By extension the term parish refers not only to the territorial unit but to the people of its community or congregation as well as to church property within it. In England this church property was technically in the ownership of the parish priest, vested in him on his institution to that parish.
First attested in English late 13th century, the word parish comes from the Old French paroisse, in turn from Latin paroecia, which is the latinisation of the Greek παροικία (paroikia), "sojourning in a foreign land", itself from πάροικος (paroikos), "dwelling beside, stranger, sojourner", which is a compound of παρά (para), " beside, by, near" + οἶκος (oikos), "house".
Being an ancient concept the term "parish" is used by all the long established Christian denominations: Roman Catholic, Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Lutheran churches, and some Methodist, and Presbyterian churches.
In the Roman Catholic Church, each parish has at least one parish priest, who has responsibility and canonical authority over the parish (the Latin for this post is parochus).
A parish priest may have 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 curate, or vicar - 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 diocese (administrative region) is divided into parishes, each with their own 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.
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 their precise location, 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. :See also:Team of priests in solidum
Each parish should have its own parish priest (who might be termed its vicar or its rector), perhaps supported by one or more curates or deacons - although as a result of ecclesiastical pluralism some parish priests might have held more than one parish living, placing a curate in charge of those where they did not reside. Now, however, it is common for a number of neighbouring parishes to be placed in the charge of a single vicar who takes services at them in rotation, with additional services being provided by lay readers or other non-ordained members of the congregation.
In England Civil parishes and their governing parish councils evolved in the 19th century as ecclesiastical parishes began to be relieved of what became considered to be civil responsibilities. Their separate boundaries began to vary. The word "parish" acquired a secular usage. Since 1895, a parish council elected by the general public or a (civil) parish meeting administers a civil parish and is the level of local government below a district council.
The traditional structure of the Church of England with the parish as the basic unit has been exported to other countries and churches within the Anglican Communion but is not necessarily administered in the same way.
In New Zealand, a local grouping of Methodist churches that share one or more ministers (which in the United Kingdom would be called a circuit) is referred to as a parish.
Category:Anglicanism Category:Christian group structuring Category:Roman Catholic Church organisation * Category:Christian terms Category:Greek loanwords
ar:رعية be-x-old:Парафія bs:Parohija br:Parrez bg:Енория ca:Parròquia eclesiàstica cs:Farnost cy:Plwyf da:Sogn de:Kirchengemeinde es:Parroquia (religión) eo:Paroĥo fr:Paroisse ga:Paróiste gv:Skeerey ko:사목구 hr:Župa id:Paroki it:Parrocchia ka:მრევლი sw:Parokia la:Paroecia lb:Par lt:Parapija li:Parochie hu:Plébánia ja:小教区 nl:Parochie (kerk) no:Sogn nn:Sokn nrm:Pâraisse nds:Parish pl:Parafia pt:Paróquia ru:Приход scn:Parruccianu (parrocchia) simple:Parish sk:Farnosť sl:Župnija sr:Парохија sh:Parohija fi:Seurakunta sv:Församling th:เขตแพริช uk:Парафія vi:Giáo xứ wa:PårotcheThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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