Need advice on moving to a new parish?!?!

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samantha_smith

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My husband and I have moved to a different state, and have found our nearest Church which we have been attending.
I called the Church office to set up an appointment with the priest.
What should we ask him? How hard is it to change diocese and parishes??
We’ve only been Catholic for 2 years, so we are nervous…and outside our comfort zone!
P.S. I can’t find the font in the lobby or anywhere?!?! Where is an alternate location, or do some Churches not have one??
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Thanks in advance!
 
Hi hi
Welcome to CAF
I am going through the same thing as well… cept I didn’t move states, I just moved to another part of the city so I am checking out a new parish too. It is hard! I miss the old one already. I look around at mass and everyone seems so much older than me. I think it just takes time.

Speaking with the parish priest is a great idea. I haven’t thought of that. He can perhaps suggest groups within the parish that you might want to get involved with so you can meet new people.

All the best!
 
If you call the Parish office, there will be a nice Parish Secretary (all I’ve met have been ladies). If you explain to the Secretary, she will walk you through everything you need. Ask her about volunteer opportunities as well.

By font, do you mean a Holy Water Font? Sometimes they are in odd spots, perhaps ask an usher or that nice Parish Secretary.
 
Changing parishes and dioceses is easy. All you need to do is fill out the paperwork to register at the new parish. If you have kids or you will be doing anything “extra” like getting married, baptising kids, enrolling kids in Catholic school, etc. you will need to provide proof of receiving sacraments. If you are doing something like that they also may require a letter from your previous pastor talking about whether you are an active member of the church or not. No proof needed to just become a registered member of the parish.

You may want to attend a Mass or two at the new parish to make sure they meet with your expectations as for how faithful they are to church teaching.

As for the font, if you are talking the baptismal font, they usually are in the front of the church in older churches, they can be almost anywear in newer churches. If you are talking the holy water containers, they should be near the doors.
 
Marauder said:
Changing parishes and dioceses is easy. All you need to do is fill out the paperwork to register at the new parish. If you have kids or you will be doing anything “extra” like getting married, baptising kids, enrolling kids in Catholic school, etc. you will need to provide proof of receiving sacraments. If you are doing something like that they also may require a letter from your previous pastor talking about whether you are an active member of the church or not. No proof needed to just become a registered member of the parish.
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Yep, nothing to it. I recently switched to a different parish across town which offers TLM. All I did was send them an email, and they sent me the form to fill out. Then I emailed my old parish and asked them to remove me from the list of active parishioners. It was that easy. 👍
 
Hi! Posted this elsewhere, but no responses thus far.
My daughter is looking for suggestions for Parishes in the San Diego area. She is a young adult and would like to meet others between 21-27 or so. She is also interested in suggestions of where to live/not to live.

Thanks and God bless!

SingtotheLord
with Alleluias!
 
suggest what we do every time we move. make getting to know the surrounding parishes part of selecting where to move. research them as you do schools and other factors. attend Mass at each one, often if you have time. If as we did we had to make a decision in a short time, attend Masses at different churches for at least a year before formally joining a parish–registration, support, being part of community life. If you plan to enroll kids in the school, start researching that first, and then the attached or supporting parish(es). Don’t be to quick to make negative judgements, either. You may also have the joy of becoming a small part of changing a liberal, dissenting dying parish to a solidly orthodox thriving parish, as we have.

before you leave get letters from parish and school on where you all are with regard to school progress, sacramental prep, RE attendance etc., and make sure you have baptismal certificates.
 
Marauder said:
You may want to attend a Mass or two at the new parish to make sure they meet with your expectations as for how faithful they are to church teaching.
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Exactly. Before registering, go to a couple Masses to see how you fit in. You also don’t have to choose the nearest parish. If there is another parish that is further away that you feel more comfortable with, go with them. Talking to the priest is a good thing too.
 
I changed parishes several times and no registering, no talking to the priest. I just go and that’s that. why all that protocol?
 
tessi said:
I changed parishes several times and no registering, no talking to the priest. I just go and that’s that. why all that protocol?
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if you want to have your donations tracked for tax purposes and to enroll at parish schools, RE programs and sacramental prep you had better register in the US. we have a long thread discussing the registration issue if anyone is interested, but that is not OP’s question.
 
I attended my area parish for many years, except when i had to move my children to the outter skirts of us to attend a school that was more able to meet my daughters needs educationally. In this, they attended the attached church for sariments and school activities, and to not make them feel devided, we attended there for over a year now.

This next school year, they will be going back to the small school they were in before, and this means returning to our old church. For the girls, this is nothing, but for me, it will be a feeling of eating crow. They are very territorial, and look down on not supporting the little school.

I am very lost as well in how to fit in, as it seems this is something i never ever had to deal with before. I wonder too if meeting with the parish priest might ease this proceedure.

Lana
 
Well, my husband and I did meet with the priest, as well as the office secretary for over an hour! They were very welcoming and answered all of our questions.
Since it is such a small parish (less than 225 families), there is loads of opportunities to jump right in.
We filled out a form stating all of our baptismal data etc. and thats that!
And it seems everyone knows everyone else! That in and of itself will be an added push to get to know everyone and join the family.
P.S. The font is on wheels and had been pushed aside… but it is now back to a normal spot … whew! No more feeling like I don’t know what’s going on!!
HAHAHA
 
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