Religious communities in the Roman Catholic Church consist of groups of men or women who live a common life and pronounce the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience (the evangelical counsels). Members of religious communities generally accept a rule of life that emphasizes humility and the renunciation of worldly goods and pleasures. The aim of such a life has traditionally been the contemplation of God and the pursuit of Christian perfection (theologically defined as perfect love). The religious life also has been understood as flight from the world, though monastic communities often have been great economic and cultural centres.