Difference Between Church and Parish

Church vs Parish

Church is a concept that is clear to most people whether or not they are Christians. Today it has come to signify the place of worship for all Christians, and the building that contains the chapel where all sacred activities are performed is referred to as a church. However, there is another concept called Parish that confuses many. This is more so for those who belong to other religions, as Christians know that it is an administrative seat of a Christian population in an area.

Parish is not a building or a religious sect. It is rather a community that includes all catholic members within a geographical area who congregate in a particular church, which is the place of worship. However, there are parishes that do not follow this rule as they have an ethnic or even lingual basis. This means it is possible for a particular area to have many parishes and one of them might be for the Catholics.

Thus, it is clear that a church is a physical place used by Christians, to pay respect to God, pray, and perform other sacred activities like sermons, singing hymns, meditation, worshipping, and so on. In the Bible, church has been mentioned as being the body of Christ and was supposed to be in all homes and not as a big place for congregation of Catholics. On the other hand, a parish is not a place but an organization that is made up of Christian community in a place. When a child is born to any member of the community, the parish makes an entry and keeps a record of the Christian population in the area. It is possible to have many churches in a parish. The in charge of a parish is a parish priest, and he is referred to as a pastor, curate, or the local ordinary