Parish church

A parish church or parish church (Latin ecclesia paroecialis ) called in Christianity the main church of a parish ( = parish, from Latin parochia ).

Catholic Church

After can. 216 CIC/17 was the parish church in the Catholic church next to parishioners and the pastor to the presbytery. Assets carrier was the Church Foundation as a legal entity. Each parish must have a parish church.

After the CIC of 1983 ( in theory) are also parishes without parish church possible. Support of the parish church is named after the new law alone, the parish, which is now itself a legal person, with existing church foundations in can. 4 CIC CIC/83 remain.

The parish church is the place where the faithful gather to worship and celebrate preferred Eucharist. Although at present there is no more compulsory parish, are as recommended in can. 857 § 2 CIC held still baptisms of adults in their parish church, baptisms of children in the parish church of their parents. Therefore must in every parish a baptismal font be present ( can. 858 § 1 CIC). Even marriage to (1118 CIC Can. ) and Exsequien ( can. 1177 CIC) are generally celebrated in the parish church of the person concerned.

After can. 934 § 1 CIC must always be kept the Eucharist in parish churches.

Parish churches may like all other churches are built only with the permission of the diocesan bishop ( can. 1215 § 1 CIC). After completion of construction they are dedicate in solemn rite ( can. 1217 § 2 CIC).

Evangelical Church

In the Protestant churches, the parish church is dedicated to the purposes of worship church building of a church community. In more recent texts parish church comes as a term less common, as was the case in older jurisdictions. Of importance is the legal reference to the rectory of the parish church, which exists in almost every parish. However, there are churches that do not have a parish. In this case, this parish is co-supervised by a neighboring parish church. The parish office has with the church council about the foundation purpose according to the parish church, which represents the public space for the preaching and the sacraments.

Public law

Parish churches of the public religious communities are to be regarded as public property by the state church law of the Federal Republic of Germany and especially protected by the legal system. In Austria these structures can, like the other religious institutions in accordance with respect to the preservation according to the regulation of the Federal Monuments Office. § 2a generally be protected.