Naming Parishes/Churches

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I’ve been privy to the decision making process for one parish and that process was a consultation between the community and the diocese. The result was “Grandmother Saint Anne” in the local language, they rejected “St. Joachim and St. Anne” as their great devotion is to St. Anne alone.
 
srfnolen said:
Just curious, how do parishes get their names?
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It varies. The parish where I grew up was established in 1953. Our bishop at that time, James Francis McIntyre, had just been named a Cardinal, and his titular church in Rome was that of St. Anastasia. Our parish was being named at the same time, so we received the name St. Anastasia, to commemorate the event.
 
Our then archbishop chose the name for our parish which was being founded in the mid-60’s. He named it Epiphany to honor the epiphanies of the Lord. We’re the only parish in the diocese that doesn’t have a saint’s name.
 
I participated in the process for our newly created parish. It was an involved process (I hope I am remembering the details correctly).
  • Two or three “town hall” meetings were held to give information about the new parish. Choosing a name was one of the topics.
  • At each town hall, the attendees were split into workgroups. Each workgroup discussed options and nominated one name.
  • The moderator took the group nominations and made a “top choices” list.
  • The pastor took that information, chose three names and sent them to the Cardinal.
  • The Cardinal made the final choice.
 
Corki said:
I participated in the process for our newly created parish. It was an involved process (I hope I am remembering the details correctly).
  • Two or three “town hall” meetings were held to give information about the new parish. Choosing a name was one of the topics.
  • At each town hall, the attendees were split into workgroups. Each workgroup discussed options and nominated one name.
  • The moderator took the group nominations and made a “top choices” list.
  • The pastor took that information, chose three names and sent them to the Cardinal.
  • The Cardinal made the final choice.
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It certainly does vary. Many parishes were named for the saint on whose feast day they were founded. This is especially true for older parishes. Religious orders will often choose saints that belong to their religious orders. Newman centers are often named after “scholarly” saints, such as St. Albertus Magnus or St. Thomas Aquinas. But sometimes, the name is determined solely by the bishop who is in charge of the diocese when the parish is founded. This is how many newer parishes have names like “Risen Savior” or “Ascension” or “Blessed Sacrament” and are not named after saints at all.
 
Can. 515 §2. It is only for the diocesan bishop to erect, suppress, or alter parishes. He is neither to erect, suppress, nor alter notably parishes, unless he has heard the presbyteral council.

So while the bishop must solicit (name removed by moderator)ut from his presbyteral council and may seek advice from as many other groups as he wants, ultimately a parish gets the name he decides to give it.

Note, however, that the name of a parish is not necessarily the same as that of the church building and it is not within the power of the bishop to change the title of a dedicated church without papal permission.

Can. 1218 Each church is to have its own title which cannot be changed after the church has been dedicated.

Parish mergers make this readily understandable as the churches of St. Anne, St. George, and St. Frideswide might be combined into the parish of St. Moses the Black. But it is also technically possible that St. Raphael Parish worships in a single church named for St. Bavo.

This document from the Archdiocese of Detroit adds some more information, albeit with insufficient citation of the canonical sources.
 
One parish I belonged to started when a wealthy Catholic man heard about the need for another parish in the Diocese and donated a large parcel of land on which to build it. The Bishop then named the parish after a Saint, whom the man’s daughter had been named after.
And that is how that parish got it’s name. But most people don’t know the story unless they read the parish history.

And the Dominicans in the area, of course, named their parish after St. Dominic. 😉
 
I wondered how this worked.

Parish was St. Peter’s for a long long long time. Name changed 10 years or so ago to Transfiguration of the Lord. No problem with the names, just not sure why the change. I think it’s back to St. Peter’s now, though I’m not sure.

Why would the parish change the name?
 
As others have noted, there are all kinds of reasons a parish might be named as it is. While the bishop had the final say, bishops frequently solicit the (name removed by moderator)ut of others.

Some examples:

My former parish was named for St. Paschal Baylon because at that time many sheep grazed in the area. (St. Paschal had been a shepherd as a youth.) Another local parish is named for the name saint of the elder sister of the brothers who constructed the family chapel (which would eventually be donated to the archdiocese as a parish church.) My parish was named for an important local figure who had recently been beatified (and will soon be canonized.) Another local parish was named for a 20th century saint who had recently been canonized.
 
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