lay brother

Lay brother is an outdated term which referred to a male member of a religious order who has not been ordained to priesthood. The term was particularly used in the Catholic Church. Lay brothers were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choir, and from clerics, in that they did not prepare for holy orders. This specific definition is no longer applied by the Catholic Church. Lay brothers played a crucial role in maintaining the upkeep of facilities, performing community service work, and providing technical and administrative expertise to assist with the mission of their order, while clerics typically focus on preaching, liturgy, and leadership. In religious institutes for women, the equivalent term was lay sister. Lay brothers were originally created to al...