Secular

(sěk'u-lăr.) [From L. secular is, belonging to an age or generation.] (Eccl.) A member of the Roman Catholic clergy who is permitted to live at large, that is to say, is not confined to a religious house, nor bound by the special vows or subjected to the particular rules of any religious community; thus we speak of the secular clergy. Secularization is the act of converting church property to secular or lay uses. [s. 810]