Parish registration question

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My family and I have been attending a parish that is about 30 minutes away every Sunday (minus a few here and there) for over a year now I think. We go to the farther away parish because it is very traditional. However, I think that we are still registered at the local parish which some of us attend for daily Mass sometimes, but that we seldom attend for Sunday Mass. Do we need to un-register at the local parish and register at the farther away parish? Is there anything in canon law about registering at a parish? Would it be a sin to not register, or to delay registering for no good reason for an extended period of time? Thanks and God Bless.
 
If you are called to be godparent - if you need to have someone baptized, married or buried - you need to be registered. I made the mistake of not registering when I moved, and was almost unable to serve as Godparent to my Godson!

It is a good idea to be registered.
 
I don’t know what canon lawyers may say, but my feeling is that it’s important to be registered in a parish so that it is truly your parish home. In your case I don’t know which parish that should be. Are you involved in either parish – with organizations or religious education or some other activity? Which one would you call for a baptism or wedding or anointing of the sick? If there’s one you truly belong to and are involved in, while the other is strictly for attending Mass, that’s the one I would register in.
 
kage_ar said:
If you are called to be godparent - if you need to have someone baptized, married or buried - you need to be registered. I made the mistake of not registering when I moved, and was almost unable to serve as Godparent to my Godson!

It is a good idea to be registered.
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You don’t need to be registered in a parish to be a godparent.

Jim
 
You don’t need to be registered in a parish to be a godparent.
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Maybe not canonically. But it might be the way some dioceses confirm that a particular person is a Catholic and is eligible to be a godparent.
Would it be a sin to not register, or to delay registering for no good reason for an extended period of time?
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A sin? I’d so no. But you ought to be supporting one of those parishes and it makes things easier for everyone if you register in the parish that you support.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
You don’t need to be registered in a parish to be a godparent.

Jim
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Each time I have been a godparent, I’ve had to have a document from my local Parish that states I am a practicing Catholic. Cannot see how you would get a Priest to sign it if he does not even have you registered in the Parish…
 
I understood that form to mean practicing as in attending mass and known by the priest to be practicing. My SIL still lives with her folks and is not registered separately from her parents and she has many, many godchildren.

To the OP - ask your priest at the traditional church, he can best guide you on this. You may also want to consider where you want to have kids confirmed, married, or baptised in the future - it would be best to be registered at that church.

Also - I think it’s a pretty easy task to move a registration from one church to the other so that documents follow your family.
 
kage_ar said:
Each time I have been a godparent, I’ve had to have a document from my local Parish that states I am a practicing Catholic. Cannot see how you would get a Priest to sign it if he does not even have you registered in the Parish…
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You have to provide information that you are a Baptised and Confirmed Catholic. You however, do not have to be registered in a Parish.

Jim
 
When I changed parishes I notified my old parish and told them. The woman on the phone was very nice and said she hoped I would be happy in my new parish. In most places it isn’t a big deal.
 
ltbpoe43 said:
IMy SIL still lives with her folks and is not registered separately from her parents and she has many, many godchildren.
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If your SIL is an adult, even if she lives with her parents, she should register at her parish under her own name.
 
They really ought to fill people in on this whole “parish registration” thing, maybe during CCD or something. I’d never even heard of it until about four years ago, and I’ve been going to Mass every Sunday since I was a kid.

All of a sudden, after I’d been going to church in my parish for ten years, and been in choir and cantoring for a year or two, they were suddenly telling me I had to register or not be a music minister. I still don’t really see the point.

I’m not going to get married to anybody or have kids, so it’s not like I need proof of parishionerness for anything. I can’t take off charitable contributions on my tax form, so it’s not like I need the envelope system. I don’t particularly want the diocesan newspaper; I can read it online a lot less wastefully. And when I tried to get my picture taken for the parish directory, I got ignored in favor of a big family that came in long after me. And anybody can get buried out of the parish; you don’t have to even be Catholic, for goodness’ sake!

So I guess all it’s good for is obedience and mortification. For which may the Lord make me truly thankful…
 
This article here makes it sound like we are obligated to register at the parish closest to us, and to provide monetary support for that parish. This troubles me, because though I am pretty sure we are registered for the parish closest to us we have only been donating to the parish farther away. Is it sinful to violate this obligation in such a manner?

Does your understanding of parish registration change after reading this article?
 
you are always a member of your territorial parish, and there is no requirement to register, although it is advisible so that your contributions may be tracked for IRS purposes. Your sacramental records are maintained in your baptismal parish. You are free to attend Mass and become involved in parish life in any Catholic parish you wish, but you should give your financial support as well as your time and talent to that parish, so if it is outside your geographic parish you should register. Otherwise, you will need a letter of permission from your geographic parish if you wish to have a child baptized, confirmed etc, to be married, to serve as a godparent. The pastor has to attest that he knows you and that you are in fact a practicing Catholic and if you are “under the radar” because you are not registered and contributing in some way, he has no way to know that.

The article cited explains very well why, all things being equal, you should participate in your territorial parish, but if there is a good compelling reason, you are free to change. This was just answered today in AAA.
 
Mintaka said:
They really ought to fill people in on this whole “parish registration” thing, maybe during CCD or something. I’d never even heard of it until about four years ago, and I’ve been going to Mass every Sunday since I was a kid.

All of a sudden, after I’d been going to church in my parish for ten years, and been in choir and cantoring for a year or two, they were suddenly telling me I had to register or not be a music minister. I still don’t really see the point.

I’m not going to get married to anybody or have kids, so it’s not like I need proof of parishionerness for anything. I can’t take off charitable contributions on my tax form, so it’s not like I need the envelope system. I don’t particularly want the diocesan newspaper; I can read it online a lot less wastefully. And when I tried to get my picture taken for the parish directory, I got ignored in favor of a big family that came in long after me. And anybody can get buried out of the parish; you don’t have to even be Catholic, for goodness’ sake!

So I guess all it’s good for is obedience and mortification. For which may the Lord make me truly thankful…
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The church takes parish membership rather seriously, and you can convince yourself of this if you look at Canon Law (it’s just a book, twice the size, because you get the Latin and English version side-by-side). You don’t have to belong to the closest parish anymore.

As posters have noted, you lose benefits for not belonging.

Membership in the church has responsibilities, and this is their way of making a point of it.
 
Nick said:
This article here makes it sound like we are obligated to register at the parish closest to us, and to provide monetary support for that parish.
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In the article, the author writes (next to last paragraph):
A pastor, in accord with the bishop’s policy, may accept someone outside the territorial boundary as a member.
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Parish registration is important because it gives the diocese the number of people in each of the parishes. This provides them with information on how they can decide to assign priest and also how to tax the parish.

Parishes pay a tax to the diocese, based on the number people they have in the parish and also the parish annual income.

In my dioceses, we have the Catholic publication, “The Catholic Free Press,” and parishes are assessed subscription cost, based on the number of people registered in the parish, even if the parisishioners themselves, do not subscribe to the paper.

The last pastor at my parish figured, if the diocese is going to bill the parish for the subscription, the everyone in the parish is going to receive a paper, unless they say otherwise. So, some parishioners, usually elderly shut-ins, receive the paper for free, and don’t know how they got subscribed. They enjoy it however, so that’s not a problem.

Jim
 
I can also tell you that beginning this year parishes are reminded of their obligation to honor canon law and particular law of the diocese on this matter. For instance, parents cannot be told they cannot register children for CCD, or that they must delay baptism for their child until they have been registered for 6 months, because they are already members of their territorial parish. Nor can any kind of support test be applied. If a family wishes a member to prepare for and receive sacraments outside their own parish, they must either register, participate and support the new parish, or get a letter of permission from the pastor of the own parish. The reason is canonical: the pastor is responsible for the care of souls of those within his geographic parochial area.
 
I personally know several priests from other countries who have commented that they do not have registration in their countries. How can this be, if it is Canon Law? I’d like to see the canon.

Peace,
 
meeshy said:
I personally know several priests from other countries who have commented that they do not have registration in their countries. How can this be, if it is Canon Law? I’d like to see the canon.

Peace,
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I would like to see this also. I know that some diocese are perhaps more strict that others about that. I am in a real dilemma now because when we moved back to our hometown, I started at the old church where I received FHC and was confirmed. But I do not live inside the boundaries of that parish. The pastor of the parish I am assigned to said a few words about a lady in our church who had passed away at age 91. He made mention of the fact that she lived early on in his parish, but when the family moved to a different part of two “she went to the parish to which she was assigned as good Catholics should”. I felt like he was talking to me.

Even more of a dilemma now, a new parish, will be having it’s first Mass on July 1. And as luck (?) would have it, I am in the new parish boundaries. Oh what to do.
 
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