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DonaNobisPacem
Guest
Is this permissable?
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rj04
Guest
I don’t understand why someone would want to be a member of two different parishes.
It is possible to live in one parish, geographically, but choose to be a member of a different one.
It is possible to live in one parish, geographically, but choose to be a member of a different one.
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mosher
Guest
No once you register in one notice is sent to the other. There are a lot of practical reasons for this but most importantly it is because we can only be under obedience to one pastor.
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Br.Rich_SFO
Guest
You can’t technically be registered in two different parishes, but nothing stops you from participating in the community life of both.
D
Digitonomy
Guest
How does this work if you choose a parish of another rite, say a Ruthenian Byzantine parish? Do you still remain technically under the authority of your previous (Latin, most likely) pastor, and only become informally a member of the Ruthenian parish? It seems that it would be a tricky matter to be under the authority of a Ruthenian pastor, while remaining under the bishop of the Latin diocese of which you would still be a member.
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mosher
Guest
That is a different matter all together.
If a person is a latin catholic and they patron a Byzantine parish they are still under obedience to their latin pastor. However, a latin catholic cannot change parishes to a Byzantine parish in the same way you move from St. Thomas to St. Anselm parish in the Diocese of Wherever. To formally enter a Byzantine parish a latin rite catholic must seek permission to formally change rites from his Bishop and the Bishop of the rite that he is petitioning. This is only granted for good reason and liking the liturgy more is not a good reason. Also, an inter-Church move as such can only be done once in a lifetime so to focus on the grave decision that one is making.
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cameron_lansing
Guest
In practice, parish membership is kind of a loose term. People live in the territory of one parish and consider themselves parishioners elsewhere for a number of reasons. The Church often ties up the loose ends that result from this without people ever noticing.
Canonically speaking, parish membership is established by domicile in the territory of a parish (think of this in general as a residence that is foreseeably permanent unless something happens) or quasi domicile (think of this as a three month residence within the territory of the parish . A student who goes away for college could be a member in his “home” parish and also at the “student parish.” People with winter homes could be parishioners in the snow belt and in the sun belt. In that sense, they’d be members of two parishes.
Parish membership does also depend on the rite or Church a person belongs to. In some way, this has more serious implications in law. A Latin who “registers” at or habitually attends a parish of an Eastern Church remains subject to the Latin jurisdiction. His or her proper pastor would be the pastor of the Latin rite parish in the territory. His or her proper bishop would be the Latin bishop. He would have to “translate” for it to be otherwise. (See canon 112.) A couple of issues related to this would involve the authority to witness marriage and the fact that the child of Latin parents, even when baptized by an Eastern priest, would still be enrolled in the Latin Church, etc. The same is true of an Eastern Catholic camping out at the Latin parish.
The condition of a Catholic living in a nation or region in which his own ritual Church does not have a hierarchy or pastoral presence would be another matter. The Church makes provisions in those case
But the law in the Latin Church also provides for personal parishes based on language, nationality or other factor. So, a person could conceivably belong to a territorial parish by virtue of residence and also to a personal parish by virtue of a characteristic.
By these means, people acquire proper pastors.
The notions of acquiring parish membership by registering, or being “an active parishioner” or by the “envelop” method are all beyond the law. However, one could argue that, in many dioceses, the practice of obtaining parish membership by “registration” is lawful custom. Unless there’s a diocesan practice or norm (which is what I think has been envisioned above), parishes don’t notify each other when someone moves about.
Canons 102 and 518 might be consulted by the interested.
Canonically speaking, parish membership is established by domicile in the territory of a parish (think of this in general as a residence that is foreseeably permanent unless something happens) or quasi domicile (think of this as a three month residence within the territory of the parish . A student who goes away for college could be a member in his “home” parish and also at the “student parish.” People with winter homes could be parishioners in the snow belt and in the sun belt. In that sense, they’d be members of two parishes.
Parish membership does also depend on the rite or Church a person belongs to. In some way, this has more serious implications in law. A Latin who “registers” at or habitually attends a parish of an Eastern Church remains subject to the Latin jurisdiction. His or her proper pastor would be the pastor of the Latin rite parish in the territory. His or her proper bishop would be the Latin bishop. He would have to “translate” for it to be otherwise. (See canon 112.) A couple of issues related to this would involve the authority to witness marriage and the fact that the child of Latin parents, even when baptized by an Eastern priest, would still be enrolled in the Latin Church, etc. The same is true of an Eastern Catholic camping out at the Latin parish.
The condition of a Catholic living in a nation or region in which his own ritual Church does not have a hierarchy or pastoral presence would be another matter. The Church makes provisions in those case
But the law in the Latin Church also provides for personal parishes based on language, nationality or other factor. So, a person could conceivably belong to a territorial parish by virtue of residence and also to a personal parish by virtue of a characteristic.
By these means, people acquire proper pastors.
The notions of acquiring parish membership by registering, or being “an active parishioner” or by the “envelop” method are all beyond the law. However, one could argue that, in many dioceses, the practice of obtaining parish membership by “registration” is lawful custom. Unless there’s a diocesan practice or norm (which is what I think has been envisioned above), parishes don’t notify each other when someone moves about.
Canons 102 and 518 might be consulted by the interested.
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mosher
Guest
Yes, it is a particular norm here. I presumed that it was more wide-spread in at least the US. I also forgot about the issue of maintaining a quasi-domicile or the case of being a paragrinus or vagus. Thank you for the clarification.
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estesbob
Guest
I split my time between texas and colorado and am an active registered member of two parishes,
D
Digitonomy
Guest
cameron, are there provisions to resolve a case of conflicting commands from pastors if one is a member at more than one parish? E.g., Pastor A says “You must do this,” and Pastor B says “You must not do this.” Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a sticky Canon Law situation where this would be an issue, but I’m confident you can, which would be a very informative illustration.
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Kielbasi
Guest
I’m not a canonist, but I think you can as there are what are known as ‘personal parishes’.
If a Catholic lives within the bounds of St. Mary’s, but also happens to be a Pole or a Slovak, can’t they belong to both the geographical parish as well as the nationality parish across town?
If a Catholic lives within the bounds of St. Mary’s, but also happens to be a Pole or a Slovak, can’t they belong to both the geographical parish as well as the nationality parish across town?
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Digitonomy
Guest
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kleary
Guest
I do not think you can register in two different “parishes”. One of the reasons the Catholic Church I attend has decided to stay a “Mission” is due to the ability of having people register there who belong to other parishes.
Ken
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a_pilgrim
Guest
Not entirely true…
Any Catholic may register as a parishioner of any Catholic parish, regardless of their canonical sui iuris Church affiliation, without formally requesting a Change of Canonical Enrollment. In the example quoted above, the Latin Catholic who enrolls as a parishioner of a Byzantine Catholic parish must understand that he remains a Latin Catholic, despite his Byzantine parishioner status, and is still subject to the Code of Canon Law of the Latin Church as well as being under the pastoral care of the Latin Ordinary for that locale.
Now, having said that, it probably makes little sense for an individual to register as a parishioner of a particular parish unless he fully intends to live the theological and liturgical life of the sui iuris Church to which that parish belongs (some exceptions - see below), but there is absolutely nothing that prohibits him from doing so.
The converse of mosher’s example of a Latin joining a Byzantine parish is, in fact, quite common. There are actually countless Byzantine Catholics throughout America who are currently registered as parishioners of Latin parishes, due to the lack of an available Byzantine parish in their locale. These folks, despite their status as registered parishioners of a Latin parish, still remain Byzantine Catholics, officially under the pastoral care of the Byzantine bishop within whose eparchy they reside. In fact, even if they have children who are baptized within their (new) Latin parish, these children, too, are officially Byzantine Catholics, even though they received the Sacrament of Baptism in the Latin tradition.
One other point… As I understand it, the “once-per-lifetime” restriction regarding an individual’s official Change of Canonical Enrollment is, in fact, false. Certainly I believe that “Church-hopping” would be highly frowned upon, but I believe that legitimate requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
BTW - for a rather lengthy period of my life I, myself, was officially registered as a parishioner of both a Byzantine parish and a Latin parish at the same time!
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Sir_Knight
Guest
I am a registered member of two parishes. The parish where we live and which is 20 minutes away; and the parish where my children were bapitzed, where me and my wife were married, where I was baptized, where my parents were married, etc. (you get the picture). Once a month, we drive four hours (two hours each way) to attend mass there. The rest of the time we attend mass at our local parish.
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Trident59
Guest
I, too, belong to two different parishes. The local parish is very modern but its closer so the gas bill is controlled somewhat. However, my heart belong to another parish, Holy Rosary in Portland, OR. So I attend there often.
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mosher
Guest
As Deacon Lansing stated above, registration in a parish is not necessarily the same is formally belonging to the parish in the canonical sense.
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cathyt
Guest
I do youth ministry at two Catholic parishes and so, I am officially or unofficially a parishioner at two parishes. My husband and I go to Mass at each parish every other week. It is a blessing that we are able to be in the lives of teens at two parishes, but I have to tell you, I would not recommend this arrangement unless you have to do it out of some sort of neccesity. It’s tough! I think this must be what some kids feel like under shared custody!
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