What is a Catholic Parish?

Before going into how to live a Christ-filled life in a Catholic parish, let’s look at what a Catholic parish is and why the Church created parishes. The history of parishes dates to Popes Zosimus (417-418) and Leo the Great (440-461). At that time, parishes were given specific geographical areas by the bishop to ensure the pastoral care of the faithful.

During the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the parish structure of a diocese was discussed along with these governing principles:

• The bishop is pastor of his flock. He must live within and personally govern his diocese, which includes visiting his parishes.
• The bishop must ensure the authentic preaching of the faith, administration of the sacraments, and the offering of the Mass.
• Therefore, to meet the needs of the faithful, the bishop creates parishes with specific boundaries and appoints properly educated pastors and assistants.

How we live and worship in parishes started in the 5th Century and was further solidified in the 16th Century…how cool is that?!

Now that we know the history of parishes, what exactly is a Catholic parish? Paragraph 2179 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting Canon Law, says the following, “A parish is a definite community of the Christian faithful established on a stable basis within a particular church; the pastoral care of the parish is entrusted to a pastor as its own shepherd under the authority of the diocesan bishop." It is the place where all the faithful can be gathered together for the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. The parish initiates the Christian people into the ordinary expression of the liturgical life: it gathers them together in this celebration; it teaches Christ's saving doctrine; it practices the charity of the Lord in good works and brotherly love.” That’s a lot of information and, don’t worry, we will go over it in more detail next week.

The Church created parishes to ensure the spiritual welfare of the faithful and it is something that is uniquely Catholic. Since its beginning, the Church has always and continues to make decisions and put forth rules that benefit the faithful as the Church’s desire is for all to go to heaven.

Next week, we will look at the responsibilities a parish has to the faithful and how we at Prince of Peace are trying to fulfill those responsibilities.

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