Parish
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A parish is a type of administrative subdivision. It is used by some Christian churches, usually liturgical churches, and also by the civil government in a number of countries (see civil parish).
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[edit] Ecclesiastical parishes
A parish is a territorial subdivision of a diocese, eparchy or bishopric within the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of Sweden, and of some other churches. The word "parish" is also used more generally to refer to the collection of people who attend a particular church. In this usage, a parish minister is one who serves a congregation.
[edit] Roman Catholic Church
In the Catholic Church, each parish has one parish priest (as he is usually called in England, Ireland and Australia, among other places) or "pastor" (as he is called in the United States, among other places), who has responsibility and canonical authority over the parish (the Latin for this post is parochus).
A parish priest may have a one or more fellow priests assisting him. In Catholic usage this priest is technically a "parochial vicar", but is commonly called an "associate pastor" or "assistant pastor" (or just "associate" or "assistant"), a curates, or vicars - common as they are, these terms are inaccurate and many dioceses have recently begun using the canonical term "parochial vicar" even in general parish communications (bulletins and the like).
Each parish normally has a central church, called the parish church, where religious services take place. Some larger parishes or parishes that have been combined under one pastor may have two or more such churches, or the parish may be responsible for chapels (sometimes called "chapels of ease") located at some distance from the parish church for the convenience of distant parishioners.
With the decline in the numbers of people seeking ordination, in some countries parishes are now being merged together or are all sharing the services of one priest in a phenomenon known in the United States as clustering.
In the Catholic Church there also exists a special type of ecclesiastical parish called a national parish, which is not territorial in nature. These are usually created to serve the needs of all of the members of a particular language group, particularly of an immigrant community, in a large area: its members are not defined by where they live, but by their country of origin or native language.
Other variations are also possible. In some Catholic jurisdictions created for the armed forces, for instance, the entire diocese or archdiocese is treated as a single parish: all of the Catholics in the military of the United States and all of their Catholic dependents, for instance, form the Archdiocese of the Military Services, USA, a diocese defined not by territory but by another quality (in this case, relationship to the military) - this archdiocese has its own archbishop, and all records and other matters are handled in a central office rather than by individual priests assigned to military post chapels or chaplains of units in the field.
[edit] Church of England
In the Church of England, part of the Anglican Communion, the legal right to appoint or recommend a parish priest is called an advowson, and its possessor is known as a patron. The patron can be an individual, the Crown, a bishop, a college, a charity, or a religious body. Appointment as a parish priest entails the enjoyment of a benefice. Appointment of patrons is governed by the Patronage (Benefices) Rules 1987.
In mediaeval times and earlier, when the church was politically and economically powerful, such a right could have great importance. An example can be seen in the article on Grendon, Northamptonshire. It now carries little personal advantage.
[edit] Church of Scotland
In the Church of Scotland, the parish is basic level of church administration. The spiritual oversight of each parish church is responsibility of the congregation's Kirk Session. Patronage was regulated this way in 1712 (Patronage Act) and abolished in 1843, ministers must be elected by members of the congregation. Many parish churches are now "linked" with neighbouring parish churches (served by a single minister.) With the abolition of parishes as a unit of civil government in Scotland, parishes now have a purely ecclesiastical significance in Scotland (and the boundaries may be adjusted by the local Presbytery).
[edit] Parishes in civil administration
- Main article: Parish (subnational entity)
In some countries a parish (sometimes called a "civil parish") is an administrative area of civil government. Parishes of this type are found in England, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the U.S. state of Louisiana (where it is equivalent to a county), Estonia, the Charleston Lowcountry of the U.S. state of South Carolina (where they resemble townships or public service districts), and a number of island nations in the region of the Caribbean.
Civil parishes in England form the lowest level of local government. Since 1894, parishes with a population of more than 300 have an elected parish council (in some cases known as the town council).
Civil parishes in Wales were organised on the same system as England until 1974. In that year all civil parishes in the principality were abolished and replaced with communities. The whole of Wales is divided into communities, although not all have chosen to establish a community council. Like their English counterparts, a community council can be renamed a "town".
In Scotland, civil parishes existed until 1975. They were administered by parochial boards until 1894, when elected parish councils were formed. In 1930 the parish councils were dissolved, but the parishes themselves were grouped in districts and continued to exist for statistical and boundary purposes. The parishes were finally abolished on the reorganisation of local government in Scotland in 1975.
In Quebec, a parish is a large rural municipality consisting mainly of farmlands, as opposed to a village. which is also rural, but has a center with a church, a credit union, shops, etc. (In a few cases, such as Notre-Dame-des-Anges, it is a municipality set up to accord special municipal autonomy to a church facility.) See Parish municipality (Quebec).
In New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, parishes are no longer used as administrative areas within counties, however several are used as census area boundaries.
Historically, in New England, settlements that were at some distance from the center of a town and had enough people could request to be "set off" as a separate parish with its own church, and would then be freed of paying tithes to the main church. These parishes would eventually be established as separate towns.
