The Church: Spiritual Orders
The idea is that all members of the church will belong to an Order. Members are allowed to transfer from one type of Order to another. There are three types of spiritual orders; military, mendicant and canonical orders.
Military Order
A military order is made up of warrior monks who serve the church, and knights who are pledged to serve their God without the interference of worldly desire. They are granted a charter, live under a Rule, are clergy, and pledge their allegiance to the church in order to serve God uninhibited by the corruption of secular influence.
If you are looking to be recognized as a military order, there are requirements which you must fulfil in order to be considered official.
First: A Rule
You must have a Rule which is approved by the church. All a Rule is are the "Rules" by which the organization operates. It includes things like, uniforms, chain of command, obedience, and all sorts of stuff.
Second: Charter
It must be granted a charter by the Ecumenical Council. This is what legitimizes your Order as a military order, and not just a bunch of religious nuts running around trying to cleanse evil.
Third: Ordained Leader
The Grand Master must be ordained by the leader of the diocese. This would be your Bishop. Independent nations would fall under the Archbishop.
Fourth: Approval of Sovereign
You must have the approval of your Clan Leader so that they aware of what you're doing. If you are not a member of a Clan or your entire clan plans to be a military order then this step is not required.
Fifth: Leader must be a Knight
It must be founded by someone with the rank of knight, or higher. Of course, the Bishop of your clan/diocese or the Head of the Eccumencial Council can knight you once you accomplish the first four goals. A military order leader is known as Grand Master.
Mendicant Order
If you are looking to be recognized as a mendicant order, there are requirements which you must fulfil in order to be considered official. This is similar to that of a military order.
Its Rule must be recognized by the Church
It must be granted a Charter by the Ecumenical Council (Council of Bishops)
Its leader must be ordained by a Bishop.
Failure to meet any of these three criteria will generally result in the Order being declared heretical, and unless it disbands immediately, its members will be hunted down as heretics themselves.
Canonical Order
A canonical order is basically the staff of people who oversee a particular church building. Such an Order will fall under the direction of a vicar or priest and deacons would be members. As such a Parson must be an ordained priest as he would be in charge of the building.
Inquisition
The Inquisition will act as sheriffs for the church. They will seek out and expose those members that are preaching heresy or otherwise trying to destabilise the Church. The perpetrators will be delivered to the Ecumenical Council to be tried and judged.