Parish (Church of England) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The parish with its local parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

is the basic unit of the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

. The parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

within the Church of England structure has its roots in the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

and survived the Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

largely untouched. Church of England parishes are currently each within one of 40 dioceses divided between the provinces of Canterbury

Province of Canterbury

The Province of Canterbury, also called the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces making up the Church of England...

, with twenty-eight dioceses and York

Province of York

The Province of York is one of two ecclesiastical provinces making up the Church of England, and consists of 14 dioceses which cover the northern third of England and the Isle of Man. York was elevated to an Archbishopric in 735 AD: Ecgbert of York was the first archbishop...

with twelve.

Each parish is administered by a parish priest who may be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates, who are also priests but not the parish priest. There are wide variations in the size of parishes and church-going populations. A parish priest may have responsibility for one parish or for two or more and some are part of a team ministry. By extension the term parish refers not only to the territorial unit but to the people of its community or congregation.

Etymology

From the Greek paroikia, the dwellingplace of the priest, eighth Archbishop of Canterbury Theodore of Tarsus

Theodore of Tarsus

Theodore was the eighth Archbishop of Canterbury, best known for his reform of the English Church and establishment of a school in Canterbury....

(c.602–690) applied to the Anglo-Saxon township unit, where it existed, the ecclesiastical term parish.

First attested in English late 13th century, the word parish comes from the Old French

Old French

Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...

paroisse, in turn from Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

paroecia, which is the latinisation

Latinisation (literature)

Latinisation is the practice of rendering a non-Latin name in a Latin style. It is commonly met with for historical personal names, with toponyms, or for the standard binomial nomenclature of the life sciences. It goes further than Romanisation, which is the writing of a word in the Latin alphabet...

of the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

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".

History

The reintroduction of Christianity and its development under Ethelbert of Kent

Ethelbert of Kent

Æthelberht was King of Kent from about 580 or 590 until his death. In his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the eighth-century monk Bede lists Aethelberht as the third king to hold imperium over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms...

(c.560–616) required an organization for ecclesiastical purposes. From the Greek paroikia, the dwellingplace of the priest, eighth Archbishop of Canterbury Theodore of Tarsus

Theodore of Tarsus

Theodore was the eighth Archbishop of Canterbury, best known for his reform of the English Church and establishment of a school in Canterbury....

(c.602–690) applied to the Anglo-Saxon township unit, where it existed, the ecclesiastical term parish. Generally the township and parish coincided but in the North some townships may have been combined and in the South, where populations were bigger, two or more parishes might be made of one township. Townships not included in a parish were extra-parochial. There may have been much less uniformity than these statements imply. Extended in the 973-975 reign of Edgar (c.943–975) the process seems to have been completed during the fifty year reign of Edward III (1312–1377).

In general Church of England

Church of England

parishes owe their origin at first to the establishment of a minster church by a body of clergy. That usually large parish was soon further subdivided into the smaller parishes described above, each associated with an estate church

Proprietary church

During the Middle Ages, the proprietary church was a church, abbey or cloister built on private ground by a feudal lord, over which he retained proprietary interests, especially the right of what in English law is "advowson", that of nominating the ecclesiastic personnel...

founded by Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...

or, later, Norman

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

landowners copying the minster foundations of their nobles. Having provided the land and usually the church building the landowner retained the right, advowson, to select a parish priest subject to the bishop's approval.
One parish may have been situated in different counties or hundreds and in many cases parishes contained in addition to its principal district several outlying portions, usually described as 'detached', intermixed with the lands in other parishes.
A present-day parish boundary

Beating the bounds

Beating the bounds is an ancient custom still observed in some English and Welsh parishes. A group of old and young members of the community would walk the boundaries of the parish, usually led by the parish priest and church officials, to share the knowledge of where they lay, and to pray for...

may even correspond to that of an Anglo-Saxon estate of more than one thousand years ago but is more likely to date from the 17th century when boundaries were rearranged to fit a parish with a landowner's responsibilities and so avoid further dispute.

Some little-populated areas of England were outside any parish, i.e. extra-parochial, until the 19th century though tiny technical exceptions remain. The term unparished area

Unparished area

In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish. Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparished. Many towns and some cities in otherwise rural districts are also unparished areas and therefore no longer have a town council or city...

, used for most urban areas, relates to civil parishes and not ecclesiastical parishes.

Parish priest

Each parish should have its own parish priest (who might be termed its vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

or its rector), perhaps supported by one or more curate

Curate

A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...

s or deacon

Deacon

Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...

s - although as a result of ecclesiastical pluralism some parish priests might have held more than one parish living, placing a curate

Curate

in charge of those where they did not reside. The church property was technically in the ownership of the parish priest, vested in him on his institution to that parish.

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 reader

Lay Reader

A lay reader is a layperson authorized by a bishop of the Anglican Church to read some parts of a service of worship. They are members of the congregation called to preach or lead services, but not called to full-time ministry.Anglican lay readers are licensed by the bishop to a particular parish...

s or other non-ordained members of the congregation.

In the Church of England

Church of England

, part of the Anglican Communion

Anglican Communion

The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...

, the legal right to appoint or recommend a parish priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

is called an advowson

Advowson

Advowson is the right in English law of a patron to present or appoint a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a process known as presentation. In effect this means the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish...

, and its possessor is known as a patron. The patron can be an individual (or individuals in rotation), the Crown

The Crown

The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...

, a bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

, a college, a charity

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

, or a religious body. Appointment as a parish priest gives the incumbent the enjoyment of a benefice

Benefice

A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...

or living

Benefice

A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...

. Appointment of patrons is now governed by the Patronage (Benefices) Rules 1987.

In mediaeval times and after, such a right of appointment of the priest could be used to influence local opinions but a patron's candidate had to be approved by the Bishop responsible for the parish.

An example can be seen in the article on Grendon, Northamptonshire. It was frequently used to promote particular religious views. For example Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick

Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick

Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick was an English colonial administrator, admiral, and puritan.Rich was the eldest son of Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick and his wife Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich, and succeeded to his father's title in 1619...

presented many puritan

Puritan

The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...

clergy. In the 19th century Charles Simeon

Charles Simeon

Charles Simeon , was an English evangelical clergyman.He was born at Reading, Berkshire and educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. In 1782 he became fellow of King's College, and took orders, receiving the living of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, in the following year...

established a trust to purchase advowson

Advowson

s and install evangelical

Evangelism

Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

priests. Ownership of an advowson

Advowson

now carries little personal advantage.

Parish administration

The business affairs of the parish were administered by its vestry, an assembly or meeting of parishioners or their representatives to make the necessary decisions.
After 1837 the vestry's civil as distinct from ecclesiastical responsibilities devolved in various steps to the purely civil parish and its parish council. The Established Church also began its own administrative reforms. The ecclesiastical parish's remaining business affairs are now administered by the vestry's replacement, its parochial church council

Parochial Church Council

The parochial church council , is the executive body of a Church of England parish.-Powers and duties:Two Acts of Parliament define the powers and duties of PCCs...

, which is partly appointed and partly elected from the congregation.

Note that a few purely civil parishes had been created long before the 19th century reform, but there were few, Bedfordshire for example had just one in the county and it was not created until 1810.

Vestry's responsibilities

In the absence of any other authority (which there would be in an incorporated city or town), the vestry, the ecclesiastical parish administration, was from time out of mind the recognised unit of local government, concerned for the spiritual but also the temporal or physical welfare of parishioners and their parish amenities, collecting local rates or taxes and taking responsibility for the care of the poor, the roads, law enforcement, etc. For example, parishes carried out the duties required by the poor law

English Poor Laws

The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief which existed in England and Wales that developed out of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws before being codified in 1587–98...

. See Church rate

Church Rate

The Church Rate was a tax formerly levied in each parish in England and Ireland for the benefit of the parish church. Out of these rates were defrayed the expenses of carrying on divine service, repairing the fabric of the church, and paying the salaries of the officials connected with it...

, Parish schools. What follows is a snapshot of the system at a particular point in time.

1835

In 1835 more than 15,600 parishes looked after their own:

"churches and burial grounds, parish cottages and workhouses, their common lands and endowed charities, their market crosses, pumps, pounds, whipping posts, stocks, cages, watch houses, weights and scales, clocks and fire engines.

Or to put it another way: the maintenance of the church and its services, the keeping of the peace, the repression of vagrancy, the relief of destitution, the mending of roads, the suppression of nuisances, the destruction of vermin, the furnishing of soldiers and sailors, even to some extent the enforcement of religious and moral discipline. These were among the multitudinous duties imposed on the parish and its officers by the law of the land.

The parishes spent not far short of one-fifth of the budget of the national government itself."

Central government placed its obligations on parishes without specifying how they should be carried out. So no two parishes were organised in the same way, unless by coincidence.

The responsible householder found himself bound to serve in succession in the onerous and wholly unpaid public offices of

Churchwarden
Churchwarden
A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish church or congregation of the Anglican Communion, usually working as a part-time volunteer. Holders of these positions are ex officio members of the parish board, usually called a vestry, parish council, parochial church council, or in the case of a...

,
Overseer
Overseer of the Poor
An Overseer of the Poor was an official who administered poor relief such as money, food, and clothing in England and various other countries which derived their law from England.-England:...

,
Surveyor of Highways
Highways Act 1555
The Highways Act 1555 , sometimes the First Statute of Highways, was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England passed in 1555...

,
Constable
Parish constable
Parish constable was a law enforcement officer, usually unpaid and part-time, serving a parish. In some parishes, the position was known as "high constable", e.g. the High Constable of Holborn....

.

Every one was called upon in church to send his team or go in person to labour for six days on the roads. The whole parish had to turn out, when summoned, to join in the hue and cry

Hue and cry

In common law, a hue and cry is a process by which bystanders are summoned to assist in the apprehension of a criminal who has been witnessed in the act of committing a crime.By the Statute of Winchester of 1285, 13 Edw. I cc...

after suspected robbers. A sheriff's Posse

Posse comitatus (common law)

Posse comitatus or sheriff's posse is the common-law or statute law authority of a county sheriff or other law officer to conscript any able-bodied males to assist him in keeping the peace or to pursue and arrest a felon, similar to the concept of the "hue and cry"...

.

The property-less employee escaped the tithes and taxes

Church Rate

and received, when destitute, the parish pay

Poor relief

Poor Relief refers to any actions taken by either governmental or ecclesiastical bodies to relieve poverty experienced by a population. More specifically, the term poor relief is often used to discuss how European countries dealt with poverty from the time just around the end of the medieval era to...

. Under the law of settlement, at the discretion of the Overseers of the Poor, he was liable to be sent back to the parish where he was born or otherwise legally settled, under the Settlement Act 1662. However, he could obtain a settlement certificate to enable him to work elsewhere. He might thus live in a new parish but without "settlement" receive no benefits from the new parish, just from his parish of origin.

The wealthy classes in town or country could buy exemption from, or commute for money, the innumerable personal obligations imposed by the parish, and thought of it therefore only as a taxing authority.

Civil parish

Civil parishes and their governing parish councils evolved as ecclesiastical parishes began to be relieved of what became considered to be civil responsibilities. Their separate boundaries began to vary. Poor law administration did not need the subdivision of old parishes when new populations and congregations mushroomed. Again, it was better for poor law administration districts, civil parishes, to fit county boundaries. Ecclesiastical parishes not always did. So 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.

Etymology

History

Parish priest

Parish administration

Vestry's responsibilities

1835

Civil parish

See also