Can one belong to more than one Parish?

[Br.Rich_SFO]

By active in my old parish I mean I was a lector, board member of the Holy Name Society, and as a volunteer at various parish functions and my wife and I were both part of the Pre-Cana program. From what I understand one must be registered in a parish to be part of these types of activities.

Not really, unless the pastor wants to create such a rule for his parish. The only qualifications are that you be Catholic, and then what ever the Bishop requires for Catechists, Lay Readers, EMHC, YM. Personally I could never understand why many parishes never wanted to share resources with each other, instead many seem to want to be in competition with each other.

 

[Andreas_Hofer]

I have failed to see in canon law the rules on Parish registration…If canon law is silent on this issue I believe that we all must assume it as a Lacuna and Must come to the conclusion that it is not proper if not impossible to be registered at more than one parish. WIth this in mind and the fact that some cities have “vicariates” parish boundries no doubt overlap (Canon 374).

Could someone please direct to me as to if there is a geographical REQURIEMENT mandating parish registration?

Canon law is silent on parish registration because parish registration is not a canonical category. It doesn’t exist in the code, and has no canonical effects. There is no lacuna regarding the propriety of registering in more than one parish, because registration doesn’t do anything.

We’ve already seen the canons the govern how one achieves membership in a parish, and they are mostly geographical: one becomes part of a parish either by simply dwelling within its boundaries, or more specifically dwelling within the boundaries of a personal parish AND belonging to the proper ethnicity, etc. What you will find here, is that it is possible to belong to more than one parish, but not by registration. This can happen when one has more than one domicile/quasi-domicile. So if I live in Indiana most of the year but summer in Florida, I would probably belong to a parish in each diocese. Similarly with college students - they retain domicile (usually) at their parents’ home, but achieve quasi-domicile at the university. Also, a person belonging to a personal parish could still belong to his geographical parish, since personal parishes tend to be optional (e.g., if you’re Polish, you can belong to St. Stan’s).

Essentially, these [personal parishes] are parishes without geographic boundaries. Some are designed to meet the needs of a specific population (offering the Latin Mass, or offering Mass in Spanish, Vietnamese, Polish, etc.) Some others have a specific ethnic heritage but seem to regularly offer Mass only in English. Others seem to simply allow people with a historic connection to the parish to remain active with it, and allow people from more modern suburban parishes to attend mass in a more traditional historic Catholic church.

Personal parishes still do have boundaries, they just often coincide with the boundaries of the diocese. It’s quite possible, though, for there to be boundaries within the diocese, too, as, for instance, when South Bend (IN) used to have 4 personal parishes for Polish Catholics. Each was for the Polish Catholics residing within a different section of the city, so if one was Polish that didn’t mean one could pick which personal Polish parish to which he belonged; rather it was, as with normal parishes, governed by geography.

 

[schlecterhunde]

I know this is a SUPER old thread. But I applied for membership in a parish 4 miles away because it is constantly in my path of travel, rather than the one a mile away. To attend the church in my parish boundary would require me to specifically travel in a direction I NEVER go except to visit my mother in law, and she usually comes to US! The parish I attend is often ‘on my way’ to or from work or social events, and often in my sight. And it felt like ‘home’ the first time I attended.

My parish has my mailing address and mails me letters and monthly offering envelopes knowing exactly where I live and they still accepted my membership though my address is outside their ‘boundary’. I don’t think it matters so much which parish is attended so much as you find the RIGHT one for you. It’s probably more important to find a parish that is easy to get to and feels welcoming than it is to fret over boundary lines, no?