Monks & Nuns, Brothers & Sisters

Technically, monks and nuns live in monasteries, which are buildings that have limited access to the outside world and where prayer and work are emphasized. Only women who are nuns and men who are monks live in monasteries-although a small number have guest rooms. Monastic spirituality is the norm in these places, meaning that all the residents worship together, pray together, even eat together, then spend the day working.

Religious sisters live in convents. Convents are more open to the outside world than monasteries. Residents will usually live and pray in the convent, but spend most of their day working in the outside world in places such as schools or hospitals.

Friaries are the male counterpart of convents. It is here that religious brothers live and pray together, but work outside the friary. St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi both founded the original groups of friars in the Church. Prior to that point, a man entering a life of service in the Church was limited to either a diocesan priest or a monk in a monastery. Friars are there to bridge the gap between the parish and the isolated monastery. Although brothers and sisters can be cloistered together, they are closer to the secular world than those in the monastery.