Is it possible to switch dioceses?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Slayer
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Slayer

Guest
I currently live over an hour away from a church that has the TLM. I want to join and be a member of that parish but am I allowed to quit the church I am currently a member in to join one that is not part of my diocese?
 
I don’t want to move. Which is why I am asking if it is allowed to join a church outside my diocese.
 
join the church in your diocese and then attend the other one
 
I think I might of misunderstood you guys. And you might of misunderstood me. lol!

I want to quit the church i’m a member of in my diocese and join one that is not in my diocese without actually moving my residence.

That is alright, right?
 
Slayer said:
I think I might of misunderstood you guys. And you might of misunderstood me. lol!

I want to quit the church i’m a member of in my diocese and join one that is not in my diocese without actually moving my residence.

That is alright, right?
Click to expand...
Yes, I see no problem with this. Explain the situation to the TLM parish over the phone and ask to become a parishner.

God bless!
 
Slayer said:
I currently live over an hour away from a church that has the TLM. I want to join and be a member of that parish but am I allowed to quit the church I am currently a member in to join one that is not part of my diocese?
Click to expand...
Slayer, there has been an indult TLM (now Extraordiary Form) parish in the next diocese over to the west from mine, for the past 10 years, and I believe that many of it’s parishioners are from the surrounding dioceses. Someone suggested talking to the priest in the parish you wish to join. I think that’s a good idea.
 
Slayer said:
I think I might of misunderstood you guys. And you might of misunderstood me. lol!

I want to quit the church i’m a member of in my diocese and join one that is not in my diocese without actually moving my residence.

That is alright, right?
Click to expand...
You can join any parish church in the Diocese where you live, but you can’t join a parish that is outside of the Diocese where you live, because you are subject to the Bishop of the Diocese where you live, and I don’t think you can change Bishops without actually moving to the other Bishop’s Diocese.
 
You’re perfectly free to attend the parish in another diocese even exclusively, give all your financial support to it, etc., even if you never “register” in it. None of that, though, will have any canonical effects. You will always be a subject of the bishop in whose territory you live (unless you’re military personnel, who have their own ordinary), and you’ll always be a subject of the pastor of the parish in whose territory you live (unless you fall into a group that has a personal parish). The only way to switch dioceses without moving would be to switch your canonical enrolment to a different church sui iuris, which wouldn’t be at all applicable to your situation.
 
Seminarian_Matt said:
Yes, I see no problem with this. Explain the situation to the TLM parish over the phone and ask to become a parishner.

God bless!
Click to expand...
It’s not just a matter of EF Mass attendance. There is also the matter of special dispensions, say of abstaining from meat or Mass on Ascension Thursday, or where to file for an annulment, for example. It would be an interesting question, though, for snowbirds, where they spend half the year in one place and the other half in another.
 
you can attend Mass anywhere you want. you are a member, with or without registering, of your geographic parish in your geographic diocese. you can also register at the new parish, even if it is another diocese, if that is the parish you want to support. there may be a formality of asking permission of your current pastor, but it is usually not a problem.

our former home was on the cusp of 2 adjoining dioceses, we were equidistant between parishes in both, and in a growing area, and most people gravitated toward the larger diocese where most of them worked, but geographically we actually belonged to the smaller diocese, but its chancery was much further away from us, so we never did really get involved there. nobody made any deal, but might have when it came to things like Catholic school attendance, for instance. Actually one child was confirmed in each of the 2 dioceses, based on youth programs available to them at the time (one diocese in grade 8, the other in grade 11, go figure).
 
ProVobis said:
It would be an interesting question, though, for snowbirds, where they spend half the year in one place and the other half in another.
Click to expand...
Provided they maintain at least a quasi-domicile in each location, snow birds technically have two ordinaries and are free to obey, to a certain extent, the particular laws of whichever territory they wish.
puzzleannie said:
Actually one child was confirmed in each of the 2 dioceses, based on youth programs available to them at the time (one diocese in grade 8, the other in grade 11, go figure).
Click to expand...
Upon my first reading, I thought you had said that one single child went through confirmation twice!:bigyikes: Good thing I read again.
ProVobis said:
Exception is where one bishop is suffragan to a metropolitan bishop.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffragan
Click to expand...
I may be missing something, but I don’t see how that is relevant. The Catholic hierarchy doesn’t work like that description of the Anglican hierarchy. Our suffragans are all diocesan ordinaries with full jurisdiction over their territories.
 
Sure, Andreas, your Bishop D’Arcy is a suffregan of the Archbishop of Indianapolis, Archbishop Buechlein. The bishop of the diocese where I live (not my diocese, despite the misinterpretation of Canon Law here) Bishop Sartain of Joliet is a suffregan of Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago.

John
 
Further I’ve had this discussion and had this discussion. Let me quote myself:
Just a correction of a few of the comments here. While it may be a parish or diocesan policy, being bound to parish boundaries is not in Canon Law. Below are two recent quotes from Fr. Serpa answering on AAA:
Click to expand...
Jun 15, '07, 11:26 am
Click to expand...
While one ought to attend his parish church regularly, the new code of canon law does not specify that it must be in the parish territory in which one resides. By all means shop around and register where you choose.
Click to expand...
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
Click to expand...
Jun 18, ‘07, 11:38 am
Click to expand...
The new code of canon law does not require one to register in the closest parish to where one resides. Nor does it say anything about hopping the boundaries of the diocese. Go where you are fed!
Click to expand...
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
Click to expand...
My wife and I have been members of the best parish in the Archdiocese of Chicago although we live in DuPage County (part of Joliet Diocese) for four years or so. We agree with Father Serpa, go where you are fed!
Click to expand...

John
 
John_Higgins said:
Sure, Andreas, your Bishop D’Arcy is a suffregan of the Archbishop of Indianapolis, Archbishop Buechlein. The bishop of the diocese where I live (not my diocese, despite the misinterpretation of Canon Law here) Bishop Sartain of Joliet is a suffregan of Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago.

John
Click to expand...
Your diocese is the diocese (of your church sui iuris) in which you live. Check out the relevant canons here:
vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__PC.HTM

especially:
Can. 107 §1. Through both domicile and quasi-domicile, each person acquires his or her pastor and ordinary.

As Deacon Ed said, a Catholic suffragan is not placed over some sort of dependent territory. He has full ordinary authority in his territory, the metropolitan has none. If you want to be under the metropolitan’s authority, you have to move to his territory.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top