Is it Frowned Upon to be a Member at Two Parishes?

  • Thread starter Thread starter catholicWI
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
tee_eff_em said:
I didn’t say the OP would need be Polish (and I don’t know that one can be a parishioner outside one’s rite? Else I have several parishes even now!)

[post=12815693]I do say[/post] that if one maintains a domicile and one or more quasi-domicile (or several quasi-domicile without domicile), one may acquire membership in more than one parish.

At least that is the way I interpret Canon 107. But I Am Not A Canon Lawyer

tee
Click to expand...
I think she was referring to personal parishes as described by Canon 518, which are still part of the Latin church, but have membership determined by one’s ethnicity rather than the location of one’s residence.
 
ack said:
I think she was referring to personal parishes as described by Canon 518, which are still part of the Latin church, but have membership determined by one’s ethnicity rather than the location of one’s residence.
Click to expand...
I would not be surprised.

But my point is: Not only is it not [post=12815325]frowned upon[/post] to belong to two parishes, it is neither [post=12816911]against Church law[/post] to belong so. At least according to my reading.*

tee
(* But I Am Not A Canon Lawyer)
 
Okay,

So I will stay a member at my local parish where I am active at in extracurriculars, am a lector, etc, but I can REGISTER at this other parish where I feel like my family is being “fed” much better.

I plan on giving every Sunday to the basket in the church I am attending that day…to my understanding now, registration at this second church will provide me with envelopes so I don’t need to throw loose cash or checks in the basket. Right?

Are you guys also saying I would be okay getting future children baptized at this second church? Would I just call my home parish and ask them how I should go about it?

Bottom line: I can only be a member at the church I currently am because that is up to geography, but I can be an active registered person at any church.
 
catholicWI said:
Okay,

So I will stay a member at my local parish where I am active at in extracurriculars, am a lector, etc, but I can REGISTER at this other parish where I feel like my family is being “fed” much better.
*Realistically, I don’t think the parish is going to check your address to see if it’s ok for you to register there. Most parishes in my area will register whoever wants to register.
*
I plan on giving every Sunday to the basket in the church I am attending that day…to my understanding now, registration at this second church will provide me with envelopes so I don’t need to throw loose cash or checks in the basket. Right?
*They probably will provide you with envelopes, although if they have run out (usually a certain quantity are printed before the start of the next year), it may not be until next year.
*
Are you guys also saying I would be okay getting future children baptized at this second church? Would I just call my home parish and ask them how I should go about it?
*I think you could ask them.
*
Bottom line: I can only be a member at the church I currently am because that is up to geography, but I can be an active registered person at any church.That seems to be the way it works in most situations (with personal ethnic parish situation being an exception).
Click to expand...
 
FYI Milwaukee arch diocese allows you to register at two parishes. Some parishes are supporting parishes that support the high schools and so those members get a bit of a discount. Some parishes are not on the discount list, so they allow you to register at a second parish so you get a discount on that $11,000 high school tuition bill. 🤷

Get to know your fellow mass attendees at the downtown parish and they can let you in on how they juggle the same issues you will be facing. I hear they have a lovely gathering after the first Sunday Mass;)
 
So, what happens when two Catholics that are members of different Parishes get married? How does it work after the couple decided which of the two parishes that they wish to get married in? Since apparently one can only get married in the geographically closest parish but that is not possible in this situation. Do you still need to get “permission” of some kind?
 
LaughingBoy1503 said:
Since apparently one can only get married in the geographically closest parish but that is not possible in this situation.
Click to expand...
One may be married in the parish of the bride OR the groom, no permission is necessary.

Can. 1115 Marriages are to be celebrated in a parish where either of the contracting parties has a domicile, quasidomicile, or month long residence or, if it concerns transients, in the parish where they actually reside. With the permission of the proper ordinary or proper pastor, marriages can be celebrated elsewhere.

If the bride and groom want to be married in another church, for example a childhood parish, then yes they need some simple permissions.
 
tee_eff_em said:
I didn’t say the OP would need be Polish (and I don’t know that one can be a parishioner outside one’s rite? Else I have several parishes even now!)

[post=12815693]I do say[/post] that if one maintains a domicile and one or more quasi-domicile (or several quasi-domicile without domicile), one may acquire membership in more than one parish.

At least that is the way I interpret Canon 107. But I Am Not A Canon Lawyer

tee
Click to expand...
Yep. I have been a canonical member of two parishes in this sense for a couple years…domicile / quasi-domicile in two countries situation. It gets confusing when it comes to holy days of obligation and abstinence requirements as they vary between the two dioceses, but I confirmed with a couple priests that the local law of the diocese I happen to be in at the moment is the one that applies. If I’m at my domicile in Diocese X I follow the rules of Diocese X. When I’m at my quasi-domicile in Diocese Y, I follow the rules of Diocese Y. This doesn’t apply to travellers but it does apply to me as I have actual homes in both dioceses.
 
JoeFreedom said:
Now I am worried. I saw this post and exclaimed, “That’s our situation!”. My wife and I attend a Catholic Church near our house, (it is not the closest), which we have for nearly 10 years, which we love and have been active in. We were registered there, we got our marriage blessed there, had our children baptized there. But due to our work situation, logistically, our children attend another Catholic Church’s school, so we tithe there and are registered there, as we thus receive the “member” discount. We try to attend that church at least once a month. We do not tithe to the church we have been going to for 10 years. All of that, it seems is okay, from what I’ve read from the other posts (to be registered at more than one church). In fact, we tried to become “unofficial” (or unregistered?) from our first church since the church closest to my wife’s work, where our kids go, would be our official, registered, member church, but they told us not to, since we were so active there.

But now it makes me worried that you state that only the MEMBER parish can do those things (marriages, baptisms, etc.). If the member parish is THE closest parish, then that’s not the one we attend. Just to illustrate, the closest CC is about 5 blocks away from our house (we do not attend that one), while the one we have been going to for 10 years is around 5 miles away. The church where we tithe and our kids go to Catholic school is 18 miles away. So… if we had our kids baptized and our marriage blessed at “the 5 mile” church, (we have the official paperwork), does that mean none of it was legit if the priest there did not ask for permission from the MEMBER parish, which I’m assuming is the closest one…?

And does that invalidate all of my confessions, especially the one time we skipped church due to a massive snow storm and we very concerned about our safety (we attempted to drive and got a block and realized that was a VERY bad idea)?
Click to expand...
Didn’t mean to scare you! I’m sure the priest obtained the necessary permission. This sort of thing happens all the time. And parish membership has no impact on confession at all- you are always free to attend mass or confess at any parish in the world.
 
twf said:
Yes as others have pointed out membership and registration are two different things. Not all parish staff seem to be aware of this fact of canon law. Canon law is very clear on the matter. You ARE a member of your geographical parish. You may never have stepped foot in your geographical parish. You may never have contributed a penny… yet you ARE a member and there is no way around this. The pastor of that parish has canonical jurisdiction over you and only he (or your bishop) may licitly witness your marriage and only he is obliged to baptize your children, preside at your funeral etc. Only he may grant you the dispensations allowed pastors under canon law (e.g. Sunday obligation). That being said, you certainly can be fully involved at other parishes (and registered, which as noted is a local North American thing) and receive the sacraments there…just keep in mind that if you wanted to get married at a parish other than your geographical parish, the priest at the second parish would have to ask permission from your geographical pastor.
Click to expand...
Say what? I had zero hassle when we were originally planning on a Catholic wedding. No questions whatsoever from the priest at the church where I grew up.
 
So this was something that I don’t remember learning about when I became Catholic. So I am a member at the closest parish? What if they are not that close? One church in our area has their “parish boundaries” posted on their website, and TBH they are not very large. So how do I know if I am within the bounds of any particular parish?

Also, I’m registered at the diocesan church, they did mention at RCIA that anyone could register there as the diocese was for the whole state. I had no problems registering or having my child baptized there, so I’m not worried, just confused!
 
misspriss said:
So this was something that I don’t remember learning about when I became Catholic. So I am a member at the closest parish?
Click to expand...
No, you are a member of the parish in which territory you reside.

And to make it plain: That is not necessarily the closest church building. The parish southeast of my own has its church building very near its southern border – So much so that many of her northern most parishioners are closer to our building than to their own.

I don’t draw the maps. 🤷

Call any nearby parish or the diocese, and they ought to be able to tell you in which parish you reside.

tee
 
UnCatholicBride said:
Say what? I had zero hassle when we were originally planning on a Catholic wedding. No questions whatsoever from the priest at the church where I grew up.
Click to expand...
Its not a matter of where you grew up - but where you currently maintain a domicile (residence). If you weren’t married in your local parish (in which territory you maintain a domicile), I’m sure the priest took care of the proper permissions on the back end without involving you.
 
twf said:
Yes as others have pointed out membership and registration are two different things. Not all parish staff seem to be aware of this fact of canon law. Canon law is very clear on the matter. You ARE a member of your geographical parish. You may never have stepped foot in your geographical parish. You may never have contributed a penny… yet you ARE a member and there is no way around this. The pastor of that parish has canonical jurisdiction over you and only he (or your bishop) may licitly witness your marriage and only he is obliged to baptize your children, preside at your funeral etc. Only he may grant you the dispensations allowed pastors under canon law (e.g. Sunday obligation). That being said, you certainly can be fully involved at other parishes (and registered, which as noted is a local North American thing) and receive the sacraments there…just keep in mind that if you wanted to get married at a parish other than your geographical parish, the priest at the second parish would have to ask permission from your geographical pastor.
Click to expand...
Yes. To all of this! When my husband and I planned our wedding in his parent’s church out of town, the priest said, you will need a letter from your local parish giving you permission. I said, umm. I’m so sorry, but we’ve never actually been there! He said, it doesn’t matter, that priest is still your priest! So I called the parish office. The secretary wasn’t familiar with it either. But she asked the priest and of course, he knew exactly what letter to write. Very interesting!
 
What about people who have vacation homes? I live in a state where people might have a home in the desert for the winter and a home in the mountains for the summer and are in the same diocese.
 
7_Sorrows said:
What about people who have vacation homes? I live in a state where people might have a home in the desert for the winter and a home in the mountains for the summer and are in the same diocese.
Click to expand...
What about them?
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.
Click to expand...
…
Click to expand...
Can. 107 §1. Through both domicile and quasi-domicile, each person acquires his or her pastor and ordinary.
Click to expand...
tee
Not A Canon Lawyer
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top