Crossing Parish Lines

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How so? If you get envelopes and submit money you should be a member. Splain moreā€¦
 
Cruciferi said:
How so? If you get envelopes and submit money you should be a member. Splain moreā€¦
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Because membership is not determined by donations. Parish membership is determined by geography.

It is exactly like state, county, and municipal boundaries. Exactly the same thing. Membership is not determined by choice, but by residence.
 
Cruciferi said:
God bless my Bishop then! He is Awesome šŸ‘
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Yeah, but I have to be honestā€¦ Iā€™ve seen where this causes problems.

Personally, if a Bishop wants to make it easy for people to attend any parish they want, thatā€™s totally cool. But we should not pretend the boundaries do not exist. When we pretend the boundaries do not exist, it can cause issues when a future bishop or priest makes reasonable changes which use the boundaries.

Iā€™ve seen three situations where this has happened:
  1. The parish where my father was baptized in and where my grandfather is buried and where my grandmother will be buried doesnā€™t allow people who live outside the parish boundaries to buy a plot. This was done for many reasons.
  2. The parish where my parents live will not provide communion to home-bound parishioners who live outside the geographic boundary, even if they have been attending that parish for 50 years. This was done because the parish boundaries are already quite large, plus all the priests of the parish are assigned to two parishes.
  3. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia recently cracked down to make sure kids are being baptized in the parish they live in, even when they go to Catholic School at a different parish. This was done to ensure proper statistics to assist with any future parish mergers and closings.
God bless.
 
Itā€™s weird how churches never talk about it. Iā€™d never even heard of parish boundaries until I read about them here. Iā€™ve always gone local but probably more because Iā€™m a bit lazy.
 
My sister belongs to a Parish one mile away and has a letter Stating Membership. Yet, we have a neighborhood Church significantly closer. Without knowing Parish boundaries, it would seem my sister should have been assigned closer :man_shrugging:t2:
 
I see it as something like the city limits or what congressional district I live in. Not something I really talk about unless it is during an election.
 
Cruciferi said:
How so? If you get envelopes and submit money you should be a member. Splain moreā€¦
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Because there is nothing preventing you from signing up at multiple parishes and receiving envelopes at multiple parishes at the same time.

Envelopes are about tax deductions, not ā€œparish membership.ā€

Letā€™s assume you live in one diocese but the closest Catholic Church to your house is in the diocese next door, so you attend that parish in the diocese next door.

Your bishop is STILL the bishop of where your house is. Regardless of which church you attend, you still live in the diocese where your house is located.

The Parish is the exact same way. Regardless of which parish you attend, the priest who is personally responsible for you is the pastor of the parish you live in.

God Bless
 
Maybe Iā€™ve just always got lucky and stayed on the right side of the boundary. No ones ever said anything.
 
It would be helpful if they disclosed these boundaries. It would enlighten people! Going waaaay back I believe two Bishops prior there was some bickering over this issueā€¦ Once again, nothing happened.
 
The law sounds clear on this, but Iā€™m guessing what people have trouble with is not BEING a member of a particular parish but rather ATTENDING there every Sunday and financially contributing there. When the Church says that ideally one should attend their territorial parish, meaning be an active member there, people who want to do the right thing are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Of course this doesnā€™t change the law but it explains why people choose other parishes. Iā€™m guessing thatā€™s at least partly why many parishes and bishops allow de facto membership in a parish of your choice, but I could be wrong on that.
 
If youā€™re an official member of a Parish you should have proof though? A document. My sister has written proof denoting Membership. I suppose the take away would be: Ensure youā€™re eligible for membership and have proof. Nothing can take the place of asking questions šŸ˜€
 
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Cruciferi said:
It would be helpful if they disclosed these boundaries. It would enlighten people! Going waaaay back I believe two Bishops prior there was some bickering over this issueā€¦ Once again, nothing happened.
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That is exactly what has happened in certain parts of the country.

Itā€™s unfortunate, but many older parishes have been closed (sometimes for good reason, sometimes not so good reason) and parish boundaries re-drawn in many of the places where Catholicism has been traditionally very strong.

To varying degrees, these diocese have had to enforce parish territory. Sometimes very strictly.
 
FrDavid96 said:
Itā€™s unfortunate, but many older parishes have been closed (sometimes for good reason, sometimes not so good reason) and parish boundaries re-drawn in many of the places where Catholicism has been traditionally very strong.
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Precisely what happened to my Hungarian ethnic Church. It was necessary to close it. Then we got merged with two other churches ā›Ŗ
 
Cruciferi said:
If youā€™re an official member of a Parish you should have proof though? A document. My sister has written proof denoting Membership. I suppose the take away would be to ensure youā€™re eligible for membership and have proof. Nothing can take the place of asking questions šŸ˜€
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Your proof is your address.

The ā€œwritten proofā€ your sister has does not denote her ā€œmembership.ā€ Itā€™s denotes the fact that sheā€™s a ā€œCatholic in good standing.ā€

Being a ā€œCatholic in good standingā€ is required to be a Godparent, Confirmation Sponsor, receive Catholic school tuition discounts, work for the Church, etc.

Membership in the Church requires you to: (1) be alive (2) be baptized/confirmed (3) and be a resident of your local Church.

Two totally different things.

I can be a member of St. X parish (even though I never attended mass there not met the priest) while being a ā€œCatholic in good standingā€ at St. Y parish.

You can be excommunicated and you would still be a ā€œmemberā€ of Parish X. You can convert to Islam and you would still be a ā€œmemberā€ of Parish X as long as you donā€™t move. The Baptist minister who lives next door to Parish X is a ā€œmemberā€ of that parish, even though he never attends.

The problem here is the phrase ā€œparish membership.ā€

The Catholic Church does not use ā€œparish membershipā€ the way one would logically think that phrase would mean. The Church uses it to denote ā€œparish residence.ā€ But the phrase ā€œparish residenceā€ is a clunky phrase in English, so we use the misleading phrase of ā€œparish membership.ā€

Am I making sense?
 
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Without knowing territories, I shall assume a document stating Membership and filling out paperwork is sufficient. If thereā€™s an impediment to becoming a member it should come out.
 
Cruciferi said:
Without knowing territories, I shall assume a document stating Membership and filling out paperwork is sufficient. If thereā€™s an impediment to becoming a member it should come out.
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Again, there is no document stating ā€œmembership.ā€ The Church only issues documents/letters indicating ā€œgood standing.ā€
 
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So youā€™re in their precinct as it were? But you can be in good standing contributing to another? After completing paperwork of courseā€¦
 
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