Christianity and Religious Orders

• Limits of being religious


  Being religious can dictate personal identity and beliefs, suppressing self-exploration. Formal religions can be restrictive if individuals are directed without personal engagement. Meaning in religion is found through the interplay with spirituality, and communal support enhances the pursuit of divine understanding and knowledge
• Greatest Commandment


  Christianity is all about LOVE - love for God, oneself, neighbor, and creation itself
• Habits


  Special clothing/uniforms worn by members of religious orders
• Nuns


  Women within a religious order who lead a contemplative life
• Sisters


  Women within a religious order who are not ordained as priests
• Monks


  Men within a religious order who lead a contemplative life
• Brothers


  Men within a religious order who are not ordained as priests
• Laity


  Those called to be single or married, distinct from vowed religious, part of the Christian community
• Obedience to the Pope


  Extra vow specific to the Jesuits, being flexible and going wherever the Pope needs them
• Obedience


  Commitment to obey leaders of a religious order
• Chastity


  Commitment to single life within a religious order
• Poverty


  Commitment to a simple life within a religious order
• Single life


  One of the specific vocations in Christianity, part of the laity
• Married life


  One of the specific vocations in Christianity, part of the laity
• Vowed Religion


  Commitment to poverty, chastity, and obedience within a religious order
• Priest


  One of the specific vocations in Christianity
• Vocation

  A calling, invitation (vox = voice, vocare = to call)
• Charism

  Enables a religious order to live out the Bible about the world, channel God's goodness
• Religious Order


  A community within a religious denomination that lives in community according to their shared charism, living out their Christian faith and calling in a specific way
• Spirituality


  Personal practice cultivating a connection with the divine through individual rituals, acknowledging its inherent individual nature
• Theology


  "God Talk", study of God and reflection
• Christianity


  Religion derived from life and teachings of Jesus, based on Bible as sacred scripture, professed by Eastern, Roman Catholic, and Protestant denominations
• Denomination


  A branch of Christianity
• Religion


  Communal, ritual expression of shared faith and beliefs through outward signs, symbols, celebrations, statements of belief, and codes of behavior