Jesuits, Franciscans, Carmelites: Understanding Catholic orders

Catholics like organizational labels. We like to sort and classify. We insist on believing in the power of the Holy Spirit to grace each person differently in order to bring about wholeness of wisdom and compassion in our communities. We really do relish certain kinds of variety under the umbrella of obedience to Rome and as such our liturgies reflect historical and cultural particularities. There are actually more than 20 different ways to celebrate the Mass that are recognized as orthodox by the Vatican and termed “Catholic.”

There have been trends in American Catholicism to downplay these legitimate liturgical variations because they are often linked to immigrant communities. We use the word “Catholic” to install conformity and forget the rich heritage of diversity in our own tradition. While Catholics are arguing over distracting details of liturgical modes, our religious communities continue to lead the way in accepting that the chaos of difference really underpins a reality of cohesion. When Catholics talk about religious communities it usually refers to consecrated groups of women and/or men living together for a united spiritual purpose and organized around a certain identity. We can also call these groups “charisms.”

Charism is generally defined as the spiritual graces flowing from God through the Holy Spirit to the person such as wisdom, discernment, fortitude or piety. This is not unique to Christianity as there is the concept of “barakah“ in Islam.  Among Catholics, different groups of people have felt a shared call to a specific charism, and thus we have our Jesuits, Franciscans, Maryknoll and Carmelites. Even Catholics have difficulty keeping these groups straight as to who does what and how, especially when in the end it all seems pretty similar. Imagine that you feel a strong calling to woodwork, but for some reason your talent and craft shine brightest when you are using maple instead of pine. Maybe you have particular facility with a rare wood from Borneo. In the Catholic church, you could choose to take vows with the maple woods versus the rare Borneo group. You are still woodworking, but just a little differently.

So who is who?  There are hundreds of lists of religious orders, and it is a daunting task to understand them all. There are various levels of vows and obedience to the institutional Church. Some orders encourage priestly ordination among some of the members, and others do not.  Some orders have both male and female communities, but some do not. Some orders are global, and others are limited to one or two regions. Some orders are monastic or otherwise enclosed, separated from the secular world, and others are not.

The history of American expansion includes Catholic religious orders whose missions acted as gathering places for pioneers on the frontier, whose schools gave legitimacy to growing towns and whose hospitals cared for all. In my own experience as a Catholic, I have known Jesuits, Franciscans, Benedictines, Capuchins and Sisters of St. Joseph. It turns out that a Capuchin is also a Franciscan … trying to make sense of it can feel academic. It’s also important to acknowledge that the majority of American Catholic parishes are served by diocesan priests who take a vow of obedience to the local Bishop and are not associated with a particular religious order.