What is the difference between brothers and priests

However, as generally occurred among these mendicants, very soon many of the brothers of our Order accepted the Church's call to priestly ordination so they could hear confessions and celebrate Mass in the course of their very active ministry in the developing towns of that era. We are all equal in status as Augustinian vowed religious men. However, faithful to our tradition dating back to Saint Augustine, and faithful to our tradition dating back to the 13th century, many Augustinian brothers still accept the call and appointment of the Church to priesthood.

So, in any given Province of the Order today one finds a mixed of ordained clerical and non-ordained lay Augustinians. Commonly, the ordained men are called "fathers" and the non-ordained "brothers. There are several hundred Augustinians in the United States and Canada.

The majority of them are priests. The brothers live in community with the priests as equals in Augustinian life. They work in the apostolates of the Province alongside the priests. Some brothers are licensed teachers and administrators in our high schools.

Others have worked as hospital chaplains or have served in our parishes as youth ministers, business managers, nurses, etc. Even though one of these friars is called to ordained ministry and the other to lay religious life, both are seen here solemnly professing their perpetual vows together in the Augustinian Order. Some time ago, a university professor asked one of the Augustinians, "Why does one decide to be a brother and not a priest?

The friar started a long explanation by beginning, "Well you see, basically a man enters religious life responding to a call from the Lord. Some feel strongly that the Lord is calling them to Augustinian vowed religious life, but not [necessarily] to priesthood. The friar took another breath and started to continue when the professor interrupted him and stated, "You don't have to say any more. Specific people, organizations and events. Specific Practices.

Church Internals. Church History. Eric replied:. Hi, Nora — Thanks for the question. A brother is any male religious, vowed to: poverty chastity, and obedience and is part of a community of those so vowed. A priest is a man ordained to the ministerial priesthood who can consecrate the Eucharist and perform other sacraments. A priest can be either: secular diocesan, meaning he belongs to a diocese or religious see above. A monk is a contemplative brother, usually cloistered, or isolated from the world , as opposed to those involved in apostolic work within the world.

Monks , in other words, are devoted to prayer and have little contact, if any, with the outside world, whereas brothers , who are not monks , typically mingle with lay people more and serve schools and things like that.

Similarly, some nuns are contemplative sisters, while others serve: churches schools, and typically, mingle more with lay people. Yes, they do. The best way to become familiar with these guidelines is to write, email or call the communities in whom you are interested.

These guidelines vary widely from one community to another. Yes, there are. Benedictine Brothers, for example, live a monastic lifestyle. They remain members of their original monastery for their lifetimes.

Their daily schedule is a monastic one, with ministry fitted into the schedule for community prayer. Some Brothers are monks Trappists who live an enclosed lifestyle.

They do not leave the monastery grounds except in special circumstances. Their work, prayer, and recreation occur on their monastery grounds. They may produce crops, food products cheese, bread, wine or make altar breads or vestments to support the community. The spiritual formation process for a man who is called to serve as a Religious Brother has several stages and may last 3 — 9 years. Seeking information about religious communities may take him to vocation periodicals, the web, friends, and family.