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Brothers

Diaconate

1. Permanent,
2. Transitional

Lay Involvement

Alexian Brothers

The Congregation of Alexian Brothers is a lay, apostolic Catholic Order whose Brothers, bound together by religious vows, dedicate themselves primarily to live in community and to participate in the ministry of healing in the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. For almost 800 years, the Alexian Brothers have cared for the sick, the aged, the poor and the dying.

Augustinians

1. Priests and Brothers,
2. Sisters

Augustinians are members of the Order of Saint Augustine, an international Catholic religious community of men and women.

Assumptionists

The Augustinians of the Assumption (A.A.) constitute a congregation of Catholic religious (priests and brothers), founded in Nîmes, southern France, by Fr. Emmanuel d'Alzon in 1845, initially approved by Rome in 1857 and definitively approved in 1864 (the Constitutions were approved in 1923). The current Rule of Life of the congregation draws its inspiration from that of St. Augustine of Hippo.

Benedictines

1. Priests and Brothers,
2. Sisters

The Order of Saint Benedict (Latin name: Ordo Sancti Benedicti) is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community (which may be a monastery, a priory or abbey) maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests.

Carmelites

1. Priests and Brothers,
2. Sisters,
3. Cloistered Nuns

The Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or Carmelites (sometimes simply Carmel by synecdoche; Latin: Ordo Fratrum Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmelo) is a Catholic religious order perhaps founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel, hence its name.

Cistercians

1. Priests and Brothers,
2. Cloistered Nuns

The Order of Cistercians is a Catholic religious order of enclosed monks and nuns.

The emphasis of Cistercian life is on manual labour and self-sufficiency, and many abbeys have traditionally supported themselves through activities such as agriculture and brewing ales.

Claretian Missionaries

1. Priests and Brothers,
2. Sisters

The Claretians are a Roman Catholic religious community of priests, brothers and sisters dedicated to the mission of living and spreading the Gospel of Jesus—to serving life—in more than 60 countries on five continents.

Comboni Missionaries

1. Priests and Brothers,
2. Sisters

The Comboni Missionaries are a group of men and women, among which priests, brothers, religious sisters, secular and lay missionaries who are committed to Mission in poor countries around the world.

This order of Missionaries was founded by Daniele Comboni (1831-1881), an Italian priest who became bishop in Central Africa.

Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians)

Congregation of the Mission is a vowed order of priests and brothers associated with the Vincentian Family.

Christian Brothers

The Congregation of Christian Brothers is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. The Christian Brothers, as they are commonly known, chiefly work for the evangelization and education of youth, but are involved in many ministries, especially with the poor.

Daughters of Charity (Sisters)

The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, sometimes simply referred to as Daughters of Charity, is a Society of Apostolic Life for women within the Catholic Church. Its members take simple, private, annual vows. It was founded in 1633 and devoted to serving Jesus Christ in persons who are poor through corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

Divine Word Missionaries

The Society of the Divine Word popularly called the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a missionary religious congregation in the Latin Church.

Dominicans

1. Priests and Brothers,
2. Sisters,
3. Cloistered Nuns

The Order of Preachers, after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III (1216–27) on 22 December 1216 in France.

Membership in the Order includes friars, nuns, congregations of active sisters, and lay persons affiliated with the order (formerly known as tertiaries, now Lay or Secular Dominicans).

Franciscans

1. Priests and Brothers,
2. Sisters,
3. Cloistered Nuns (Poor Clares)

Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi and, in some instances, in conjunction with Saint Clare of Assisi (Poor Clares). Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities.

Good Shepherd Sisters

The Good Shepherd Sisters (called also Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd) is a Roman Catholic order of women religious. In addition to the standard vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Good Shepherd Sisters take the following fourth vow of zeal for souls [to save souls], particularly of women and girls. "I bind myself to the labor for the conversion of fallen women and girls needing refuge from the temptation of the world."

Holy Cross

1. Priests and Brothers,
2. Sisters

The Congregation of Holy Cross or Congregatio a Sancta Cruce (C.S.C.) is a Catholic congregation of priests, brothers and sisters founded in 1837 by Blessed Father Basil Anthony-Marie Moreau, CSC, in Le Mans, France.

Jesuits

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Marines" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and members' willingness to accept orders anywhere in the world and live in extreme conditions. The Society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents.

Josephite Fathers and Brothers

The Josephite Fathers and Brothers or, more properly, Saint Joseph's Society of the Sacred Heart, Inc. (abbreviated post-nominally as S.S.J.) are a society of Catholic priests and brothers, based in the United States. It was formed in 1871 by a group of priests from the English Foreign Mission Society of Saint Joseph, also known as the Mill Hill Missionaries. They decided to establish a mission society in the United States dedicated to newly freed people after the American Civil War.

Legion of Christ

The Legion of Christ is a Roman Catholic congregation of pontifical right, made up of priests and seminarians studying for the priesthood. It was founded in Mexico in 1941, by Fr. Marcial Maciel, who directed the congregation as its General Director until January 2005. The Legion of Christ has priests working in over 22 countries, and had 889 priests and 2,373 seminarians as of December 31, 2010

Marist Brothers

The Marist Brothers, or Little Brothers of Mary, are a Catholic religious institute of brothers and affiliated lay people. The order was founded in France, at La Valla-en-Gier near Lyon in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young French priest of the Society of Mary (Marist Fathers). The order is characteristically Marian.

Worldwide, there are more than 4,500 brothers working in 77 countries on 6 continents. They directly share their mission and spirituality with more than 40,000 laypeople, and together educate close to 500,000 children and young people in schools.

Marists

1. Priests and Brothers,
2. Sisters

The Society of Mary (Marists), is a Roman Catholic religious institute, founded by (later) Father Jean-Claude Colin and a group of other seminarians in France in 1816. Jean-Claude Courveille (1787–1866) had the original insight for the congregation but it was brought to fruition by Colin.

The Marist Sisters are an international congregation or order of Roman Catholic women. The Marist Sisters recognise Jeanne-Marie Chavoin (Mother Saint Joseph) as their Foundress and Jean-Claude Colin as their Founder.

Maryknoll

1. Priests and Brothers,
2. Sisters

Maryknoll is a name shared by three organizations that are part of the Roman Catholic Church and whose joint focus is on the overseas mission activity of the Catholic Church in the United States.

These organizations consist of two Catholic religious ìnstitutes and one lay group: The Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (The Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America); The Maryknoll Sisters (The Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic); and the Maryknoll Lay Missioners. While sharing a name and similar origins, the organizations are independent entities that work closely together in many of their missionary endeavors.

Mercedarians

The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, founded in 1218, is an international community of priests and brothers, who live a life of prayer and communal fraternity based on the Rule of Saint Augustine and the Constitutions of the Order.

From this life flows the apostolic work of the Order that seeks to carry on the work of our founder, Saint Peter Nolasco, who in imitation of Jesus the Redeemer, offered even his life for those Christians in need of redemptive love.

Missionaries of Charity

The Missionaries of Charity is an international religious family of pontifical right composed of active and contemplative branches with perpetual public vows of chastity, poverty, obedience, and wholehearted and free service to the poorest of the poor, leading each sister to the perfect love of God and neighbor and making the Church fully present in the world of today.

The Society was founded by Mother M. Teresa, M.C. in Calcutta, India, and now has houses on every continent and in most of the countries of the world. Their particular mission is to labor for the salvation and the sanctification of the poorest of the poor all over the world. Each member of the Society goes where she is sent and does not choose the place or kind of work.

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816 by Saint Eugene de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, 1782. The congregation was given recognition by Pope Leo XII on February 17, 1826. The congregation is composed of priests and brothers usually living in community. Their traditional salutation is Laudetur Jesus Christus ("Praised be Jesus Christ"), to which the response is Et Maria Immaculata ("And Mary Immaculate"). As of 2011, the congregation had approximately 4,400 (including 580 in formation) members serving in numerous parts of the world.

Norbertines

The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg. Premonstratensians are designated by O.Praem (Ordo Praemonstratensis) following their name.

Passionists

1. Priests and Brothers,
2. Sisters

The Passionists (The Congregation of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ[1]) are a Roman Catholic religious institute founded by Saint Paul of the Cross (Paul Francis Danei). Professed members use the initials C.P. after their names.

The Passionist Sisters (the Sisters of the Cross and Passion) is an institute founded in 1850 by Father Gaudentius Rossi, an early Passionist priest, as a convent for factory girls. In its infancy, it was called "Sisters of the Holy Family," and was later included under the Passionist family.

Paulists

The Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle, better known as the Paulist Fathers, is a Roman Catholic religious society for men founded in New York City in 1858 by Servant of God Fr. Isaac Thomas Hecker in collaboration with Fr. George Deshon, Fr. Augustine Hewit, and Fr. Francis A. Baker. Members of the society identify themselves as such by the use of the initials C.S.P. after their names, for the Congregation of St. Paul.

The Paulist Fathers were the first religious community of priests created in North America and as such the Society took on a very American character, particularly in organization and administration.

Redemptorists

The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer is a Roman Catholic missionary Congregation founded by Saint Alphonsus Liguori at Scala, near Amalfi, Italy for the purpose of labouring among the neglected country people in the neighbourhood of Naples.

Members of the Congregation, priests and brothers, are known as Redemptorists and minister in more than 77 countries around the world.

Salesians

1. Priests and Brothers,
2. Sisters

The Salesians of Don Bosco (or the Salesian Society, originally known as the Society of St. Francis de Sales) is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded in the late nineteenth century by Saint John Bosco in an attempt, through works of charity, to care for the young and poor children of the industrial revolution.

The Salesians' charter describes the society's mission as "the Christian perfection of its associates obtained by the exercise of spiritual and corporal works of charity towards the young, especially the poor, and the education of boys to the priesthood".

The institute is named for St. Francis de Sales, an early-modern bishop of Geneva.

The women's institute is known as the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco or the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.