In the Catholic Church, a secular institute is one of the forms of consecrated life recognized in Church law (1983 Code of Canon Law Canons 710–730).
Secular consecrated persons profess the Evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience while living in the world, as compared to members of a religious institute who belong to a particular congregations, often with specific apostolates.
In the Catholic Church, a religious institute is "a society in which members, according to proper law, pronounce public vows, either perpetual or temporary which are to be renewed, however, when the period of time has elapsed, and lead a life of brothers or sisters in common."
A religious institute is one of the two types of institutes of consecrated life; the other is the secular institute, where its members are "living in the world". Religious institutes come under the jurisdiction of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
Consecrated life (also known as religious life) is a state of life in liturgical branches of Christianity (particularly Catholicism, Evangelical Lutheranism, and Anglicanism) lived by those faithful who are called to follow Jesus Christ in a more exacting way. Consecrated life includes those in religious orders, those residing in monasteries or convents, as well as those living as hermits or consecrated virgins; in the Catholic Church, consecrated life may include those in institutes of consecrated life (religious and secular), societies of apostolic life.
An institute of consecrated life is an association of faithful in the Catholic Church canonically erected by competent church authorities to enable men or women who publicly profess the evangelical counsels by religious vows or other sacred bonds "through the charity to which these counsels lead to be joined to the Church and its mystery in a special way." They are defined in the 1983 Code of Canon Law under canons 573–730. The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has ecclesiastical oversight of institutes of consecrated life.
The more numerous form of these are religious institutes, which are characterized by the public profession of vows, life in common as brothers or sisters, and a degree of separation from the world. They are defined in the 1983 Code of Canon Law under canons 607–709. The other form is that of secular institutes, in which the members live in the world, and work for the sanctification of the world from within.
The Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (DICLSAL; Latin: Dicasterium pro Institutis vitae consecrataeet Societatibus vitae apostolicae), formerly called Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL; Latin: Congregatio pro Institutis Vitae Consecratae et Societatibus Vitae Apostolicae), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia with competency over everything which concerns institutes of consecrated life (orders and religious congregations, both of men and of women, as well as secular institutes) and societies of apostolic life, regarding their government, discipline, studies, goods, rights, and privileges.