A question on parishes

Quite some time ago (January 14th), a reader wrote in with a question regarding what she read in a Catholic periodical concerning the establishment of a parish "as a personal parish to serve the Hispanic community, rather than a territorial parish with geographic boundaries."

She wondered about the appropriateness of such a decision and how it fosters or works against unity in the Church.

It is an excellent question and one that I regret taking so long to address.

It is a question that is likely not new to our own day and was likely present, in one form or another, in the time of the Apostles.

First, we should consider the definition of a parish. The Code of Canon Law describes a parish as "a certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor as its proper pastor under the authority of the diocesan bishop" (c. 515 § 1). In short, a parish is a group of Catholics in a diocese that the bishop has entrusted to the ministry of a priest whom he has appointed pastor to shepherd the parish in the name of the bishop.

There are two kinds of parishes, which are alluded to in the periodical's description, though perhaps not fully explained.

"As a general rule a parish is to be territorial, that is, one which includes all the Christian faithful of a certain territory" (c. 518). This is something we often forget.

Typically, at least in the United States of America, we think of our parish as the one in which we have "registered." Canonically, such registration has no bearing whatever. We belong to the parish in whose boundaries we reside. We are obliged to attend Sunday Mass, but the Church does not tell us where we must fulfill the Sunday obligation. Registering in a parish is simply a way for the parish to know who and where you are.

Even so, "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" (c. 518).

This was often the case in many cities in the USA when the Church was being established on these shores. This, regrettably, often led to rivalries between, as in the case in my home of Quincy, between the "German" and the "Irish" parishes. Sometimes parishes have managed to overcome this, remembering that in Christ "there is neither Jew nor Greek," and in other cases they have not done so (Galatians 3:28). This division among Christians, though not intended, has sometimes been a cause of scandal.

Personal parishes, though, are never set up in opposition to one another, but with the aim of leading all people closer to Jesus Christ and to help them grow in holiness, in faith, in hope and in love.

To say that we are all one in Christ is not to say that we are all identical or that our ethnic and national traditions disappear. The Church is universal - catholic; she is present in all cultures and nations and excludes no one who seeks a life of ever-deepening conversion. To belong to the Church also does not require that national customs be dropped.

In some cases personal parishes are established because the pastor a territorial parish cannot speak the language of a particular national group. If he cannot speak their language then the Bishop must find a way to minister to them; hence, the establishment of personal parishes.

With the passage of time, one might hope that personal parishes would no longer be necessary as national groups settle into their new country and culture, while retaining their own culture. Such was the case with the German and Irish immigrants in this country, but it took a good length of time.