Hierarchy of the Catholic Church distinct from the general apostolate or ministry of the laity described above. The consultative leadership of the church, in both the diocese and the parish, usually comprises a Pastoral Council and a Finance Council, as well as several Commissions usually focusing on major aspects of the church's life and mission, such as Faith Formation or Christian Education, Liturgy, Social Justice, Ecumenism, or Stewardship. Religious—who can be either lay people or clergy—are members of religious institutes, societies in which the members take public vows and live a fraternal life in common. This is a form of consecrated life distinct from other
Hierarchy one group over another. Hierarchical ethics offers a way of logical reasoning that is compatible with religious commitments. In some cultures, there is hierarchy within humanity: The man in a family is above the woman, and children are after, and in social classes there might be a hierarchy as follows: king, civic officials, craftsmen, unskilled workers. Hierarchy A hierarchy (from the Greek "hierarkhia", "rule of a high priest", from "hierarkhes", "president of sacred rites") is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) in which the items are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as"