laicization
The process of converting something from clerical to lay control, or reducing a member of the clergy to lay status.
Refers specifically to shifting authority or individual status from ordained religious ministers to non-ordained citizens (laypeople).
Word relationships
- secularization: Broader term involving the general decline of religious authority across society.
- demilitarization: Removing military status, useful analogy for removing clerical status.
- clericalization: Giving control or prominent role to ordained clergy.
- ordination: Conferring holy orders upon someone to become clergy.
Commonly confused with
- laity: Laity is the noun for ordinary non-ordained believers; laicization is the process of making something lay.
Word family
- laicize (verb): To divest of clerical character or status.
- lay (adjective): Non-clerical or non-professional.
Collocations
- laicization of schools
- request laicization
- laicization process
- laicization of state institutions
Example sentences
- "The priest requested official laicization from the Vatican before running for public office." Canon law study
Memory hook
LAY-i-cization = handing power back to the LAY people. Laicization = making clergy or institutions lay.
When not to use
Do not confuse with general secularization; laicization focuses on removing clerical control, whereas secularization removes religious influence broadly.
Fun facts
- France's strict law of secularism in 1905, known as laïcité, is a direct outcome of historical laicization movements.
Related words
Explore more words
demobilize, profane, demilitarize, consecrate, excommunicate, urbanization
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