Can a non-Catholic register with a parish?

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HomeschoolDad

HomeschoolDad

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Would it be possible for a non-Catholic, who simply likes to attend Mass and participate in other aspects of parish life, to be able to register with the parish? To get envelopes to contribute to the parish, and possibly thereby to receive a tuition subsidy for their children in the parish school, if they so desired? To do volunteer work or participate in other lay ministries within the parish?

And would it make a difference if they were a baptized Christian as opposed to a non-Christian?

Just something I’ve wondered about.
 
Parish registration is something that only really exists in North America. It isn’t found in Canon Law, where parish membership is established by residency. In some Dioceses, there are particular laws that allow parish registration to count for membership as well.

All of which is to say that there isn’t really a reason a non-Catholic couldn’t register at a parish. It confers no status that requires one to be a baptized Catholic. It’s basically the equivalent of being on the mailing list.

-Fr ACEGC
 
I can confirm that, because my parish registration specifically asked me things like whether or not I was Catholic.
edward_george1 said:
All of which is to say that there isn’t really a reason a non-Catholic couldn’t register at a parish. It confers no status that requires one to be a baptized Catholic. It’s basically the equivalent of being on the mailing list.
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HomeschoolDad said:
able to register with the parish?
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Registration isn’t a thing, like canonically speaking.

If a parish has a database, pretty much anybody can register in it. All of our families are in the database including the non-Catholic members of the family. Before I became a Catholic I “registered“ with the parish I was attending.
HomeschoolDad said:
Just something I’ve wondered about.
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How a non-Catholic is considered for tuition and ministries, etc, is totally at the discretion of the pastor
 
The pastor’s cat is listed among the members of his household in the parish registry.

Under education it says he has a PhD.
 
Depends on the Parish. We allow non-Catholics to register, they are usually in some stage of inquiry about the Church or they are the spouse of a Catholic. We have some people with non-Christian spouses.
 
edward_george1 said:
The pastor’s cat is listed among the members of his household in the parish registry.

Under education it says he has a PhD.
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Some cats would reply that merely to have a PhD is “under-education” indeed 😼

I used to feed a loosely organized colony of feral cats until our all-knowing, all-seeing HOA told people not to do that anymore. Still, though, when my favorite girl comes by and begs for food — I know I am not losing my mind, but I do think she actually tries to talk, not just meow, but talk — I reason that feeding her is only a malum prohibitum, and discreetly sneak her a bowl behind my son’s basketball hoop.
 
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I’m assuming you’re talking about a single non-Catholic, but I’ll let you know my experience as a non-Catholic spouse.
HomeschoolDad said:
To get envelopes to contribute to the parish,
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Yes, they will put my name on any and all parish communications…but normally there is a big asterisk next to my name to make sure everyone knows I’m not Catholic.
HomeschoolDad said:
To do volunteer work or participate in other lay ministries within the parish?
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Not in my wife’s parish. I’ve investigated volunteer work (in this case specifically volunteering as an usher) and could not as the parish requires volunteers to be confirmed Catholics.
HomeschoolDad said:
participate in other aspects of parish life
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In some parishes I would say we are “discouraged” to do so. At my wife’s country parish we were specifically singed out in a way to not participate or volunteer.
 
I registered my husband as my spouse at my last church, before he was Catholic. The form asked for his religion.

My current pastor points out that he’s responsible for all of the souls in his parish: non-Catholic, non-practicing-Catholic, and practicing-Catholic.

Both experiences would suggest you can go right ahead. Or, go in and ask the secretary. Parish secretaries are often awesome.
 
I used to add anyone who donated to the database. How else do you issue a receipt at the end of the year?

There was a pharmacist who travelled from town to town in our province, replacing colleagues while they were on holidays. He registered with us, requested a box of envelopes, and was a faithful donor when in town. Never asked him if he was Catholic or not.

My non-Catholic husband was on the parish list. He also sang with the choir for a couple of years. He certainly could have been an usher if he’d wanted to be. He couldn’t have become a reader, EMHC, or catechist.

I’m old enough to remember the annual “visite paroissiale” (parish visit) the period in the spring when Fr. would go visit every household in the parish. He knew exactly how many parishioners he had. Today, registration has replaced that visit but few people actually register when they move into the parish. It’s complicated by the fact that we serve the military Base as the military no longer provides a Catholic Chaplain. Today, when the diocese’s annual questionnaire comes around it’s a very uneducated guess how many Catholics we have in the parish. I used to rely on the most recent census but they no longer ask that question. We had one priest who would put down 50% of the population, but that was wishful thinking since the two largest ecclesial communities in town are the Pentecostals and the Salvation Army, not the Catholics. We were about 20% of the population. Of the approximate 1500 members, we regularly see about 150 each week.
 
You usually have to enroll in the parish before you can receive the Sacraments, so in that case, obviously you can. I don’t know if they encourage enrolling if you have no intention of becoming Catholic, but if it was up to me, I would!
 
There is no such thing as parish registration in the UK. You go to mass wherever you wish as suits.
 
edward_george1 said:
Parish registration is something that only really exists in North America. It isn’t found in Canon Law, where parish membership is established by residency.
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Krisdun said:
There is no such thing as parish registration in the UK. You go to mass wherever you wish as suits.
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Just out of sheer stupidity, I have to ask — do Catholic churches anywhere else in the world outside North America use the envelope system? Do people donate at the levels they do here? Or does the secular government provide at least some funding? And how are Catholic schools funded? (I know at one time in Canada there were public confessional school systems, including Catholic.)

Unless things have changed, in Poland they never heard of such a thing. You just put cash in the collection basket, and if there was such a thing as Catholic primary and secondary schools, I never heard of them. Catechetical instruction was provided in the public schools after hours. They had crucifixes in the classrooms (even under communism!) and in secular businesses. I even saw one in a truck stop — sadly, it’s hard to imagine a crucifix in a Pilot or Flying J here in the US.
 
In most cases in the UK we have a collection basket passed round for donations during Sunday mass which largely contributes to cover running costs for the Parish. The government will not contribute to help Catholic Parishes financially although I heard that rules may have been changed regarding getting financial support for certain improvements/repairs to church buildings (or perhaps to cover some cost of damage if needed)? Individuals can of course make individual donations to the Parish if they so wish particularly if it is a larger amount. Also in the UK we have both state run and private (independent) Catholic schools.
 
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Krisdun said:
In most cases in the UK we have a collection basket passed round for donations during Sunday mass which largely contributes to cover running costs for the Parish. The government will not contribute to help Catholic Parishes financially although I heard that rules may have been changed regarding getting financial support for certain improvements/repairs to church buildings (or perhaps to cover some cost of damage if needed)? Individuals can of course make individual donations to the Parish if they so wish particularly if it is a larger amount. Also in the UK we have both state run and private (independent) Catholic schools.
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You could actually say that the federal and state governments in the US “assist” churches and parochial schools to an extent, through such things as making them tax-exempt, and in the case of schools, providing some ancillary services to which the students would be entitled, if they attended public schools. In my son’s former school, the public school district provided such things as special needs assessments and screenings.
 
Phemie said:
I used to add anyone who donated to the database. How else do you issue a receipt at the end of the year?
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We have a high number of visitors, so, we have a database setting for “non-member donors”.
 
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