A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title. Many former rectories may still be referred to locally as a rectory once a church or religious organisation has vacated the property.

Depending on denomination, local custom, and the status of the minister, the clergy house inhabited (or formerly inhabited) by the leader of a local Christian church can be referred to by one of several names.

In Catholic churches it is usually called a presbytery, rectory or (in Ireland) a Parochial House (and in Scotland, a Chapel House) if appropriate. Catholic clergy houses may be lived in by several priests from a parish, as opposed to other denominations. A rectory also often functions as the administrative office of the local parish.

In churches that are members of the Anglican Communion, the building will most commonly be called a vicarage or rectory, depending on the status of the incumbent. Parsonage is used in English-speaking Lutheran churches.

Methodists might refer to it as a manse, the usual term in Scottish Presbyterianism, or parsonage, while the latter is quite frequently used in English-speaking Lutheran churches. Manse is the usual name for the house of a Church of Scotland minister.