"Your light must shine before men so that they may see goodness in your acts and give praise to your heavenly Father" Mt 5:16.  

Lives of consecration

"A Secular Institute is an institute of consecrated life in which the faithful, living in this world, strive for the perfection of charity and endeavor to work for the sanctification of the world from within." (Code of Canon Law, 1983)

A vocation to a Secular Institute involves a form of life relatively new in the Roman Catholic Church.  It is open to single lay women and men or diocesan clerics who feel called by the Holy Spirit to consecrate their lives to God more intensely through vows or promises of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

To sanctify from within

Like Third Order members of religious communities, members of Secular Institutes witness to Christ and spread the Good News of the Gospel by striving to live as a transforming presence, or "leaven," in contemporary society, endeavoring to restore all things in Christ while living in their own residence and engaging in the employment of their choice.  Their entire lifestyle of prayer, work, and social activities becomes their apostolate.

Secular institutes in the Diocese