is not an expert in a particular field. The phrase " layman's terms" is used to refer to plain language that is understandable to the everyday person, as opposed to specialised terminology understood only by a professional. Terms such as ''lay priest'', ''lay clergy'' and ''lay nun'' were once used in certain Buddhist cultures, especially Japanese, to indicate ordained persons who continued to live in the wider community instead of retiring to a monastery. Some Christian churches utilise lay preachers, who preach but are not clergy. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses the term ''lay priesthood'' to emphasise that its lo ...
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Confraternity
A confraternity (; ) is generally a Christian voluntary association of laypeople created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety, and approved by the Church hierarchy. They are most common among Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, and the Western Orthodox. When a Catholic confraternity has received the authority to aggregate to itself groups erected in other localities, it is called an archconfraternity. Examples include the various confraternities of penitents and the confraternities of the cord, as well as the Confraternity of the Holy Guardian Angels and the Confraternity of the Rosary. Confraternities were "the most sweeping and ubiquitous movement of the central and later Middle Ages". History Pious associations of laymen existed in very ancient times at Constantinople and Alexandria. In France, in the eighth and ninth centuries, the laws of the Carolingians mention confraternities and guilds. But the first confraternity in the modern ...
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Religious Organization
Religious activities generally need some infrastructure to be conducted. For this reason, there generally exist religion-supporting organizations, which are some form of organization that manages: * the upkeep of places of worship, such as mosques, churches, temples, synagogues, chapels and other buildings or meeting places. * the payment of salaries to religious leaders, such as Roman Catholic priests, Hindu priests, Protestant ministers, imams and rabbis. In addition, such organizations usually have other responsibilities, such as the formation, nomination or appointment of religious leaders, the establishment of a corpus of doctrine, the disciplining of leaders and followers with respect to religious law, and the determination of qualification for membership. Legal status Public organizations Some countries run the activities of one or more religions as part of their government, or as external organizations closely supported by the government. See state religion. ...
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Anglicanism
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the largest branches of Christianity, with around 110 million adherents worldwide . Most are members of national or regional Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, ecclesiastical provinces of the international Anglican Communion, one of the largest Christian bodies in the world, and the world's third-largest Christian communion. When united and uniting churches, united churches in the Anglican Communion and the breakaway Continuing Anglican movement were not counted, there were an estimated 97.4 million Anglicans worldwide in 2020. Adherents of Anglicanism are called ''Anglicans''; they are also called ''Episcopalians'' in some countries. The provinces within the Anglican ...
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Lay Ecclesial Ministry
Lay ecclesial ministry is the term adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to identify the relatively new category of pastoral ministers in the Catholic Church who serve the Church but are not ordained. Lay ecclesial ministers are coworkers with the bishop alongside priests and deacons. In other contexts, these may be known as "instituted catechists", "pastoral workers", "pastoral associates", etc. Overview Prior to and since the Second Vatican Council, several ministries that had for a time been retained by the presbyterate (priests) were returned to the laity, and several new forms of ministry emerged. The burgeoning awareness of the vocation of the laity as apostles to the secular world and stewards of the Church's mission as an evangelizer has given rise to the popular term "lay ministry" to refer to the active vocation of all the baptized. This general ministry of the laity has at times also been called the "lay apostolate" and the "lay vocation".F ...
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Roman Catholic Lay Ecclesial Movement
A Catholic lay association, also referred to as Catholic Congress, is an association of lay Catholics aiming to discuss certain political or social issues from a Catholic perspective. The Pontifical Council for the Laity is the body responsible for approving those Catholic associations that exist at an international level. The structure of some Religious Orders allow for Lay branches to be associated with them. These are often referred to as Third Orders. Some of the best known Catholic Lay Associations are Knights of Columbus, Knights of Columba, Catenians, Knights of Malta, the Piusverein in Germany and Switzerland, Azione Cattolica in Italy and the UK-based Catholic Truth Society. There are also lay Catholic guilds and associations representing a whole range of professions. These include the Catholic Police Guild, Holy Name Society ( NYPD), the Association of Catholic Nurses, the Guild of Catholic Doctors, the Catholic Physicians Guild, the Catholic Association o ...
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Secular Institute
In the Catholic Church, a secular institute is one of the forms of consecrated life recognized in Canon law of the Catholic Church, Church law (1983 Code of Canon Law Canons 710–730). Secular consecrated persons profess the Evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience while living in the world, as compared to members of a religious institute who belong to a particular congregations, often with specific apostolates. Description "We are the newest vocation in the Catholic Church, and many say we are the vocation of the new millennium." The historical origins of these institutes go back to the end of the sixteenth century, even though their juridic recognition as a state of consecrated life approved by the Church took place only on 2 February 1947, with Pope Pius XII's Apostolic Constitution ''Provida Mater Ecclesia''.
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Lay Apostolate
The lay apostolate is made up of Laity, laypersons, who are neither Consecrated life (Catholic Church), consecrated religious nor in Holy Orders, who exercise a ministry within the Catholic Church. Lay apostolate organizations operate under the general oversight of pastors and bishops, but need not be dependent upon them for direction. The laity can exercise a fruitful apostolate by their conduct in the areas of their labor, profession, studies, neighborhood, and social life. And according to the Vatican II Apostolicam Actuositatem, Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, they will look for opportunities to announce Christ to their neighbors through the spoken word as well (AA 13).Dulles SJ, Avery. Evangelization for the Third Millennium (Kindle Locations 257-260). Paulist Press. From Vatican II to Pope Francis The Second Vatican Council of bishops in the Catholic Church has been seen as elevating the laity “from passive spectators to involved members”. It was the first counci ...
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Baptism
Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three times, once for each person of the Trinity. The synoptic gospels recount that John the Baptist baptism of Jesus, baptized Jesus., , Baptism is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance (Christian), ordinance in others. Baptism according to the Trinitarian formula, which is done in most mainstream Christian denominations, is seen as being a basis for Christian ecumenism, the concept of unity amongst Christians. Baptism is also called christening, although some reserve the word "christening" for the Infant baptism, baptism of infants. In certain Christian denominations, such as the Catholic Churches, Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Assyrian Church of t ...
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Canon Law
Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. Canon law includes the internal ecclesiastical law, or operational policy, governing the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches), the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodox churches, and the individual national churches within the Anglican Communion. The way that such church law is legislative power, legislated, interpreted and at times court, adjudicated varies widely among these four bodies of churches. In all three traditions, a canon (canon law), canon was originally a rule adopted by a church council; these canons formed the foundation of canon law. Etymology Greek language, Greek / , Arabic language, Arabic / , Hebrew language, Hebrew / , 'straigh ...
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Lumen Gentium
, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is one of the principal documents of the Second Vatican Council. This dogmatic constitution was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 21 November 1964, following approval by the assembled bishops by a vote of 2,151 to 5. As is customary with significant Catholic Church documents, it is known by its incipit, "", Latin for 'Light of the Nations'. The eight chapters of the document can be paired thematically: chapters one and two treat the church's nature and historical existence, chapters three and four treat different roles in the church, chapters five and six treat holiness and religious life, while chapters seven and eight discuss the saints and Mary. Contents Chapter 1: The Mystery of the Church (1–8) In its first chapter on ecclesiology, the constitution states that "all the just, from Adam and 'from Abel, the just one, to the last of the elect,' will be gathered together with the Father in the universal Church ..a people made one with th ...
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Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for sessions of 8 and 12 weeks. Pope John XXIII convened the council because he felt the Church needed "updating" (in Italian: '' aggiornamento''). He believed that to better connect with people in an increasingly secularized world, some of the Church's practices needed to be improved and presented in a more understandable and relevant way. Support for ''aggiornamento'' won out over resistance to change, and as a result 16 magisterial documents were produced by the council, including four "constitutions": * '' Dei verbum'', the ''Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation'' emphasized the study of scripture as "the soul of theology". * '' Gaudium et spes'', the ''Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World'', concerned the promotion ...
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Bishop
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role or office of the bishop is called episcopacy or the episcopate. Organisationally, several Christian denominations utilise ecclesiastical structures that call for the position of bishops, while other denominations have dispensed with this office, seeing it as a symbol of power. Bishops have also exercised political authority within their dioceses. Traditionally, bishops claim apostolic succession, a direct historical lineage dating back to the original Twelve Apostles or Saint Paul. The bishops are by doctrine understood as those who possess the full Priest#Christianity, priesthood given by Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ, and therefore may ordain other clergy, including other bishops. A person ordained as a deacon, pri ...
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