Britain gains its first ‘personal parish’ for the Extraordinary Form
“As a general rule,” the Code of Canon Law says, “a parish is to be territorial.” Whether the area is the whole of Dubai (the largest parish in the world), or a few square miles in a metropolis, parishes occupy a clear area which doesn’t overlap with other parishes. But there are exceptions: some parishes serve a wider community, especially with Catholics who all speak the same language or worship in a particular rite.
Earlier this year, for instance, a personal parish specifically to serve migrants and refugees was set up in Israel. Migrants can, of course, worship in their local parish – but there’s a specialised parish which provides the kind of pastoral care new arrivals especially need. In 2017, the ordinariate set up a personal parish in Torbay. There’s a personal parish in Reading for Poles.
