How to choose a parish

[Monica4316]

This question was inspired by another thread here…

I know the ideal or most proper thing to do is to attend one’s home parish.

But to what point?

If there’s another parish that’s much more orthodox, can you go there instead?

I said in the thread that - I think so, - but I am interested if there’s a Church teaching on this, and what everyone thinks.

I don’t mean choosing one that you simply like better. I mean, if there’s a choice between a more liberal and a more orthodox parish.

 

[Benadam]

Your question brought to mind something I read.

During the great persecutions in the early Church there were people who would travel to the locality of the persecution in hope of recieving martyrdom there.

This practice was condemned and the teaching that supported the condemnation held that the persecution was against the community of christians at that local therefore the martyrdom belonged to members of that community.

This lesson from history may pertain to your question.\

Because our homes are located within a community, that’s where our spirituality is most effective for the good, either ours or the communities. If we seek out another parish because it suits our faith then there is no opportunity for growth either from the individual or the community. The communities become more divided rather than more unified.

I think we are meant to remain in the christian community of our local and from within that community it is authentic.

 

[HonoraDominum]

My most important goal in life is to be in sanctifying grace at the point of death. That one moment defines all others for my life. I pray every day to do the will of Almighty God so that he may draw me closer to him and that he may make me holy and make me a saint.

That being said, I pray these things because I now go to a parish with two of the most amazing priests I’ve ever met. One priest took me from confessing mortal sins and only confessing once a month to having mostly sacramental confessions (venial sins only) and confessing every week. The arsenal of spiritual weapons he has armed me with from the other side of the confessional screen has helped me break years of tepidity in my spirituality and multiple habits of sin. The other priest took me from being a “Checklist Catholic” (Did I go to mass? Check. Did I say grace over meals? Check. etc) to having a devotion to daily Mass, wearing a scapular and growing in devotion to Mary, and having a much more intimate relationship with God and Christ than I ever have before.

I used to go to church because I loved being a Catholic. I now to go church because I love Christ and have such adoration and appreciation for Him in the blessed sacrament of the altar. I’ve learned many ways to help me become a saint, like the daily rosary, devotion to the Sacred Heart, daily mental prayer, and spiritual reading. I’ve also gained a much broader knowledge of church history, and learned the stories of many great saints.

All of these spiritual changes happened to me because I left the parish where I was baptized as an adult convert and which I attended for five years, and went to a parish that feeds me what I need to become more holy. I have three chapels within walking distance of my home, but I drive 15 minutes to go to mass at my FSSP personal parish. I wake up at 4:45a every weekday morning because I am blessed enough to have access to a 6:30a daily mass every day. I thank God every day for my parish, and pray constantly for the sanctity of priests, especially my confessor and my spiritual director (the other priest at my parish).

While only God can give the supernatural grace of true conversion, I believe that being in the parish where you get the spiritual food and support of others who love Christ is a very important part of getting to heaven and living the life that God wills you to live. I was telling a very good friend of mine at my parish, one that just told me yesterday that he was leaving to join the monks at Clear Creek, how saints tend to show up in clusters (St. John of the Cross/St. Teresa of Avila, etc.). I said that I think our little parish is a little cluster of soon-to-be saints, and I hope to someday be one of them.

So my point is, find a parish that will help you be a saint. Find a parish that will save your soul, and the soul of your family. Pray for the grace to find that parish, and God will not allow you to be lost.

 

[FrDavid96]

This question was inspired by another thread here…

I know the ideal or most proper thing to do is to attend one’s home parish.

But to what point?

If there’s another parish that’s much more orthodox, can you go there instead?

I said in the thread that - I think so, - but I am interested if there’s a Church teaching on this, and what everyone thinks.

I don’t mean choosing one that you simply like better. I mean, if there’s a choice between a more liberal and a more orthodox parish.

Monica,

Although you will get all kinds of answers to this question, the only one that can be trusted is the answer found in canon law itself. Here are the relevant canons:

Can. 100 A person is said to be: a resident (incola) in the place where the person has a domicile; a temporary resident (advena) in the place where the person has a quasi-domicile; a traveler (peregrinus) if the person is outside the place of a domicile or quasi-domicile which is still retained; a transient (vagus) if the person does not have a domicile or quasi- domicile anywhere.

Can. 102 §1. Domicile is acquired by that residence within the territory of a certain parish or at least of a diocese, which either is joined with the intention of remaining there permanently unless called away or has been protracted for five complete years.
§2. Quasi-domicile is acquired by residence within the territory of a certain parish or at least of a diocese, which either is joined with the intention of remaining there for at least three months unless called away or has in fact been protracted for three months.
§3. A domicile or quasi-domicile within the territory of a parish is called parochial; within the territory of a diocese, even though not within a parish, diocesan.
Can. 107 §1. Through both domicile and quasi-domicile, each person acquires his or her pastor and ordinary.

Can. 515 §1. A parish is a certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor (parochus) as its proper pastor (pastor) under the authority of the diocesan bishop.

Can. 518 As a general rule a parish is to be territorial, that is, one which includes all the Christian faithful of a certain territory. When it is expedient, however, personal parishes are to be established determined by reason of the rite, language, or nationality of the Christian faithful of some territory, or even for some other reason.
Can. 519 The pastor (parochus) is the proper pastor (pastor) of the parish entrusted to him, exercising the pastoral care of the community committed to him under the authority of the diocesan bishop in whose ministry of Christ he has been called to share, so that for that same community he carries out the functions of teaching, sanctifying, and governing, also with the cooperation of other presbyters or deacons and with the assistance of lay members of the Christian faithful, according to the norm of law.

Here’s what those canons mean:

A Catholic is a parishioner (member) of the parish in which he has a residence. A parish is a territory, not a building. As a Catholic, you are free to worship in any Catholic parish and/or building. You can go to Mass and pray anywhere you choose. However, you cannot “choose” a parish (unless you choose to move and live somewhere else).

Your parish is the parish in which you reside. Canon law is most clear on that point. See especially canon 107. One “acquires” a parish by residence. Not by “attendance.” Not by “registering.” Not by “choice.” Not by “permission of the pastor.” Not by anything else that (no doubt) others will tell you determines your parish. Canon law says that your parish is the place where you live.

Personal parishes are (of course) the exception; but that issue isn’t germain to your question.

I have no doubt (because this topic appears so often here) that many posters will respond with all kinds of personal opinions and personal anecdotes which will only muddy the waters. None of that will change canon law. Read the canons for your answer.

Every Catholic is a parishioner (member) of the parish where he has a residence. Plain and simple.