Sharing in community life, but living in world

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

After our annual vocations section appeared (Jan. 9), readers asked for information on Third Orders.

Third orders, sometimes called tertiaries, are lay people linked to religious orders such as the Franciscans or Dominicans. Third orders come in two groups: regular and secular.

• Regular members of third orders are vowed religious - Brothers, nuns and Sisters - who belong to religious communities. These are the third order groups we know best. An example is the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, Third Order of St. Francis, who run Mercy Medical Center in Oshkosh.

(What is sometimes confusing is to realize that all religious brothers, nuns and sisters are still considered members of the laity, as distinguished from the ordained.)

• Members of secular third orders are lay persons who have not taken public vows - like brothers, nuns and sisters - but who are still associated with a particular religious community. These include the Franciscan Tertiaries, now called the Secular Franciscan Order, which has many members in our Fox Valley area, and the Secular Carmelites. They follow a way of holiness in the secular world under the guidance and inspiration of a religious order, but they do not make public religious vows or live in a religious community.

Since Vatican II, tertiaries have also used other titles, such as Lay Carmelites, to better demonstrate that their particular vocation is in the secular world.

Secular tertiaries do follow specific rules of life, make promises - some make private vows - and strive to live the Gospel according to their specific calling in the world. They undergo a period of formation, participate in on-going spiritual development, practice daily prayer, attend Mass on a regular, if not daily, basis, and gather in community for days of reflection or retreats. Many are affiliated directly with a religious community; others have separate directors and particular charisms, while still following the basic structure of their founders. The most famous of these is Francis of Assisi.

Groups of lay Christians lived in community and followed specific rules of religious life before St. Francis. (For example, the Third Order of the Norbertines dates to 1126). However, the Franciscan founder is most often credited with formalizing the practice of secular third orders.

Francis started the Franciscan secular tertiaries in 1221, after many married people were attracted to his community's way of life. Since their married state made it impossible for these people to join the first order (Franciscan priests) or second order (cloistered women of the Poor Clares), Francis developed another Franciscan rule - a code of life, a third order - for them.

Many of the points Francis stressed almost 800 years ago would still be recognized by a secular Franciscan today: modesty in dress, works of charity, the practice of fasting and saying the Daily Office.

Other religious communities followed Francis' lead in establishing lay third order communities. Today, there are tertiary associations for most religious communities, including the Trappists, Dominicans, Benedictines and Augustinians.

• Another group of laity, who similarly share in the work of religious communities, are "lay associates."

(Sometimes this term has been used interchangeably with "tertiary"; however, there are often clear differences in formal structure and requirements, varying by communities. Tertiaries are usually more formally bound to the rules and way of life of the religious community than are lay associates.)

According to a recent survey by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), there are more than 27,000 associates of religious orders in North America. Ninety-two percent of them have made a formal commitment to their particular religious community.

The Sisters of Sr. Francis of the Holy Cross at Bay Settlement have had a lay associate program for 20 years. According to Sr. Fran Bangert, Bay Settlement associates undertake a two-year formation program, after which they make a formal commitment. That commitment is renewable every three years. Besides regular networking, associates share in the community's prayer life and volunteer in its ministries. Currently, the Bay Settlement community has 31 lay associates, with 10 others in formation.

"A lay associate," Sr. Bangert explained, "is a man or woman of Christian faith who is looking to connect with an already established group to deepen their spirituality and to be involved with ministry... They want to roll up their sleeves, get in there and do something."

The Code of Canon Law explains that both lay associates and secular tertiaries "live in the world but share the spirit of some religious institute, under the overall direction of the same institute, and who lead an apostolic life and strive for Christian perfection" (no. 303). They are lay people, guided in their own personal vocations by the spirituality of a formal religious group.

"We tell our associates that we are deepening their spirituality so they can bring a faith-filled response to what they do (in the secular world)," said Sr. Bangert.

These lay people - whether associates or tertiaries - are considered to be members of their particular religious community and share in its spiritual benefits. In turn, they are called to support that community, both materially and spiritually, according to their gifts and abilities. They may not become members of more than one community at a time.

These men and women live, in a special way, the vocation each of us was called to live at baptism: to witness to the Good News. Each member of the laity must find how he or she is called to do this. As Pope John Paul II wrote in his apostolic letter on the mission of the lay faithful: "To be able to discover the actual will of the Lord in our lives always involves the following: a receptive listening to the Word of God and the Church, fervent and constant prayer, recourse to a wise and loving spiritual guide, and a faithful discernment of the gifts and talents given by God ... (Christi Fideles Laici, n. 58).

We must all look for those particular moments and embrace them.