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folklaur
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| Posted: June 02 2008 at 6:14pm | IP Logged
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Do parish boundaries still count? I know in AZ, we could go to whichever parish we wanted, and I even know of some families who registered at two parishes. No one cared what your home address was in relation to your parish choice.
But growing up in NJ, parish boundaries mattered. Like, to go to the school my parents sent me to (it was a little cheaper than the one for the parish we were "technically" in) they had to get special permission from the Bishop to attend the other parish and to send me to the other school.
Is it still like that anywhere? When did it change? Was it always regional?
thanks,
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chrisv664
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When we moved to the area we are in now, fifteen years ago, we discovered we fit in better with the parish in the next town. In order to join that parish, we had to first join our local parish, pay a registration fee, and then get released from that parish in order to register in the new parish. It seemed a little silly to me at the time, but we jujmped through the hoops! We are still with the parish in the next town, however now we live in the next town  !
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K&Rs Mom
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I know we have families driving from other towns to our parish. I don't know their "status" - if they're registered members here or there or anywhere, but they show up regularly. We never really registered when we got here (10 years ago) but are obviously on a list somewhere because we get our box of envelopes every year. 
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Aubrey
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folklaur
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| Posted: June 02 2008 at 6:47pm | IP Logged
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K&Rs Mom wrote:
| ]We never really registered when we got here (10 years ago) but are obviously on a list somewhere because we get our box of envelopes every year. |
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Oh! Follow-up questions!
DO you get boxes of envelopes?
(In AZ we didn't...we had to pick them up at the Church. But I don't know if that was just our parish or all of them in the area....)
Do you have to register in a parish before they will even talk to you about your kids getting their Sacraments?
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hylabrook1
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When we lived in Philadelphia, where you lived was a very big deal. We never went to *our* parish, although our oldest child was baptized there (she was born just a couple of months after we moved to Phil.). When dd#2 came along, we were well established in our attendance of the *other* parish, but still had to get a letter of permission to have the baptism where we attended. The priest at the *other* parish even advised us which priest to meet with to get the letter, as not all the priests at *our* parish would be inclined to grant permission. There were all sorts of interesting things about the geographic nature of parishes in Philadelphia. For one thing, annually the pastor would go up and down the street, visiting each household where registered Catholics lived, soliciting a $50 contribution (almost like a tax, it seemed to me) from each. Where we live now, in Maryland suburbs of DC, people decide where they go to church. Geographic boundaries for parishes still exist, although I think that is mainly for some administrative purpose of the Archdiocese.
Peace,
Nancy
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hopalenik
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According to my priest, Pope John Paul 2 eliminated the requirement that you attend your local parish, if that is what you were asking about. This was apparently done so that devout Catholics could freely in good conscience avoid the heretical, liberal parish near to them and go afar for a good priest. As far as the practicality of how that still works, probably depends where you live. Geographic boundaries will probably always exist, but technically you should be free to go whichever church you choose to register at...
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MaryM
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This is the Canon Law in regard to parish boundaries.
Can. 518 As a general rule a parish is to be territorial, that is, one which includes all the Christian faithful of a certain territory. When it is expedient, however, personal parishes are to be established determined by reason of the rite, language, or nationality of the Christian faithful of some territory, or even for some other reason.
I find this topic quite confusing. When we first came to Denver I called the archdiocese and asked to which parish we belonged (that was how I grew up). I was told it didn't matter and we could attend where we chose. I wonder if I'd get the same anser today. I have heard in the past that territorial boundaries were part of the 1917 Canon Law, but that the 1983 Canon Law changed that. Yet, this section is from the 1983 Canon. It depends on who you talk to how thigns are interpreted. I think many parishes and diocese do not enforce territorial boundaries and generally it is considered okay to register at a parish outside your parish territory. So many people here are attending members of parishes outside what would be their territorial boundaries and it is never talked aobut so we assume it is "okay." Yet sometimes in some areas it still seems to be enforced. I've searched this topic online serveral times in the past few months for various reasons and don't find anything that really clears this up.
This article by a canon lawyer on Catholic Exchange is quite interesting. It would indicate that we are still bound by territory though in practice parish attendance/membership has been more fluid.
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CrunchyMom
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I think that there are also some parishes that are still part of the diocese but aren't geographically bound. Our former parish was the "Italian" parish in our area and it is run by Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, not diocesan priests. Anyone (perhaps originally it was those specifically of Italian descent?) can be a member, and many people who attend parishes closer to their homes come back to this parish for sacraments.
Then, there are things like oratories and churches that are under the control of local religious. They are still part of the diocese, but the priests there have more freedom (for lack of a better word) and I'm pretty sure they are not part of the territorial set-up in the same way regular diocesan parishes are.
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Lara Sauer
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I have always thought that parish boundaries were established for two main reasons: one for the sake of the community and the other for the sake of the pastor of the parish.
For the sake of the community: Proximity to one's parish helps to establish a strong sense of community among one's parishioners and will increase the liklihood that the parishioners will make use of the sacramental opportunities (i.e. Sunday Mass)as well as recreational opportunities (i.e. parish picnics and the like) provided by the parish.
For the sake of the pastor: The pastor of each parish is responsible for the spiritual formation of ALL the people in his parish boundaries, not just the Catholic ones. However, for the purpose of Sacramental outreach to his parishioners, the church has limited his geographical areas so as to not make it overly burdensome for the pastor to fill these needs. I am thinking mainly here of his being able to provide Last Rites in a timely manner.
However, with that said, I think that all pastors have a right to allow anyone to become members at their parish, albeit with with whatever restrictions that he feels necessary. In our own circumstances, we do not live in our parish boundaries (although we are still very close to the church...15 minutes by car (in the DC-area that makes you a next door neighbor!). We used to live in the boundaries of that parish and were very well-established there, so when we moved away, we requested to stay as parishioners. Our former pastor permitted this, but would have still required us to pay out of parish tuition if our children had attended the school. Obviously this didn't affect us, as we homeschool.
Cheers!
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Nina
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We know families that have to drive for an hour to get to a Latin Mass.Our family moved halfway across the country to be near a good traditional parish.
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MaryM
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CrunchyMom wrote:
| I think that there are also some parishes that are still part of the diocese but aren't geographically bound. Our former parish was the "Italian" parish in our area and it is run by Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, not diocesan priests. |
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Nina wrote:
| We know families that have to drive for an hour to get to a Latin Mass.Our family moved halfway across the country to be near a good traditional parish. |
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These would be the kinds of non-territorial parishes that the canon means when it refers to:
When it is expedient, however, personal parishes are to be established determined by reason of the rite, language, or nationality of the Christian faithful of some territory, or even for some other reason.
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K&Rs Mom
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cactus mouse wrote:
Follow-up questions!
DO you get boxes of envelopes?
(In AZ we didn't...we had to pick them up at the Church. But I don't know if that was just our parish or all of them in the area....)
Do you have to register in a parish before they will even talk to you about your kids getting their Sacraments?
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In December, our boxes are put on tables in the narthex, and any that haven't been picked up by about mid-January are mailed out. I'd say about 90% are picked up in person.
We have to fill out a registration form for CCD every fall, and sacrament prep is part of that program. I don't think they cross-check those forms to see if the family is "registered" as parish members, but really don't know. Some people do their sacrament prep at home, mostly because of distance, but as far as I know that's pretty much a judgment call for the pastor to allow or not. Here, it seems he's pretty flexible if it's a family he sees regularly.
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Aubrey
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hopalenik
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As far as the sacraments, in our diocese there are several parishes that refuse to do early sacraments but our local Franscican friary has spiritually advised most of its families to do confirmation before the age of 10 or so. So many of these families write letters to the bishops seeking approval on their own outside of their parish and then go to another parish just to receive the sacraments. Every year our parish has several non parishioners who are receiving confirmation early but are not registered with us.
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Holly
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Topic: Do Parish boundaries still "count"?
