Belonging to Two Parishes at Same Time?

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If I go ahead and join the Catholic church, can I belong to two parishes at the same time? I really like going to this very large parish and church at a close by city. But I’m in RCIA at the local parish. It’s funny, the big parish has a two year RCIA class and the lay people teaching it are sort of boring (no offense to them.) But the local parish where I’m taking RCIA, the class is beign taught by the Priest and it’s only till Easter. His class is nice, funny, only an hour and half, and he goes right into the important things.

I was thinking of getting baptized and confirmed and then switching to the big church but I’m would not feel honorable doing that. What would be nice is if I could take the Eucharist at both churches. Is it possible or must I pick one parish over the other?
 
You can attend Mass at any Catholic parish, no problem. I have my home parish where I usually go, but then there are about a half a dozen others to which I return to when I can. You’ll be able to worship at both your parishes, but officially you’ll be a member of the parish where you reside (even if you go to the big church most Sundays).
 
Speramus is right, it’s technically a matter of where you reside, but I kind of feel like a member of two Parishes, since our parish doesn’t have a school, but the next one over does, so we end up being active in both. We go to mass most often in our home parish and support activities there like winter shelter and pro-life, but we also support the school and activities in the other parish (men’s club, etc.). And, since the kids are in the religious ed at school, first communion is through the school parish, instead of the “home” parish, for example.
 
Speramus said:
You can attend Mass at any Catholic parish, no problem. I have my home parish where I usually go, but then there are about a half a dozen others to which I return to when I can. You’ll be able to worship at both your parishes, but officially you’ll be a member of the parish where you reside (even if you go to the big church most Sundays).
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Not necessarily. In our diocese, some parishes are very particular about their registered members residing in their parish borders ( they base it solely on one’s zip code), other parishes don’t care at all where you live but you must register to be recognized as an official parishoner at that parish. You can live 45 mintues away if that is the church you decide to officially register with and they have no restrictions.

You are free to attend mass at any parish, but it might matter at a later date with how much you want to get involved in a parish once you complete RCIA and if whatever parish you choose to participate in has stricter guidelines about not allowing registered parishoners to participate in their programs.
 
I would say it’s ok.

The Catholic Church is different from a lot of Protestant Churches in the sense that they all teach the same thing…Maybe only in a different way (hence the humor in one and the blandness in the other as you said/ language used etc).

Protestant Churches differ even denomination to the same denomination so being a member of 2 different churches would be ridiculous IMO…You don’t have to worry about that though becoming Catholic:)
 
TikiTokiguy said:
If I go ahead and join the Catholic church, can I belong to two parishes at the same time? I really like going to this very large parish and church at a close by city. … But the local parish where I’m taking RCIA, the class is beign taught by the Priest and it’s only till Easter. His class is nice, funny, only an hour and half, and he goes right into the important things.
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According to the Canon Law you belong to the parish where your domicile is, so to the local parish. This does not mean that you cannot go to Mass or any other reason to another parish. The only legal restriction is that if you want to marry, you must get permit from your local parish if you want to go elsewhere.
 
So one Sunday I can take the Host at the local church and next Sunday I can take it at the big church?
 
This is way cool! I thought I was going to have to make a choice after I get baptized and join. So after I join I can take Communion at the big church and also the local church too. Way cool.
 
As a note, you don’t “take” the Consecrated Host - you receive it.
 
bayernfan said:
As a note, you don’t “take” the Consecrated Host - you receive it.
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No, “take” is perfectly fine, in the sense of “to receive into one’s body (as by swallowing, drinking, or inhaling) <take a pill>”. The words are essentially interchangeable anyway, since “receive” comes from Latin capio, which means “take in hand, take hold of, lay hold of, take, seize, grasp.” Same difference.

“Take communion” is also a well-worn traditional usage; for a handful of examples, see [1], [2], [3].
 
MarkThompson said:
No, “take” is perfectly fine, in the sense of “to receive into one’s body (as by swallowing, drinking, or inhaling) <take a pill>”. The words are essentially interchangeable anyway, since “receive” comes from Latin capio, which means “take in hand, take hold of, lay hold of, take, seize, grasp.” Same difference.

“Take communion” is also a well-worn traditional usage; for a handful of examples, see [1], [2], [3].
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People used to “take” subscriptions to periodicals, as in:

“I take Scientific American or American Rifleman…”
 
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