# Catholic church terminology **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-church-terminology/490633 "2009-03-24T19:51:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-church-terminology/490633/41 "2009-03-26T04:08:21Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Same in American Anglicanism – see my post. A diocese with a cathedral (most of 'em, but mine doesn’t) will have a Dean of the Cathedral; most dioceses are broken into Deaneries (sometimes called Districts) with a Rural Dean for each (even if it’s an urban area, he’s a ‘Rural Dean’ to distinguish him from the guy in the Cathedral). The Anglican Church of Canada also has deaneries and Rural Deans, but if you hear a reference to “the Dean”, odds are the person is referring to the incumbent of the cathedral. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-church-terminology/490633/42 "2009-03-27T01:08:38Z")
Thanks, **Polycarp** and **Northern Piper** , as ridiculously byzantine as one might have expected 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-church-terminology/490633/43 "2009-03-27T01:19:16Z")
Oh, to do Cardinals – they’re the Archbishops whom the Pope has designated to be the ones to pick his successor, and they get to wear red hats and be called His Eminence and a few other specialty gimcracks. A few of them have posts in Rome/the Vatican (officially the Cardinal Bishops and Carfdinal Deacons); the others (Cardinal Priests, though they’re all Archbishops) are scattered around the globe, with at least one in every large country with a good-sized Catholic population. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-church-terminology/490633/44 "2009-03-27T01:34:28Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > By contrast, in Anglicanism, the person who has the living in the cathedral is normally called the Dean, as the senior priest of the diocese. In fact, I don’t think that the Bishop is considered to be the parish priest of the cathedral - that’s the function of the Dean. That’s correct, but I’ll add another wrinkle, from the Episcopal church in the United States Sometimes, for whatever reason, a bishop does make him/herself the priest/dean of the cathedral parish. But bishops are very busy people. They most likely don’t have time to be the dean AND be bishop of the diocese. So they may appoint someone to act in the position of cathedral dean. This person is called a _provost_. This situation occurred some years ago in the church I attend, which is the diocesan cathedral. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-church-terminology/490633/45 "2009-03-27T02:32:08Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > By the way, religious orders: > > They’re made up of people who feel a calling to live in celibacy within a community of like-minded people. There’s a single vow, of poverty, chastity, and obedience, not three separate vows. > > Monks and nuns are _cloistered_ in “contemplative orders”, living lives devoted to prayer and work, with little contact with the rest of the world. Most “monks” and “nuns” people encounter are from “servant orders” and are Brothers and Sisters, pedantically not called monks and nuns in the proper use (though most people do anyway). > > Franciscan and Dominican males are _friars_, not monks – their proper task is to preach the Gospel and minister in humility. Because of that special call, and the idea of itinerancy rather than life within a monastery, they make the distinction. They don’t have to live in a community like a monastery necessarily. Some start branded institutions and such, but don’t necessarily stay with their own - the Jesuits are notable here. I think you and others hinted at it, but if you meet a woman who looks like a nun and talks like a nun, odds are that they are not. Nuns typically live in convents and take simple vows. The women who teach in schools and such are _religious sisters_. Both them and nuns can be addressed as “sister.” Now that we’re here, can someone tackle the Orthodox/Eastern Rite titles? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-church-terminology/490633/46 "2009-03-27T03:24:07Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Thanks, **Polycarp** and **Northern Piper** , as ridiculously byzantine as one might have expected 🙂 Feh! The Mackerel Slappers\* have had only a measly two millenia to come up with this level of bureaucracy! By comparison, the US Govt has done it and more in barely more than 225 years. The Byzantines? They had less time, but it would take more than an internet message board to work out the details. - - Yeah, I’m wiping away a tear of nostalgia realizing there is only my pastor between me and [Pope Wally.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Hanson) Damn, I sometimes miss trying to keep this stuff straight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-church-terminology/490633.md?page=2)