In the Roman Catholic Church, members of Secular Institutes are laypersons or clergy who feel called to consecrate their lives through the profession of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the world and for the world. Members commit themselves to communion and fellowship according to their particular secular state. Some Institutes adopt the spirituality of a particular vowed religious life community (Franciscans, Dominicans, Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate, Jesuits, and Missionaries of the Kingship of Christ). Secular Institute members are not required to live life in common, or to wear any distinctive clothing or external sign to indicate they are members of a secular institute. For information on the vocation as lived in a Secular Institutes, please visit https://secularinstitutes.org.
Similarly, there are men and women in Societies of Apostolic Life/Fraternities who align their everyday lives more closely to a particular society’s way of life and apostolic mission. They witness to the communion of the Church as they live a particular manner of life based on a society’s vision. Formerly called Third Order or Tertiary groups, some of these Societies they associate themselves with a particular order such as the Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, etc. There is a time of formation during which they study the spirituality of the society and deepen a commitment of service according to their unique circumstances in life. Often, a formal promise seals their commitment to the Society or Fraternity.
Blessed Solanus Casey Regional Fraternity, Secular Franciscan Order