Crossing Parish Lines

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Some Bishops/pastors will not let you put your name on the mailing list/membership database if you do not live inside the boundaries or the parish.

Any person may attend Mass at any parish on planet earth.

Canon law and parish boundries are real things. If you live in this parish boundary yet you are in the membership database of that parish, and you approach the Church for Confirmation, the office will have to get permission from your actual domiciled parish’s pastor for that Confirmation.
 
Likely the parish office is taking care of it for you behind the scenes.

The Canon law is the way it is for a reason, I don’t question it, I just do the paperwork 🙂
 
Many folks travel to our parish because of an ASL translator at one of the Masses
 
It is only the Sacraments that are received only once, like Confirmation or Ordination or Marriage. We in the parish office do it all the time, the parents hardly ever have to even get a call about it! And I have never had the true “home” pastor refuse 🙂
 
Really dumb question…how do we know which parish we technically belong to? There are two parishes within walking distance of my residence…is there a national map?
 
The Archdiocese of Portland goes so far as to direct pastors to allow persons who do not geographically within the boundaries of a parish to establish domicile there.

Funeral policy: Parish clergy should make a reasonable effort to respond to the request of any family
requesting a funeral even if they are not members of the parish. He may inform the
proper pastor when appropriate. When it is not possible to respond to a family’s request,
the priest/deacon should assist them in contacting their proper parish or a priest able to
assist the family.

Marriage policy:
People who live within the physical boundaries of a parish have a right to marry in that
church—even if they do not regularly attend that church or are not registered in that
parish.
a. For the purpose of celebrating marriage, couples who regularly attend Mass at a
parish should be treated has having “domicile” in that parish even if they live outside
the physical boundaries of that parish.
b. For the purpose of celebrating marriage, children whose parents are members of a
parish may be treated as having “domicile” in the parish when seeking to celebrate
their marriage.

These are within the purview of each bishop, though. Canon law does define how the faithful are to know where they have the right to the sacraments. In our archdiocese, the archbishops have strongly encouraged Catholics to establish themselves as members of a particular parish. It doesn’t have to be their geographical parish, but they are asked to establish a relationship with the faithful at a particular church, and not treat the several parishes of the archdiocese as being like restaurant franchises where they show up for what they want and then leave without making any personal connection.

Our archdiocese does have a physical map showing the boundaries of each territorial parish.
 
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That’s a reason to attend Mass at another parish other than your own.

However, Sunday Masses and Holiday Masses should be attended in your home parish.

Jim
 
Because in order for your parish to remain a parish in your community, you need to support it, with your presence at Masses and other functions, as well as giving your financial support.

Jim
 
It probably only has one Mass at the crack of dawn, because not enough people attend.

It sounds like it will close soon if the parish doesn’t have enough support.

Jim
 
No it’s actually one of the few parishes in the diocese that have a mass every day. Many only have a couple a week. And I don’t know of any besides my church that has one on Saturday morning besides the cathedral at the heart of the diocese.
Turnout is pretty good actually. I think they just have a 7 am mass because many people go to work and go before . We also have a novena on Monday evening. It’s not anything to do with participation.
 
You’re talking about attending Mass when your own parish doesn’t have one.

I’m talking about belonging to a parish of your local community.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Because in order for your parish to remain a parish in your community, you need to support it, with your presence at Masses and other functions, as well as giving your financial support.
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This is precisely why I don’t attend my territorial parish. It’s not in my community; it’s 15 miles away. The parish I’ve always belonged to and supported is closer and provides for my family’s spiritual needs without issue. I don’t wish the territorial one ill and would feel for those folks served by it if it were to close, but it’s not “my” parish.

Also, around here, in spite of Canon Law, it’s not the territorial parish but the one of baptismal record that seems to be the one of imprortance. My daughter’s first communion is coming up; the school parish didn’t consult our territorial parish - they consulted the parish of her baptism. I am almost certain the territorial parish has never been consulted or even knows anything about us.
 
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I belong to a personal parish so it’s kind of a mute point for me, but I could never understand what your physical address has to do with the church you attend. My neighborhood is not my “community” any more than any other neighborhood in the city. It’s just a location where I currently happen to rent a house. I work in a different area, my son goes to school yet in another, what makes it a community? Why can’t the entire city be my “community”? I understand that it’s canon law and all, but the logic behind it escapes me.
 
I was a military dependent for 23 years. As such the kids and I were members of the military parish that served the area where we were posted. But if you didn’t live on Base you were also living in a territorial parish. Not only that, you would sometimes have an ethnic parish in the area. So you could be a military member who was the responsibility of the Military Ordinariate, but you were also living off Base in the territory of St. X Parish, but chose to be a member of the French parish that regrouped all Francophones who chose to travel to be there, sometimes from as far as 50 miles away.
 
LisaB said:
I belong to a personal parish so it’s kind of a mute point for me, but I could never understand what your physical address has to do with the church you attend. My neighborhood is not my “community” any more than any other neighborhood in the city. It’s just a location where I currently happen to rent a house. I work in a different area, my son goes to school yet in another, what makes it a community? Why can’t the entire city be my “community”? I understand that it’s canon law and all, but the logic behind it escapes me.
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People are a lot more mobile in the current era, particularly in the United States- than they were not too terribly long ago.

People used to live, work, worship in the same community and for long periods of time. Kids in the same community went to the same parochial school. Churches provided activities for kids in the neighborhood.
 
NuclearReceptor said:
Really dumb question…how do we know which parish we technically belong to? There are two parishes within walking distance of my residence…is there a national map?
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There is no national map.

Your diocese might have one, or might not.

Regardless, each of those 2 parishes, each pastor knows his own boundaries. Those were either described when the parish was founded, or described later if some bishop re-drew the boundaries.
 
Cecilia_Dympna said:
I do belong to a parish community.
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No one can dispute the fact that you attend there.

However, you are not a member there, unless you live within the parish territory.

Attending any given parish does not make anyone a member. Membership is acquired only by actually living there.

How far do you think you would get if you told your government that you don’t like the county where you live, so you’ve decided to make yourself a resident of some other county where you don’t actually live? On a day-by-day basis, no one would care, but if it ever came to something legal, you would not have a leg to stand on. They would tell you that you are a ‘member’ of the county where you actually live, and no amount of protest would change that.
 
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