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Chuck1
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Hi what is a parish / parish church ? Is it a group of churches or one church ?
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MarkThompson
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Code of Canon Law:
Can. 518 §1. A parish is a certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor (parochus) as its proper pastor (pastor) under the authority of the diocesan bishop.
Thus a parish is a subdivision of a diocese, with a parish pastor in charge. The vast majority of parishes are territorial: e.g., one parish might be defined as the area bounded by Main Street on the south, 3rd Avenue on the west, Adams Street on the north, the river on the east. More rarely, some parishes can be “established determined by reason of the rite, language, or nationality of the Christian faithful of some territory, or even for some other reason” (Canon 518). For instance, it was fairly common in the past for an area to have, say, a German parish, a Polish parish, an Italian parish, which all covered an overlapping region, so that your membership wasn’t determined by which street you lived on but by your nationality. Now we might add, a Latin Mass parish.
A parish generally has only one church building – what you would think of as the “parish church” – but it can also have more than one. This frequently happens when several parishes are combined into one.
Can. 518 §1. A parish is a certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor (parochus) as its proper pastor (pastor) under the authority of the diocesan bishop.
Thus a parish is a subdivision of a diocese, with a parish pastor in charge. The vast majority of parishes are territorial: e.g., one parish might be defined as the area bounded by Main Street on the south, 3rd Avenue on the west, Adams Street on the north, the river on the east. More rarely, some parishes can be “established determined by reason of the rite, language, or nationality of the Christian faithful of some territory, or even for some other reason” (Canon 518). For instance, it was fairly common in the past for an area to have, say, a German parish, a Polish parish, an Italian parish, which all covered an overlapping region, so that your membership wasn’t determined by which street you lived on but by your nationality. Now we might add, a Latin Mass parish.
A parish generally has only one church building – what you would think of as the “parish church” – but it can also have more than one. This frequently happens when several parishes are combined into one.
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YoungTradCath
Guest
Generally, in the VAST majority of cases, a parish is one church which is led by a pastor.
However, my parish is an exception to this rule. My parish consists of two local churches, one which is the original church and is medium in size, and a smaller one, several miles away, that was originally a black mission church. They used to be separate parishes with separate pastors, but three years ago, my bishop decided to consolidate the parishes into one in expectation of the upcoming building of a larger church, which was introduced as a cost-saving measure. Currently, both churches share the same pastor, but the pastor resides at the larger church.
However, my parish is an exception to this rule. My parish consists of two local churches, one which is the original church and is medium in size, and a smaller one, several miles away, that was originally a black mission church. They used to be separate parishes with separate pastors, but three years ago, my bishop decided to consolidate the parishes into one in expectation of the upcoming building of a larger church, which was introduced as a cost-saving measure. Currently, both churches share the same pastor, but the pastor resides at the larger church.
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MarkThompson
Guest
I know what you’re saying, but it really must be emphasized that a parish is not “a church,” if by that you are referring to a physical building with walls and a roof. Usually, a parish has a church building. And if it has two (because of parish consolidations) or zero (because the old one collapsed), it is still just one parish. The fundamental essence of what it means to be a “parish” is to be a subdivision of the faithful of a “particular church,” which is a technical phrase generally referring to a diocese, and fully defined as follows:Generally, in the VAST majority of cases, a parish is one church which is led by a pastor.
Can. 368: Particular churches, in which and from which the one and only Catholic Church exists, are first of all dioceses, to which, unless it is otherwise evident, are likened a territorial prelature and territorial abbacy, an apostolic vicariate and an apostolic prefecture, and an apostolic administration erected in a stable manner.
So a parish is a portion of a church in one technical sense of that word (“church” ≈ diocese), and a parish usually possesses a church in the everyday sense of the word (“church” = a building with an altar and a cross on top), but a parish is not itself a church.
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