Can a non-Catholic register with a parish?

[Phemie]

I know at one time in Canada there were public confessional school systems, including Catholic.

Catholic schools are still publicly funded in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, as well as in the Territories, and partially funded by the government in Manitoba. AFAIK, the only province that had true denominational education was Newfoundland and Labrador which had no “public” schools, all were affiliated with one or more religions.

 

[Krisdun]

So if I was visiting the USA say for a couple months and wanted to attend mass in a particular area then would I need to register with a specific Parish?

 

[Phemie]

No. But if you moved there permanently you’d want to make sure that you register with a parish in case you needed a sacrament like Marriage.

 

[Krisdun]

Ok I see. I wasn’t clear how long a period your intention to attend a parish had to be before you had to register.

 

[Phemie]

In the UK do you get to deduct your charitable donations from your income tax in some form? That’s why we use the envelope system in North America: so the parish can keep track of who gives what over the course of the year and issue an official receipt for income tax purposes.

 

[Krisdun]

Yes you can choose to deduct charitable donations from income tax it is called gift aid in the UK. You have to opt in yourself. In some European countries like Germany and Austria members pay a church tax whereby a proportion of income tax which goes to pay for the operating cost of the church/religion of their choice (i.e. Catholic Church, Protestant Church, Judaism etc).

 

[HomeschoolDad]

Ok I see. I wasn’t clear how long a period your intention to attend a parish had to be before you had to register.

If you are of the Latin (Roman) Rite, you are always canonically a member of the parish where your primary residence is located, where you actually live. The only exceptions might be personal parishes or Catholics who are under a personal prelature (Opus Dei, St John Vianney, et al).

We attend a parish to which we are not physically assigned, a downtown parish that draws from throughout the metropolitan area. We have been going there almost two years now, and I have never “done the paperwork”. I don’t itemize deductions and I merely donate loose cash or, now, through the online system.

 

[Allegra]

No. You can go to Mass wherever you want. Registering as a parishoner has more to do with keeping records of your Sacraments, attending school in the parish, being notified of parish events, being invited to join parish groups, basically the social aspects of the parish. In my community, one is expected to enroll in the parish where they live and if they have a good reason not to, they are asked to get permission from their “home parish” to enroll in another parish.

 

[Gorgias]

I used to add anyone who donated to the database. How else do you issue a receipt at the end of the year?

By marking off a “non-parishioner donor” indicator in the parish DB. At least, that’s how we’ve begun doing it in our diocese. They’re in the DB, but not as a parishioner, not (necessarily) receiving envelopes, and not receiving regular communications.

 

[dochawk]

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.

Our prior administrator, a bi-ritual Franciscan, told us that it made a difference with regard to the parish’s authority (?) for certain sacraments. I want to say funerals, but It’s been a long time.

Then again, it might have had something to do with RC being members of EC parishes. I really don’t remember.

However, since both were still legally RC, when it came time for my daughter’s wedding, permission would have been needed from the RC bishop–but our Pastor (following the administrator) also happened to work at the RC chancery, and his desk handled changes of ritual church . . .

Under education it says he has a PhD.

That’s one cool cat . . .

after I re-seed my lawn, I’ll worry about trapping the local ferals to get them fixed. But I really want them not annoyed at me (they seem to think that my yard is theirs, and that they’re entitled to use my hothouse in the winter) until after they deal with the air-rats that try to steal my lawn seed. (I call it seeding; I think they’ll call it a “buffet” . . .)

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.

Byzantine parishes still often observe the annual house blessings.

At one point, when we still had the above administrator, and our now-Pastor had been recently ordained and was assisting, the administrator pleaded, “really, you don’t need to serve a meal. We can’t eat that much!”

:crazy_face:

 

[dochawk]

and in the case of schools, providing some ancillary services to which the students would be entitled, if they attended public schools.

these services are all over the board.

when I was at Iowa State, the public school busses also brought kids to Catholic schools (and, wow, was my oldest upset when my wife insisted on taking her the first day instead. We live (in Vegas) across the street from a public school, and as a toddler and earlier, she’d pull herself up on the screen door to see the busses . . .). In the next town in Iowa, the Catholic school owned a couple of busses, but I think it got public books for classes. In PA, a tax credit system gave business a 100% credit on state taxes for donations to the STAR program, which provided at least 20% to nearly everyone on private tuition, and more as income dropped–I had a student who paid $50/semester . . .

In Nevada, we have a spending account system, but the funding mechanism was tossed with technical guidance from our Supreme Court on how to to it correctly (it wasn’t even a church/state issue on the funding, but legislative arcane), but the Democrats won the next election, and fund it at $0 for the entire state . . .

The only exceptions might be personal parishes or Catholics who are under a personal prelature (Opus Dei, St John Vianney, et al ).

And in parts of the country, the ethnic parishes swallow that rule whole . . .

 

[Phemie]

IIn Newfoundland you still hear people refer to “the priest’s room”, formal living rooms that were only used during that parish visit or for wakes. All other social events took place in the kitchen, hence, “kitchen parties”.

At home Fr. would be offered a cup of tea and cookies. I have a memory of Mom’s supreme embarrassment when, after Father Brown had blessed us, as he was opening his car door, my little brother, 4 or 5 at the time, came tearing out of the house yelling, “Hey, Brown! Want to see my book?” Fr. chuckled (I don’t think I’d ever seen him smile before, let alone chuckle) and told Mom not to fret about it.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

HomeschoolDad:

and in the case of schools, providing some ancillary services to which the students would be entitled, if they attended public schools.

these services are all over the board.

when I was at Iowa State, the public school busses also brought kids to Catholic schools (and, wow, was my oldest upset when my wife insisted on taking her the first day instead. We live (in Vegas) across the street from a public school, and as a toddler and earlier, she’d pull herself up on the screen door to see the busses . . .). In the next town in Iowa, the Catholic school owned a couple of busses, but I think it got public books for classes. In PA, a tax credit system gave business a 100% credit on state taxes for donations to the STAR program, which provided at least 20% to nearly everyone on private tuition, and more as income dropped–I had a student who paid $50/semester . . .

In Nevada, we have a spending account system, but the funding mechanism was tossed with technical guidance from our Supreme Court on how to to it correctly (it wasn’t even a church/state issue on the funding, but legislative arcane), but the Democrats won the next election, and fund it at $0 for the entire state . . .

All we get are the ancillary services I described above. Our private schools (both nonsectarian and religious) have to provide their own transportation, books, and so on. You could also argue, I suppose, that setting up school traffic zones, with lowered speed limits and flashing caution lights during key hours, is a form of state support of private schools. The signs, lights, and electricity to power the lights are not free.

 

[TC3033]

He also sang with the choir for a couple of years. He certainly could have been an usher if he’d wanted to be.

Not at my wife’s parish. It’s been pretty well stated “thanks but not thanks”

do Catholic churches anywhere else in the world outside North America use the envelope system?

I come from a non-denominational background, but I get the envelope system here. It’s all about tax deductions.

 

[TheLittleLady]

You may attend any valid mass on earth.

 

[OraLabora]

Under education it says he has a PhD.

So does mine! She is a relaxation consultant! She teaches me everyday. It’s a 12-step program.

1. Find warmest spot in the house
2. Find comfy chair or blanket closest to warmest spot in the house
3. Curl up on no. 2.
4. Shift around a bit until finding perfect position.
5. Purr until falling asleep.
6. Sleep
7. Keep sleeping.
8. See 7.
9. Shift around a bit.
10. Go back to sleep.
11. Wake up, stretch, yawn, preen a bit,
12. Ask client (me) for payment (fill food dish).