Certainy the Cathars were a Christian sect but were far from being established.
In some ways the Franciscans were less established than say the Dominicans, and had some degree of greater freedom but fewer resources for it.
Well after the Catholics butchered over a quarter of a million men, women and children Cathars, they certainly were no longer "established."
Of course, some people feel that before the slaughter, a quarter of a million people occupying most of southern France for close-on a millenium, if not longer, constitutes an "established" faith.
But hey - suckers be dead, right? Winners write the history, and God is praised.