Clerical Religious Institute is a religious institute governed by clerics, assuming the exercise of sacred orders, and recognized as clerical by competent Church authority.
Canonical definition
Canon 588 calls an institute clerical when, by its founder's purpose or legitimate tradition, it is directed by clerics, assumes the exercise of sacred orders, and is recognized as such by Church authority. The designation belongs to the institute, not automatically to every member.
Clerical institutes commonly include priests, deacons, seminarians or scholastics, and non-ordained brothers. Brothers are fully professed members even though offices requiring holy orders remain restricted by universal or proper law.
No higher state
The clerical classification identifies governance and mission; it does not make the institute's consecrated life intrinsically holier than that of a lay religious institute. Religious profession and ordination confer distinct relationships and obligations.[1][2]
References
- 1.Code of Canon Law, canons 573–606 — Latin Church norms on consecrated life and its forms
- 2.Code of Canon Law, canons 607–709 — Latin Church norms on religious institutes, formation, profession, and governance