What Is a Parish?

12 What Is a Parish?

Ask a Canon Lawyer �or readers of the Courier, it might seem silly to ask, “what is a parish?" After all, the parish is where most of us find our primary spiritual “home” and community, and where we have our most direct experience of the Catholic faith. But we can still learn a lot from looking at how canon law understands the concept of a parish. The Local Church To get a sense of what a parish is, it’s helpful to first go back and look at how canon law defines a diocese. Canon 369 tells us: A diocese is a portion of the people of God which is entrusted to a bishop for him to shepherd with the cooperation of the presbyterium [i.e., the priests serving under the direction of the bishop], so that, adhering to its pastor and gathered by him in the Holy

Spirit through the gospel and the Eucharist, it constitutes a particular church in which the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and operative.

The Church’s diocesan structure is overwhelmingly based on geography or location, similar to the way that the United States of America is broken up into individual regional states. This harkens back to the predominantly local character of the early Church. For instance, when St. Paul writes to the Church in Corinth or Ephesus in the New Testament, he’s actually writing to the precursors of our modern dioceses.

Canon 374 §1 goes on to say:

Every diocese or other particular church is to be divided into distinct parts or parishes.

So, if a diocese is a portion of the people of God, then a parish is a portion of a portion of the people of God.

Canon 515 §1 further elaborates:

A parish is a certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a parish priest as its proper pastor under the authority of the diocesan bishop.

Who Belongs to a Parish?

There is such a thing in canon law as a “personal Jenna Cooper parish,” which is a parish established for the pastoral Tribunal Coordinator & Judge care of a specific group of people. For example, in the early 20th century, in cities with large immigrant jcooper@dowr.org populations, it was common for there to be personal parishes for each major ethnic group. In a city near where I grew up in New York, within an area of three help us to grow in Christian charity. square miles there was an Italian personal parish, a The territory-based parish system also helps Polish personal parish, and an Irish personal parish! ensure that no Catholic is overlooked or falls through Here in the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, the St. the cracks. This is especially true in that pastors Thomas More Newman Center in Mankato is estaband parish priests have a spiritual responsibility lished as a personal parish for the pastoral care of to everyone in their parish, that is, to all Catholics the local college students and university community. dwelling in their territory without exception (and

However, most parishes are territorial, or based actually, this spiritual responsibility technically even entirely on geography. Many Catholics are surprised extends to the non-Catholics living within the parish to learn that they become an official memboundaries). Even if a Catholic never got ber of a parish simply based on what address they have! (See can. 372.) That is, if you as a Catholic live in a certain parish’s territory, you are automatically a member of that parish, regardless of whether or not you remembered to register at the parish office. (Though of course, registering with your local parish is still a good idea for other reasons, especially since it helps the parish know who Do you have a question about canon law that you would like to see answered here? Email jcooper@dowr.org with "Courier question" in the subject line. around to signing up at their parish, or if they’ve been lax about frequenting the sacraments, the Church doesn’t leave them orphaned, but still officially assigns a pastor to be concerned about their welfare. In addition to this, sacramental records are kept at parishes. Any sacrament that occurred within a parish’s boundaries are recorded at that parish. This is a particularly useyou are.) ful system in cases where the sacraments were administered in an Why Have emergency, such as when a newborn

Geography-Based Parishes? baby with grave health concerns is baptized at a hospital. Since we know that the parish Catholics are free to attend Mass and otherwise of whatever territory the hospital happens to be in participate in the parish life of any parish, even is the one that will record the baptism, this ensures one with a territory other than the one where they that the fact of the infant’s baptism will be properly themselves live. Still, all other things being equal, noted and not forgotten, even in the midst of a crisis. the Church does see a value in the geography-based Similarly, every Catholic has a “master record” of parish system. their sacramental life kept at their parish Church of

For one thing, belonging to a parish based simply baptism. Every time a Catholic takes a major step in on one’s address helps us to pray and form Christian their life of faith—e.g. when they receive the sacracommunity with those whom God in His providence ment of Confirmation, get married, are ordained a has made our literal neighbors—as opposed to priest, or enter into consecrated life—a notification potentially picking and choosing a community based is sent to the parish where they were originally baponly on how much we personally happen to like the tized. This shows that the Church cares about our people involved, or by how many superficial things life story as it unfolds, as each life story is precious we have in common. Geography-based parishes can to God.