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Depending on the religion, clergy usually take care of the ritual aspects of the religious life, teach or otherwise help in spreading the religion's doctrine and practices. They often deal with life-cycle events such as childbirth, circumcision, coming of age ceremonies, marriage, and death. Clergy of most faiths work both inside and outside formal houses of worship, and can be found working in hospitals, nursing homes, missions, armies, etc.
There is a significant difference between clergy and theologians; clergy have the above-mentioned duties while theologians are scholars of religion and theology, and are not necessarily clergy. A lay-person can be a theologian. The two fields, of course, often overlap.
Clergy are protected by special laws in many countries.
In some cases clergy are financed (or co-financed) by the nation they work in, but usually they are financially supported by the donations of individual members of their religion.
In Christianity there is a wide range of formal and informal clergy positions, including priests, deacons, bishops, and ministers. In most streams of IslamCairo Egypt Islm (In Arabic: , "submission (to God)"; In Persian and Urdu: ) is a monotheistic faith and the world's second-largest religion. Followers of Islam, known as Muslims believe that God (or, in Arabic, Allh revealed His Will to Muhammad (c. the religious leader is known as an imamImam has several meanings, depending on context. The common everyday use is for a person leading Muslim congregational prayers. In this meaning Imam is not required to be a cleric. The term is also used for a recognized religious leader or teacher in Isla, and in the Shiite branch of Islam there are other leaders, such as an ayatollahAyatollah ( Arabic: Persian: is a high title given to major Shia clergymen. The word means 'sign of God', and those who carry the title are experts in Islamic sciences such as jurisprudence, ethics, philosophy and mysticism, and usually teach in schools h.
Catholic clerical organisation is hierarchical in nature: After the tonsura (by which a man formally becomes a clericus), are the 4 minor orders (ostiary, lectorate, order of exorcists, order of acolytes), the 3 major orders (subdiaconate, diaconate, and presbyterate) and finally the episcopate, which is defined in Catholic doctrine as "the fullness of Holy Orders". Minor orders are today mainly a symbolic passage and a requirement for the major orders, and have no special power.
Stricto sensu only those who have been consecrated to the holy ministry after the tonsura are part of the clergy, but in time the term has been used with wider meanings; in common language it includes all the people consecrated to God. Questions regard monks and nuns as eventually part of clergy, after a consolidated habit of the same Roman Catholic Church (especially in recent times and even in formal acts) of simply sharing God's people in clergy and laics only, and certainly monks and nuns are not laics having being consecrated and having had their tonsura (for nuns there is an equivalent ceremony).
The administration of sacraments seems to be the real distinguishing element, and in this sense monks should be considered part of clergy, while nuns would not. Ordination to Holy Orders is considered one of the Seven Sacraments of Divine institution by Catholic doctrine, in many ways directly comparable to Holy Matrimony (i.e., marriage).
During the Middle Ages however, the term was used to indicate all the people with an education (having education been an exclusive privilege of clergy for long epochs) and the term also survives in some students' organisations in some ancient universities (such as Goliardia, where they are often called clerici vagantes).
The term clerici vagantes comes indeed from the clerics that before 12th century were commanded at the service of a determined church (incardinatio); after that time, they were not forced any more to reside in the church (if they had no privileges or other related rights), and they could go living and residing wherever they liked (then vagantes, wandering). The Council of Trent vainly tried to abolish this use, and only in recent times the rule was restored that a clericus has a perpetual and absolute obligation to serve the diocese or the Order to which he is assigned; only with a special authorisation he can be accepted in the jurisdiction of another diocese or of another Order.
Current canon law prescribes that to be ordained a priest, an education is required of two years of scholastic philosophy study, and 4 years of theology; dogmatic and moral theology, the Holy Scriptures, and canon law have to be studied inside a seminary. This reflects the scholastic and intellectual traditions of the Latin Church.
Oaths of celibacy and obedience are required as a condition for admittance (and persistence) in the Catholic Latin Rite; this is a disciplinary and administrative rule rather than a dogmatic and doctrinal one. Celibacy has taken many forms in different times and places. The Council in Trullo (Quinisextum Concilium) in 692 barred bishops from marrying, but did not prevent married men from becoming priests and excommunicated those deacons who would have divorced because ordained. This rule is still followed for ordained deacons in the Latin Rite, as well as for priests in the Eastern Rites. Married men are not ordained priests in the Latin Rite, although some married priests do exist who were ordained in the Anglican church and later received into the Roman Catholic Church. See also Presbyterorum Ordinis for a modern statement of the nature of the Catholic priesthood.
Clergy have four classical rights:
The extent to which these rights are recognised at law varies dramatically from country to country, with traditionally Catholic countries being more inclined to respect these rights.
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