This study examines the internal segmentation of the Roman Catholic priesthood by considering structural differences in four orders of religious clergy (Benedictines, Franciscans, Jesuits, and Maryknoll Missionaries). Comparisons between these orders reveal different patterns of influence and control related to specialized function, communal ethos, and the way priests live their profession. Despite evidence of strain, the segmentation of religious clergy has not been undermined by the transformations initiated with Vatican II. The process of segmentation, however, does not conform to the Gemeinschaft/Gesellschaft model assumed in the literature, but more closely approximates an “accommodation” model of goal-integration. At the same time, differences among the clergy in their perspectives on religious belief and priestly identity indicate a normative “crisis” in today's clergy that persists regardless of its internal segmentation and provides a clue to the dilemmas confronting the present transitional nature of the priest-profession as a whole.