Parish

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).

Ecclesiastic parishes

A parish is a territorial subdivision of a diocese or bishopric within the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of Sweden, and of some other churches. In the Catholic Church, each parish has one parish priest (as he is usually called in England and Ireland), who acts as the chaplain to the area. Parish priest as a term is used also by other denominations (even when 'priest' is not the usual term). In the United States, the Catholic parish priest is usually referred to as the "pastor" of the parish.

A parish priest may have a fellow priest, called a curate, or a "vicar," assisting him. Each parish usually has a central church or chapel, called the parish church, where religious services take place. Some larger parishes may have a number of such churches or chapels.

With the decline in the numbers of people seeking ordination, in some countries many 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.

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.

• Patronage (Benefices) Rules 1987
• Process for appointing a parish priest

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 ecclesiatical significance in Scotland (and the boundaries may be adjusted by the local Presbytery.)

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 Channel Islands, the U.S. state of Louisiana (where it is equivalent to a county), Estonia 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.