Topic: What is the difference between a Nun and a Sister?

Source of this posting: Brochure from the Commission on Religious Life and Ministry of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Moderator response

Date originally posted: February 14, 2002

Question:  What is the difference between nuns and sisters?  What is a ‘religious’? 

Answer: 

Your questions really do delve into some of the most arcane differences in Roman Catholic life!  I’m not sure that anybody really understands ALL the differences.  You need to spend some real time studying to get the differences and distinctions into your mind. 

You could contact the following office for more information: 

            Commission on Religious Life and Ministry

            U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

            3211 4^th St., N.E.

            Washington, D.C.  20017-1194

You might want to check out the following web site which could provide a beginning point for web-based information:  http://www.usccb.org/vocations/consecrated/prstudy.htm  

Another web-based resource that has lots of really good stuff on it is below (be sure and note that virtually all of the articles are available in “Ingles” if you’ll just click on that):

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccscrlife/index_sp.htm

A brief beginning of an answer to your question might run like this: 

A vow is a commitment made to God.  Women who take vows are generally called ‘nuns.’ 

A promise is a commitment made to a particular human being, for instance to a Mother Superior.  Women who make promises are often called ‘sisters.’   

In both cases a generic term for nuns and sisters is “religious.”  And both nuns and sisters live lives dedicated to what are called the ‘evangelical counsels,’ that is, to poverty, chastity, and obedience.   

Men who make either a vow or a promise but who are not ordained priests is called a ‘brother.’ 

Nuns, sisters, and brothers generally live out the evangelical counsels in one of two basic ways.  The majority of these nuns, sisters, and brothers have an “active apostolate.”  This active apostolate can be things like teaching, hospital work, parish activities.   

Some nuns, sisters, and brothers live out the evangelical counsels in a “contemplative life.”  Nuns, sisters, or brothers who are “contemplative” are sometimes called ‘monks’ whether they are women or men though far more often the word ‘monks’ refers to men who are religious contemplatives.  The “contemplative life” asks of the women or men who are called to it to separate themselves from the world and focus their energy on prayer.  The life of contemplative religious usually includes, in addition to prayer, some kind of manual labor such as farming or making Church vestments. 

Still confused?  Read on!

The following, which came to me from my friend, Sister Chris Gellings of the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, is might help: 

Consecrated life is a vocation, a call from God, to conform one’s life to Jesus Christ through living as he did in poverty, chastity and obedience, dedicating oneself to God for service to the Church and for the salvation of the world.  Within that general description, there are many variations on exactly how that is carried out in a practical sense both individually and communally. 

The most well-known form of consecrated life, and that which is the prototype for the other forms, is religious life.  In this form, me and women pronounce publicly the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, live in community, and share a common apostolate. 

The greatest number of religious are women, called sisters.  Among the men, there are both brothers and priests.  Whether they are ordained or not, brothers and religious priests (of “order” priests, as they are sometimes called) are equally religious. 

Within religious life, there are two general forms of living: active or apostolic and contemplative.  While all religious have prayer as their first and foremost duty, apostolic institutes are actively involved in the works of the Church – education, health care, serving the poor, or assisting in various ways in parishes, chanceries, or other ecclesial organizations.  Contemplative religious, however,  spend a major portion of their day in prayers, separating themselves from the world in order to offer their prayers and sacrifices for the needs of the Church and the world.  They combine prayer with manual labor of various types, often in farming, crafts, or similar works.  Contemplative women are called nuns and the men, monks. 

Besides religious life, there are two other forms which are often mistaken for religious life: secular institutes and societies of apostolic life.  Each of institute adopts some aspects of the components of religious life, while not practicing others. 

Secular institutes share with religious institutes the close following of Jesus through the profession of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience.  Members of secular institutes, unlike religious who publicly pronounce their vows, may make vows, but more likely make promises or some other form of commitment.  Like religious, however, they make these promises temporarily during their formation and follow it with a permanent commitment. 

In a manner distinct from religious, members of secular institutes usually do not live together or share an apostolate, although some do, but rather seek to make sacred the secular world in which they live and work.  Priests who become members of secular institutes usually maintain their incardination in the diocese in which they live.

 The other group of institutes which are like religious institutes and are often mistaken for them is societies of apostolic life.  Among societies of apostolic life which are well-known in the United States are the Daughters of Charity, Maryknoll, Supicians, and Vincentians.  Although technically not part of consecrated life, societies of apostolic life share with religious institutes some aspects of their lives.  Some, for example, live in community; others pronounce vows annually. 

In addition to these three types of institutes, there are also some people who are individually consecrated to serve God through following the evangelical counsels.  These included consecrated virgins and hermits.  Consecrated virgins, who commit themselves to follow Christ more closely and to serve the Church, are consecrated by the diocesan bishop.  They work in the secular world as before the consecration, seeking, in a manner similar to members of secular institutes, to sanctify the world from within.  Hermits publicly profess the evangelical counsels either by vow or other bond before the diocesan bishop, but unlike consecrated virgins, they separate themselves from the world and devote themselves to the silence of solitude, prayer, and penance in a manner similar to contemplative religious. 

As you can see, the question you raise is fairly complex.  But keep working at it, and I’m sure God will help you get to where you need to be in understanding this important call to ministry in our Church!