Lay brother is a term referring to unordained religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focus upon manual service and secular matters. They are distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they do not pray in choir, and from clerics, in that they were not in possession of (or preparing for) holy orders. This specific definition is no longer applied universally by the Catholic Church, though the term continues to be used by many religious orders. Lay brothers play 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 female religious institutes, the equivalent role is the lay sister. Lay brothers were originally created to allow those who were skilled in particular crafts or did not have the required education to study for holy orders to participate in and contribute to the life of a religious order.
