Lay ecclesial movements, also called associations of the faithful, are groups of baptized Catholics organized for the purposes of catechesis, cultural work, mutual support, and/or missionary apostolate. Their members are not all exclusively lay, as some groups include priests as members also. Secular institutes, groups of lay people who follow the evangelical counsels, are also classed with lay ecclesial movements. The Directory of International Associations of the Faithful, published by the Pontifical Council for the Laity, includes descriptions of officially approved lay societies. In the Roman Catholic Church, a secular institute is an organization of individuals who are consecrated -- professing the Evangelical counsels of poverty, obedience and chastity -- while living in the world as lay people, not members of a religious order. ... The evangelical counsels or counsels of perfection are poverty, chastity, and obedience. ... Published by the Pontifical Council for the Laity, this is a directory of all the communities and movements in the Catholic Church. ... The Pontifical Council for the Laity has the responsibility of assisting the Pope in his dealings with the laity either on an individual or group level, and thier contributions to the Church, head of the council is Archbishop Stanisław Ryłko. ...

A 20th Century resurgence of interest in lay societies culminated in the Second Vatican Council. These societies also have their roots in medieval societies including confraternities, communes, and guilds. The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965. ... Defensive towers at San Gimignano, Tuscany, bear witness to the factional strife within communes. ... A guild is an association of persons of the same trade or pursuits, formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards of morality or conduct. ...

References

• Book review of Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes 1125-1325 by Augustine Thompson, OP
• Brotherhood and Community on the Eve of the Reformation: Confraternities and Parish Life in Liege, 1450-1540 by David Dieterich