Crossing Parish Lines

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I used to travel to mass on campus when I was an off campus student. Didn’t even occur to me to go to the one near my flat as I was involved with the student ministry.

I think it would take more than a dozen elderly and one family to save this parish sadly and I would assume the children would need to travel to the other parish for sacramental prep anyway.
 
When I grew up in the city, my side of street was the cutoff for one parish, across the street was the other one.

My friend went to church and school at a different parish because if that. Of course, schools and churchs were all full to the brim.

In the suburbs now it’s not as clear cut. Families used to choose to belong to the school parishes that are far away because they pay extra tuition for ‘out of parish’ . Shifts were common as the children became school age.

It was hurting the parishes without schools, so our bishop made cluster parishes, so the churches without a school would not suffer. So if a family belongs to one of the clusters the tuition is ‘in parish.’ This made it easier to belong to your geographic parish or choose a different one if you preferred.
 
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They have no problem sending envelopes to your house though regardless of you living in the territory 😂
 
Cor_ad_Cor said:
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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That is because Communion is a Sacrament that will be received many times in her life, it can be validly received at any valid Mass on earth. While we like to commemorate First Communion, TECHNICALLY it does not have to be recorded in the parish records.

We are bound by Canon Law to record:

Baptism
Confirmation
Marriage
Holy Orders

Yes, the Baptismal parish houses the official records for each of these. That is not always the territorial parish.
 
jas84173 said:
They have no problem sending envelopes to your house though regardless of you living in the territory 😂
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Yes, because parishes have a legal obligation to keep track of donations. One reason is so that we can give annual receipts for tax purposes. Whether some people want such receipts or not (oddly enough, I’ve found that most do not), isn’t the point. The law says we must give them if the donations total a certain amount, which we cannot predict until the end of the year.

So yes, parishes will give envelopes to non-members.
 
You are in the mailing list database, colloquially known as the “membership database”.
 
In my Archdiocese, children may only receive First Communion and Confirmation in the parish they live in or the personal parish they are part of.
 
FrDavid96 said:
Whether some people want such receipts or not (oddly enough, I’ve found that most do not), isn’t the point.
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Less than 1 in 3 American taxpayers itemize their deductions, it would actually be odd if most wanted it
 
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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This is because like a bishop is responsible for all souls (Catholic and non-Catholic) in a diocese, the parish priest (pastor) is responsible for all souls (Catholic and non) in the territorial boundary of his parish.

If a non-practicing Catholic (or non-Catholic) is dying in bed and wishes to have a Catholic priest come to visit him; typically it would be the pastor (or vicar) of the parish he lives in that will come to see him.

The family would call the closest parish and the priest would determine if that address is inside his parish or not. If it isn’t, he would typically call the other parish to have one of their priest go to that address (assuming that the other priest is available)

Protestants don’t have this issue, because a protestant minister is only responsible to for the people who attend his church. But a Catholic priest is responsible for every single person living inside his parish boundaries (Catholic and non-Catholic).

I hope this helps.
 
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Cecilia_Dympna said:
I find this a little offensive.

I will not attend what is essentially a dead parish because of a postcode. I’ve no idea why some of you are fixated on this.

I know my son will have no problems for his first HC and confirmation, and our family weddings and funds (I checked today).
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Please understand what Father is saying.

He’s acknowledging that you attend that parish and that the parish may have no issues with you being there. You are part of that parish community.

However, you are technically not a “member” of the parish because you do not live there.

Your membership status only matters for things the Bishop or Pastor decide it matters for.

For example: let’s say your parish has a cemetery that is running out of space. The pastor could make a rule that all future burials at the parish cemetery are reserved for only people who live inside the parish boundaries. That would be something he’s allowed to do.

Or let’s say the Children’s religious ed program becomes too large and the parish can’t support anymore children. The pastor (or bishop) could require kids to attend CCD at the parish they live in.

My mother’s parish (for example) totally ignores parish membership for everything except 1 thing: They will not deliver communion to homebound members of the parish community who do not live within the parish boundaries.

So while some Dioceses & parishes practically ignore true parish membership, some do not, and some only recognize for specific things (like communion for the homebound) or when they have “supply & demand” issues.

God bless.
 
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Cecilia_Dympna said:
None of these things have ever been an issue. Even the home visit issue.

There is no children’s liturgy at the dying parish. There are no children.
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OK, so then you have NOTHING to worry about, unless a future bishop or priest changes things.
 
Cecilia_Dympna said:
Okay. You’re right and I’m wrong.
This Sunday I’ll rise at dawn for Mass. Sit with a dozen nonagerians. Get told off by the parish sister because my son dared to breathe. Debate with self whether I should check the 98 year old priest for signs of life. Go home. Wonder if it’s too early to crack open the gin.
Brilliant idea. Who needed all that spiritual growth we were getting anyway.
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And nothing that you typed there changes canon law, which says that parish membership is determined by territory, whether you like it or not.
 
Cecilia_Dympna said:
Okay. You’re right and I’m wrong.

This Sunday I’ll rise at dawn for Mass. Sit with a dozen nonagerians.
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Just because the parish population is heavy on the elderly side, doesn’t mean that this won’t change. After all, you moved there.

People die, they move, houses are built, parish lines get re-drawn. An accurate analysis in 2018 doesn’t say what its going to look like in 2021
 
I think there seems to be confusion over whether one can attend Mass outside of one’s territorial parish, or whether it somehow constitutes a less-than-ideal situation in the eyes of the Church somehow.

There doesn’t seem to be any sin involved in attending a parish outside of one’s postal code (is there?), so maybe it’s a “logistic” thing more so than “spiritual” thing?

But I also read (either this thread or the other thread) that we should go to our territorial parish…should implies not doing that is somehow “imperfect”…
 
phil19034 said:
OK, so then you have NOTHING to worry about, unless a future bishop or priest changes things.
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That is exactly what people don’t realize.

They think that because they get some kind of exception now, that such an exception will always be available. There is no predicting the future. There is no guarantee that some future bishop or pastor will be so loose with the law.
 
Cecilia_Dympna said:
Thank you. I’ve “registered” and no one has ever said anything.
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That is because most places, not one objects. I am registered member at my closest parish, while I only see my territorial priest about once a year. He knows where I am and why. So all my Sacraments and official stuff I do through the parish I attend and have never had need of my territorial parish. But it is there if I do.

FYI - The “why” is because in the beginning, I went to where they were about to be without any musicians, while the town I live in is larger and well-to-do, with an abundance of musicians. I would have been just one more singer in the choir for them.
 
its better to have and not need than to need and not have…
 
Every mass is a “Family Mass”. Any person of any age is welcome at each and every Mass.
 
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