Formation
A parish has two constitutive elements: a body of Catholics and a named parish priest (called the pastor in the United States) with responsibility for them. The parish is a "juridic person" under canon law, and thus recognized as a unit with certain rights and responsibilities. It is not autonomous, however. The diocesan bishop has the sole power to erect, suppress, or alter parishes, though he is to consult first with his Presbyteral Council.
Ecclesiae Sanctae, a 1966 Apostolic Letter of Pope Paul VI issued motu proprio, directs that
- parishes in which apostolic activity can be performed only with difficulty or less effectively because of the excessive number of the faithful or too vast a territory or for any other reason, be suitably divided or dismembered according to the various circumstances. Likewise parishes which are too small should be united insofar as the situation demands it and circumstances permit.
Where a parish priest has been named to pastor a defined community, but circumstances do not permit it to be formally erected as a parish, the congregation is recognized as a quasi-parish. Quasi-parishes include immature communities, such as mission churches or communities forming at secondary worship sites.
Read more about this topic: Parish (Catholic Church)
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