abtract i stole some of your stuff on religious fraternities i smudged it into the same framework however i took out priests as a fraternity i don't think they can be construed in that manner priests operate in a hierarchical manner with authority in a central source although they mutually assist each other it is under the guise of a pyramidial system there have been and are religious fraternities very often from the middle ages in catholic countries there were institutions called confraternities and which were often dedicated to executing the festivals of some particular saint's day among other things and there are endless numbers of social clubs that exist among catholic especially communities and which perform largely the same function or the greek orthodox societies associated with a parich that might organize the annual st george's day festival for example it's now in fraternities disambiguation put other things in there as you see fit